10 Ways to Entertain Your Kids while Lying Down

My most anticipated part of the day is the time when I’m with my two little girls just before bedtime. This is the time when I feel closest to them, and I have their undivided attention.

1. Massage

Feeling lazy? Why not top it with a real honest-to-goodness massage? They love it when I stretch in bed on my tummy.

They take turns in balancing themselves on my back and I shriek in delight as they balance themselves by slowly walking up and down from my lower back to my shoulders and back again. Unfortunately, this has to stop when they start getting heavier. I tell them I’m old and brittle.

2. Question and answer

This is the easiest and the best game in my book. I stay in bed while grilling them with math, spelling, and current school lessons.

Alternately, you can make them ask the question and you answer. Sometimes I purposely give them the wrong answer (to their delight) and they correct me.

3. Greatest performer

They take turns taking the "stage." Maxine likes playing the teacher and starts the act by saying, "OK, class. Behave and listen to me…" She goes on a monologue pretending to be a strict but funny teacher.

Roni mostly sings or tells jokes and laughs before anyone can understand the joke. I, on the other hand, is comfortably buried in a mountain of pillows playing the judge.

4. Pluck my gray hair

This is one of the most relaxing games for me. Armed with tweezers, both girls position themselves at the head of the bed and are immediately engrossed with plucking the most number of gray hair from my head. The prize varies. There are times that they are paid after plucking 20 white hair strands. Other times, they compete to be the first one to get 20 strands. Winner gets to play online games for 20 minutes (supervised.)

5. Beautify daddy

"Pluck my gray hair" sometimes shifts to a more artistic twist: they turn beauticians. Max would sneak out of bed, grabs mom’s lipsticks and with her sister Roni, proceeds to paint my face.

6. The X Factor

I’m the judge comfortably lying in bed with my back propped by a mountain of pillows. The girls take turns trying to impress me with their singing prowess. Max sings better than her sister but I let them win alternately, "Roni gave more feelings to the song…she wins!"

7. Story-telling time

Under the blanket. Everyone takes turns in telling a story…which generally doesn’t get to the end. Someone would always interrupt to continue the story to another twist or start a new one.

8. Cartoon time

Thankfully, I enjoy cartoons like Lion King, all the Madagascar movies, Pirates, Up, as much as they do.

9. Play Doh

I actually enjoy messing up their wonderful cake creations. All you can hear are, "Dadddddyyyyyy! Stop it! Moooooooom!" Sometimes they let me contribute a cake creation, but mostly, they tell me what I did was either wrong or ugly.

10. Doctor set

I’m the patient and they do all sort of treatments to me while I lie down with eyes closed secretly hoping to doze off without them noticing.

Written by

Ron Afable

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