When I was a kid my mother took us on a lot of day trips to go see different things in the area. Sometimes it was an hour each way and sometimes it was much longer. even when we didn't go to any business but instead went to see the Indian mounds or a state park or something, those are some of my favorite memories. we were dirt poor back then, so we did not stop to eat anywhere. Drinks were dispensed from a 2 gallon thermos with a spout or else mom put kool aid or lemonade mix into a gallon size ziplock and added water from a water fountain or the thermos in the car. We often had a cooler of ice with peeled hard boiled eggs, carrot sticks, celery, etc... and peanut butter and jelly or bologna sandwiches. I honestly think we enjoyed them at least as much as we would have enjoyed McDonalds. Of course we had no clue that we were poor, lol.
Anyway, OH has a LOT of stuff to do. I was watching some clips of the show Unwrapped and realized that the Spangler Candy Co is in Bryan, OH. If it is possible to take a road trip there during the week, they have factory tours that I think a LOT of our kids would enjoy. Who wouldn't enjoy seeing them make those Saf-T-pops, Dum dum pops, smarties or circus peanuts?
They have all the info on their website - http://www.spanglercandy.com/about-us/tour-store-museum - this link will take you to info about the tour and museum.
WHile this company is the one that made me think of this. I am sure that there are other companies that would give you a tour if you looked them up. If your kids really are interested in something, why not call or look them up online to see if you can find a factory tour? THey were something we enjoyed as kids, esp of ice cream factories! There are also books out there with info on companies that have tours.
I just thought that we have quite a few members in/around OH and this might be a fun getaway for them and it might inspire others of us to find companies in our area or near where we will be taking a trip. By taking us on these short trips my mom taught us that we could handle changes in itinerary, trips, and outings. She didn't start with someplace far away, but worked us through them. Taking lunch helped us learn that it was okay to be in a new area - not everything would be different. She also gave us each a map and had us follow along the route we took so we knew where we were and how far we had come. We learned a lot of map skills this way too. (Mostly she gave us each maps to keep us busy so we didn't clobber each other. We were also the first family on our block to have seatbelts - mostly to keep us from clobbering each other too! lol!)
I know we have kids who don't handle change well, so plan this a few days or a week ahead. Or, if your difficult child is older, maybe trips like this would be good with a younger child to give them a bit of a break from the older one, or a special thing for a difficult child to have the one on one time. Esp if you can take a friend along for the one who goes with you. For some reason we always behaved far better if one of us had a friend along. Didn't seem to matter if it was my friend or my bro's, we both behaved far better if they were with us. Same was true for my kids and I still don't know why, lol!
What are you all doing to pass the long, hot days of summer?
Anyway, OH has a LOT of stuff to do. I was watching some clips of the show Unwrapped and realized that the Spangler Candy Co is in Bryan, OH. If it is possible to take a road trip there during the week, they have factory tours that I think a LOT of our kids would enjoy. Who wouldn't enjoy seeing them make those Saf-T-pops, Dum dum pops, smarties or circus peanuts?
They have all the info on their website - http://www.spanglercandy.com/about-us/tour-store-museum - this link will take you to info about the tour and museum.
WHile this company is the one that made me think of this. I am sure that there are other companies that would give you a tour if you looked them up. If your kids really are interested in something, why not call or look them up online to see if you can find a factory tour? THey were something we enjoyed as kids, esp of ice cream factories! There are also books out there with info on companies that have tours.
I just thought that we have quite a few members in/around OH and this might be a fun getaway for them and it might inspire others of us to find companies in our area or near where we will be taking a trip. By taking us on these short trips my mom taught us that we could handle changes in itinerary, trips, and outings. She didn't start with someplace far away, but worked us through them. Taking lunch helped us learn that it was okay to be in a new area - not everything would be different. She also gave us each a map and had us follow along the route we took so we knew where we were and how far we had come. We learned a lot of map skills this way too. (Mostly she gave us each maps to keep us busy so we didn't clobber each other. We were also the first family on our block to have seatbelts - mostly to keep us from clobbering each other too! lol!)
I know we have kids who don't handle change well, so plan this a few days or a week ahead. Or, if your difficult child is older, maybe trips like this would be good with a younger child to give them a bit of a break from the older one, or a special thing for a difficult child to have the one on one time. Esp if you can take a friend along for the one who goes with you. For some reason we always behaved far better if one of us had a friend along. Didn't seem to matter if it was my friend or my bro's, we both behaved far better if they were with us. Same was true for my kids and I still don't know why, lol!
What are you all doing to pass the long, hot days of summer?
