By Amian Frost Kelemer
Winter break vacation will certainly be a lot different this year than in the past. If it can’t be at a location warm and far away, why not create warmth right in your own home?
The key is using your imagination, managing expectations and creating a realistic schedule.
As much as adults may crave “me time,” children crave “you time.” They are seeking connection and opportunity to be together, no matter the location. So while Disney World may not be in the cards this year, you can create meaningful experiences that are not as fanciful and have real benefits nonetheless. Make it a “no guilt zone,” and give yourself and your children memories to treasure.
First, use your imagination. Come up with ideas that sound like fun to you and engage your child in inventing the experience. My son used to walk around with a sailor hat that he imagined was a fireman hat. Even the imperfect can be magical.
Next, manage expectations. This is mostly about your own expectations. Don’t be too hard on yourself — you are not the staff of a Sandals resort — because it is priceless. Make sure you have talked with your family about the realistic goals of taking some time off to be together.
Finally, build a schedule. It can include little things and just a few more glamorous things. You can ask for input where necessary.
Once the schedule is built, remember the lessons we have all learned during this pandemic — be flexible and change, if necessary. This is a lesson the rabbis of the Talmud taught long ago — be like a reed, pliant in the wind yet firmly rooted
Here are six ideas to get you started:
1. Bundle up and go outside! Yes, I know it is cold. Yes, I know you cannot really GO anywhere. It doesn’t matter. Children need to experience the outdoors and find their places in the world. There is so much to see and do, from finding rocks to lifting sticks to making patterns in the snow or watching the birds and squirrels search for food. It does not seem like such a dramatic way to spend vacation, but exploring G-d’s world and noticing what surrounds you is so important! Take a tip from our Swedish friends and remember that there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing!
2. While you are out there, get creative! Collect some natural treasures to make a fleeting outdoor mandala. Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish new year for trees, is coming up and this is the season that the sap rises in the trees. Jewish text likens people to trees. Hug a few trees, do some bark rubbings that you can save to decorate your house for Tu B’Shevat, which falls on Wednesday, Jan. 27, and runs through Thursday, Jan. 28.
3. Still outside? Collect some rocks to make kindness rocks and distribute them on your next walk. Take the opportunity to brighten the day of an unsuspecting stranger who walks your same path. Come up with other ways you can surprise someone with chesed, or lovingkindness. Shoveling a neighbor’s walk for free, or making lunches for people in need through Jewish Volunteer Connection can fill your days with good.
4. Discover new places right in the area! Did you know you could have coffee with kangaroos (roos2U.com), run with wild horses (at Assateague Island), spray or read some legal graffiti (at Baltimore’s “Graffiti Alley”) or get up close to a ship graveyard, all without leaving Maryland? Plot out your days and catch up on some of those things you have never done!
5. Travel around the world without leaving home. Plan out a daily movie, menu and game all sourced from another culture. Have your kids decorate with paper chains in the colors of the country’s flag. Learn a few words in the language and use them to play “Simon Says.” Israel is a great destination. Check out the variety of online tours, get some Israeli wine for the grownups. Did you know that Center for Jewish Education’s library is open for curbside pickup, and we carry many of your favorite children’s stories in both English and Hebrew?
6. Not up for a big destination? How about some “glamping”? No tent? Put a sheet over your table and cozy up underneath. Bring a sleeping bag, a PJ Library book, marshmallows and a flashlight. You just created a whole new world right in your house, and you will suddenly see the world from closer to the real perspective of your child. (Fight the urge to clean the underside of your table while you are there!)
Knees too sore to tuck up for that long? Be a family of pirates (check out the great PJ story about a Jewish pirate)! You get the idea, just embrace the silliness that comes with being together.
You may find that vacations take on a whole new meaning. In Hebrew, the word for vacation is chofesh, which also means freedom. In Biblical times, it connoted the freedom from servitude. In a modern interpretation, our chofesh is an opportunity to be free of the restrictions we place on our own creativity, limitations and relationships.
Wishing you an amazing chofesh!
Amian Frost Kelemer is the chief executive officer of the Louise D. and Morton J. Macks Center for Jewish Education.
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