When it comes to eating healthy, sometimes the answer is not eating. I do not in any way support skipping meals, but sometimes I think that we put too much emphasis on the food and not enough on the experiences and people we share them with. We should be able to be a little more creative than to celebrate every single occasion with dinner at a different restaurant. Of course the types of activities will really vary depending on who you are with. I will start with my immediate family. That would be me, my loving husband and my two daughters.
When I posed the question to a few friends about what could we do as a family that doesn’t involve food, almost everyone suggested the Movies. Hello??? When was the last time you went to the movies and weren’t tempted by the smell of that buttery popcorn? Not to mention, have you tried to get past the concessions at the movies with a 7 year-old. I needed to be a little more creative in my search for things to do that don’t revolve around food.
Living in Southwestern Pennsylvania, I started with just looking out my window. I found I was looking past the easiest place for my family to enjoy an afternoon or evening together. The natural resources are amazing in this area. So as that goes we can head out to a million trails, enjoy the beauty of the waterfalls at Ohiopyle State Park. Jump in the car and head to Deep Creek for the day. Head North to McConnells Mill State Park. There are more parks than you can shake a stick at. The leaves are just starting to change and it is the perfect time to start exploring them. But, then again you can only do so much hiking with a 3 year old right?
So I decided that we can visit Fort Neccessity,. a National Park Service Historic site with a museum and recreated fort from the French & Indian War. Its perfect because it even has a “historically-themed” playground. But obviously, one visit is enough for my kids. So I started doing some more exploring.
I found that we can set out to make our way through one of numerous corn mazes in the region. We can visit pumpkin patches. The kids love animals so we can also go to four different zoos that are within about an hour of my house.
My daughter suggested both roller skating and ice skating. I remember back to the good ole days at Wheels of Eight roller rink. It was the staple of my elementary school social life. We skated all the time! I could skate backwards. I did really well at all of the games like the turtle races, red light green light and shoot the duck. I remember those days like they were yesterday. I could even tell you who couple-skated with who :) So this suggestion brought back so many memories that it moved to the top of our “non-food” night out list.
I asked for more suggestions and wow did I get them. Ask the kids and they don’t focus on food like we do. They suggested bowling, mini-golf, and shopping. I also got a list that included the Carnegie Science Center, Childrens Museums in Pittsburgh and Johnstown. Museums of Natural History & Art, and that place with all of the plants which I assume means Phipps conservatory.
I also then received a stack of pamphlets for random historical locations throughout the area that my daughter has been collecting. She has an obsession with the displays that visitor’s bureaus put throughout the community for visitors to the area. She also showed me a list of places that she has found on google. She also informed me that game nights are a good option, she would like to have neighborhood kickball games and we can have a dance contest. Then of course she reminded me that indoor water parks are a great option and are “only about 3 hours away.” I’m not sure I am going to fall for that one but she has a good point.
I realized that I really underestimated the things that we can do as a family that aren’t all about food. Maybe I was just being lazy and not motivated to be creative. It took a 7 year old to remind me that there are so many great places and things to do in our community and we are only considering what we can do in the fall. I am sure she will give me another list in the spring. Right now we have enough to cover months worth of weekend family outings. The only trick now is convincing her that we can not go while the Steelers are on.
Of course these are all family things and sometimes adults need non-food social activities too. You could easily pull from this list but I think that is another great topic for another day!
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