Outings

You have to have a system for outings! You cannot go anywhere with just two adults and a bunch of kids without having a way to keep track of them all.

We shopped as a family for groceries, once a month, from the time the kids were small, until we had teenagers. About that time my husband's job changed, and his work schedule no longer accommodated family shopping trips. But when they were small, we spent a long day once a month in store after store.

We had a rule that the kids had to be hanging onto someone - Mom, Dad, or a brother or sister who was hanging onto Mom or Dad. When we were in the grocery store, they had to hang onto the side of the cart, or onto my pocket (which worked fine as long as I did not wear pants with a loose waistband!). This rule was especially important in the parking lot. It worked well, except the kids never could understand that when we went through a narrow spot with the cart or stroller, they had to either move or let go for a minute or get squished!

We have taken the kids camping, hiking, to museums and other places, and they know they have to stay with Mom and Dad. When Mom and Dad run out of hands, the kids daisy chain off of the parents! Of course by the age of 8-10 they don't want to hold hands anymore, but then they can be given the responsibility of holding the hand of a younger child, which is  a bit more dignified.

When we went tubing on the Platte River, we tied ropes around the waist of every person, and tied the youngest (he was 5) to Mom, the next youngest was tied to Dad, the next to the oldest child, etc, so each younger child had an older guardian, and even then we stuck together. All the younger children had lifejackets, but we didn't want them to get caught in the rapids and get away from us!

Some outings take a little thought and planning, but it is easier to take a large number of kids somewhere if they have plenty of practice sticking together and holding onto one another.