With school holidays, weekends and after school slots to fill, being a parent can often feel like working in events management. Keeping the little ones entertained can be challenging. As a mother of four (all under the age of thirteen), I spend most of my time picking up, dropping off and filling in the gaps. It’s a constant struggle to think of new ways to keep smiles on faces whilst using up the seemingly infinite energy supplies of my young clan members.
I had an epiphany recently. My mind was cast back to my youth, growing up in rural Canada a large part of my childhood was spent surrounded by snow. Whether throwing snowballs, constructing snowmen or sharpening my ice skates. I said to my other half surely, there must be somewhere to take the kids to ice skate. Melbourne offers a range of activities for kids and I was right, ice skating is one of them.
My youngest two girls are still frozen obsessed and I am blessed to be woken up with rousing choruses of ‘Let It Go’ on a daily basis. When I told them of our weekend plans to hit the ice skating rink they jumped for joy, and then argued ferociously about who would be Anna and who would be Elsa. The older two boys were equally delighted with the proposal but rather than princess costumes they donned their father’s’ old ice hockey jerseys.
When you think of Melbourne, ice skating is not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind. However, it really was the ultimate weekend activity. The kids tired themselves out for two hours, while Dad and I enjoyed a meal together looking on proudly at our beautiful creations elegantly clamb
ering over the ice. I know what we’ll be doing next Sunday….