Spending Some Quality Time With Your Kids

Do you spend time with your kids at home? Have you ever tried to schedule some quality family time? Many parents spend so much time with their kids that they lose the quality and pleasure of doing so. Kids tend to become bored with the same activities or the same TV shows, that they begin to feel neglected. This is a critical time in their development, when they are most receptive to learning new things.

Parents must be sure that they are setting aside time for activities that will engage all of their children, foster creativity, and allow them to develop skills and talents. The best way to do this is to take some time to sit down with your kids and create some fun and creative activities that they will enjoy. Here are some ideas for activities that you can use to foster creativity and fun in your family:

Mother and child studying.

Do you have a lot of books that you are not using anymore? Take a few minutes to pull out a few titles and start reading. You can turn it into a fun and creative activities game by making up a new story. For younger children, you can make things like a ghost story, a fairy tale, or even a cookbook ghost story. For older children, you can create a crazy adventure based on a real haunted house. Be sure to include your child’s creativity when creating these fun and creative activities.

If you have never tried crafts, why not try making cookies, or even painting a cookie monster? Kids love working with their hands, and anything they create in the comfort of their own home is bound to spark their imagination and build their confidence at a young age. Take some time to work on some simple projects that will get them thinking and have them show off what they have created. Children love to show off what they have made to their friends and to their parents. This is a great opportunity to teach them that it is OK to show who you really are and that they can have fun doing it as well.

Another way to get creative and spend time with your kids is to get them involved in arts and crafts. There are all kinds of different activities that you can do with your kids to pass the time, and it is a great way to bond together as a family unit. Art activities and craft ideas can easily be found online, so that you can get started right away.

Child cooking.

As a parent, you can also help your kids through this fun and entertaining time at home. It is very easy to incorporate fun and creative activities into the mix of things. Your kids will love being outdoors, but it will also get them to think outside of the box as well. Being a parent is hard work, but with the right resources, it can be fun and rewarding at the same time.

Spend time together with your children as a family on all of those creative activities that you have mentioned above. Make sure that you take them shopping for something or other on a particular day of the week that you know that they will like. This allows them to get creative, but it also helps them to feel included as well. It will make their experience with you richer and more memorable. Who knows?

Now that you know this about the many ways to spend time with your kids at home, you may want to do something special for your next trip. Perhaps you would enjoy taking them to see a movie or even getting them out to watch it with you. Whatever your kid’s desire, is probably something that you will be able to accommodate. Take some time to sit down with your kids, play some video games, and enjoy the time together. If you are planning a trip soon, this is one idea that just might work. It will give them an opportunity to see new places, meet new friends, and do fun activities that they simply love.

Routine Garage Door Opener Maintenance

It may be easy to overlook, but it’s truly important to give some attention to your garage door opener if you want it to operate trouble-free for the years to come. You can avoid common problems with sensors, excessive noise, and even full-blown malfunction by performing a bit of preventative maintenance from time to time. Here are some things to look out for as you’re inspecting your garage door opener and the associated components.

Clean and Adjust the Sensor

Many of the most common problems that people encounter when it comes to garage door openers have to do with the sensors. Sensors were made mandatory as a safeguard against the garage doors automatically closing on people, pets, children, etc. These days its actually illegal to install garage doors without them, and for good reason. Without them garage doors could crush whatever was in their path.

However, the sensors do lead to issues with garage door functionality. Most commonly, keeping the garage doors closed. When you’re looking over your sensors, there are a couple of things to note. Make sure that the emitters and sensors are clean and clear. You can use a lint free cloth such as a lens cloth to clean them up. The second thing you want to pay attention to is the alignment – in other words you want to make sure the garage door sensors are properly communicating with each other. Each of the sensors will have a light that indicates that they see the other sensor. To test if you are looking at the right light, cover the sensor and see if the light goes out. Then you want to make sure that when the path between the sensors is free of obstruction that both of the sensor lights are completely illuminated. Make sense? Easy enough. Let’s move onto the next one.

Cleaning The Drive Components and Lubrication

What exactly is required here will vary a bit depending on the style of garage door opener you have. At any rate, the point of this inspection is to make sure that the opening mechanism is clean and clear of debris, and that the cleaning mechanism is properly lubricated, if required. A garage door opener that is lacking in lubrication can become loud and bothersome, and over time it can even lead to problems with the function. Many of the quietest models do not require lubrication at all.

The first thing to do is to make sure that the opening mechanism has no debris. Usually it is not the case, but things like spider webs, leaves, and pine needles can sometimes make their way into the mechanism. Before doing any cleaning or lubrication on these moving parts it is essential that you disconnect the unit from any and all power. If you do not do this it can cause a potential safety hazard!

Once the drive mechanism is clear of debris, it’s time to lubricate if necessary. Refer to the owner’s manual for your unit to learn more about what type of lubrication is required, how to apply it, and how often to apply it.

Keep an Eye on the Battery Level

Last but not least is to keep an eye on the battery level, and to keep an extra on hand when it starts getting low. You may not even consider that a garage door opener needs a battery because they are plugged into the wall. Beware – in most cases they do! Once the battery fails the unit will stop functioning. Luckily they often come with alarms that will warn you when the battery life is getting low. If you are hearing them then don’t wait, it’s time to swap the battery out for a replacement!

These simple and effective preventative maintenance steps will help you stay on your path to a long living and highly functioning garage door opener for years to come.