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As cottage season is officially underway, you may be clamouring to return to your cottage home for the months of fun and relaxation with the family in a hot tub.
But sometimes, cottages, much like any other type of real estate, can present a few challenges for younger members of the family, whether it be safety concerns or ways to keep them entertained.
While there are plenty of Huntsville cottages for sale out there that promise a perfect paradise for the whole family, here are a few tips for making your existing cottage spaces more child friendly.
Safety First
Safety is the utmost concern of parents when it comes to their children. Like at your full-time home, your cottage should be equipped with a number of safety features to keep your kids happy and out of harm’s way as much as possible.
When it comes to furnishing your cottage, for example, consider choosing less sharp and rugged furniture that can come as an increased risk to small children running around the place. Instead, opt for smooth and rounded pieces of décor like chairs, coffee tables, desks, side tables, or other such pieces. If going round isn’t your style, try added edge protectors to help minimize the harm of any existing sharp corners.
Also, consider cottage-specific problems such as being near bodies of water. Ensuring your cottage is equipped with materials such as life preservers, anti-slip mats, and blocking off possible access to more dangerous outdoor locations when unsupervised. Baby gates, pool alarms, and surveillances that send movement alerts to your devices are all good options for keeping a more watchful eye on wandering children.
Storage
Even packing a small road trip in the car with young children can begin to feel like you’re packing for an entire vacation. With toys, snacks, changes of clothes, and everything else that comes with travelling with children, you’ll want plenty of storage at the cottage to help store things that your little ones entertained, engaged, and free of foreseeable tantrums. Storage also helps keep your cottage tables and floors from becoming cluttered with the mess, allowing you to more easily relax on your off time.
Activities
Family time at the cottage should always be fondly remembered as a special time. Making a selection of specialized activities you and your children can do together not only helps to keep everyone entertained but helps create these memories as well.
As cottage life is often about connecting with nature, activities such as outdoor scavenger hunts and going on the child-friendly trail are a great way to exercise and see the natural scenery.
If your cottage is near some beaches or lakes, making a day of it with activities like building sandcastles, playing beach ball, and more are all great options.
However, as much as we’d love to have that perfect weather our entire vacation, not all days at the cottage can have shining sun. Preparing for rainy days or other conditions that keep your family entertained indoors is the key to keeping everyone from going to stir crazy. Board games, card decks, colouring books, puzzles, or easy crafts are great ways to keep young ones entertained indoors.
Don’t stress too much about having an activity for your child for every second of every day, however, as all the fresh air and sunlight of the cottage life can really wear out children (and adults!), so sometimes, just having a cozy movie night is all a family needs to make their memories together.
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