If you are anything like thousands of other parents out there, you plan to binge-watch Orange Is the New Black this weekend. Here’s how you can keep your kids busy while you do so.
I absolutely adore Orange Is the New Black, but I do realize that it’s an adult program with adult themes and that kids shouldn’t watch it. But that didn’t stop my middle school kid from leaving me and my husband this note when we woke up one Saturday morning.
Photo Credit: Eve Vawter
So yeah, that was a happy reminder to adjust our Netflix parental controls. If you would like your kids to not watch OITNB but want to keep them busy so you can, here are some ideas for you.
Print them out some paper dolls
Photo Credit: Emily Niland
From the amazingly talented and wonderful artist Emily Niland comes these fantastic OITNB paper dolls. Sure, your kids may be too little to watch the show, but you can let them create their own adventures with Piper and her cell mates.
Throw them outside
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More: OITNB Season 2 refresher
In Season 2 of OITNB, Red starts a greenhouse on the grounds of Litchfield as a front for her drug smuggling ring. Yes, your kids don’t have a greenhouse or a drug smuggling ring (I hope), but you probably have a yard, and your yard probably has weeds, so send them outside for some sunshine and some hard labor in the form of weed pulling.
Print them out some paper toys
Photo Credit: PaperCraftSquare
Even though your kids will never know what sort of adventures people have behind the walls of Litchfield, they can create their own stories using these paper toys you can print out and help them make. This should keep them busy for exactly three episodes.
Set them up with some kid-friendly movies
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Your kids are never too young to start understanding the joys of binge-watching, so set them up with their own marathon of Pixar movies or whatever else they like. You can say, “Mommy is going to watch her show for 12 hours. You watch your shows.”
Give them some LEGO
Photo Credit: Pinterest
Do you know what always keeps kids busy? LEGO. Especially when you make them pick up all the LEGO and sort them by color when they are done playing with them.
Make them read a book
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Kids need to read more, especially when school is out. Set them up with a compelling series of books. Better yet, throw some books at them, make them a blanket fort under your dining room table, and give them a flashlight to read with.
Stick them in their room
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For a 12-hour dance party!
OK, so maybe only a few of these ideas will work, and you will end up staying up all night to watch after the kids are asleep, like we will. Hopefully by the time House of Cards starts, your kids will discover their own ways to amuse themselves.
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