I have zero ideas myself because I have older kids and am jaded and have given up BUT I had a badminton set during covid times and while I loved it, the kids lost interest fairly quickly and I let the whole thing rust which I had regrets about after. But this makes me want a new one 😂 clearly I haven’t learned my own lesson.
It’s definitely gonna work! Also I’ll make my boyfriend play with me when my kids lose interest. Details on your set! I got my last one from Amazon and it was decent enough but I’m taking recs.
We got this one. You don't need to set up the whole shebang when you play but then my husband got the whole thing set up and it was a pretty decent court I have to say. I am amazed none are stuck in any trees yet
This sounds like me and our membership at the local JCC with an excellent pool. We became members in January and, uh, didn't use it until this past weekend. But it was a hit! And we can totally get there multiple times a week and the kids can master swimming and nobody will get sunburned or green hair from the chlorine..... right?
Haha you crack me up. We will breeze through summer on a rotation of the pool and pickle ball. Despite never having played we’ll all be good enough to enjoy it. And we won’t mind putting on sunblock and no one will ask for overpriced snack bar food. And I live in VA so let’s do this! TTYL, NRA 👎🏼
Badminton is literally the only sport I am or have ever been good at. I 100% give the credit to my parents, who loved it and always put a net up and set some rackets and birdies out when they had parties when I was a kid, and gave me a kid's set to mess around with while the adults played (with a can of beer in hand, yes). We also had a croquet set we busted out for smaller parties, and that's also fun to play and doesn't require a ton of skill, and can include all ages. Our Magical Thing this summer is a new inflatable paddling pool. Our summers have become noticeably hotter year on year, and we've bought a new pool every summer and managed to get it to last a couple of months. My 4-year-old is dead keen, AND it attracts fox families in the evenings.
I liked her a lot b/c the boys would bitch about not getting to play on a team and she was like you can play intramural and boys get everything they want so shut up.
I am forever thinking about that TikTok with something like “thought it would be nice to buy an IKEA kitchen for the kids, and now I have two kitchens to clean.”
Oh I loved playing badminton in our backyard when I was growing up. I loved it so much that for years I’d claim I could have gone to the Olympics for it. I hope all your family badminton dreams come true this summer! I haven’t landed on my Magical Thing That Will Save Us this summer yet but now I want to buy a badminton set...
The tent I just ordered will be for sure saving my summer - it will be a breeze to set up and I’ll magically not hate camping anymore and it will never rain and everyone will sleep peacefully for 10 hours straight in it every time we use it! But my two floral rompers - those might be what ACTUALLY save the summer.... I wore one of them 3 days in a row already. I have HIGH HOPES for the badminton set 🏸❤️
Like usual, I’ll be counting on books and crafts to keep my 7 and 12 year old boys busy enough to stay off the video games (sometimes) when they’re home and I’m working. One thing new this summer: my oldest son is driving. So I’m hoping he can do some one-on-one outings with his younger brothers.
I have bad-badminton memories as a kid. It’s WAY harder than it looks. But it seems like it’d be fun if you could keep the back and forth going for longer than a few seconds. Sporty things I’ve tried with my kids usually don’t go anywhere, but I’ve seen them work for other families. Maybe I’ll keep an eye out for a set at a garage sale.
I also have a 23 year-old daughter. After so many summers with kids, I’ve learned to keep my expectations low from the start. If we get in some loungy moments on the couch with a book and spend some time wandering out and about, I’ll take it!
We’re almost done with Here in the Real World by Sara Pennypacker. Next up is My Own Lightning by Lauren Wolk. I like reading the emotional-journey type books with them. My husband’s reading Harry Potter to the younger one — and my older one is almost through the series. I also like randomly picking up a stack of books from the library and seeing what they like. Sometimes, I'm surprised.
I am also Team Badminton! Two summers running it is our go-to backyard activity, although yes the kids annoy me when they want to play for points--no, we play to Rally! LOL.
The hardest part for me is finding good birdies that don't break within a week. I've gone through so many. Do you have a rec?
So far the ones we got with our set have survived but I don't see them for sale individually yet. But you can find them here if you see any that resemble this:
I have totally thought about getting a badminton net. My kids and I were at a resort recently (my first on my own with them post-divorce) and we had so much fun playing. This post made me think I should just get one and hope for the best. I think the endless days of summer require that we think it will be different this time? And the need to get them off their screens is real. I am just about to buy a box with a lock and after their hour of screen time, lock them up. My daughter (who has a phone) maybe could check her text once per hour. I don't know. I feel like I'm losing the battle.
We actually did buy a lock box with a combination lock on it bc our one kid just could not control himself and would sneak off with the devices. Once I stopped being mad I had to do that and just did it it did help.
My yard isn't great for badminton, but I'll throw out bocce ball as a great summer activity that is actually fun for everyone in the family and is minimal pick up. And nobody will ever accidentally throw a ball at their sister's foot, surely.
My backyard is probably a smidge too small to play badminton in (and also it is currently under hostile takeover by 4-food weeds), but this year my younger one is old enough to go to tennis camp with her sister (who has been playing tennis and going to this camp for three years), so everyone in the house will be able to go to the city courts and play tennis this summer. Oh except despite having played competitively as a youth, the game is now super dangerous for my bad knee, so I guess my husband will have to take him on his own like he did this past weekend while I napped. Oh the fomo I will have, yes I will definitely.
I clearly need a badminton set. Or croquet set. We are a week into summer vacation and my kids have a camp this week but next week they don’t so I better get on figuring something out. Thanks for the shout out and contribution to that piece!
I have zero ideas myself because I have older kids and am jaded and have given up BUT I had a badminton set during covid times and while I loved it, the kids lost interest fairly quickly and I let the whole thing rust which I had regrets about after. But this makes me want a new one 😂 clearly I haven’t learned my own lesson.
“THIS time….”
It’s definitely gonna work! Also I’ll make my boyfriend play with me when my kids lose interest. Details on your set! I got my last one from Amazon and it was decent enough but I’m taking recs.
We got this one. You don't need to set up the whole shebang when you play but then my husband got the whole thing set up and it was a pretty decent court I have to say. I am amazed none are stuck in any trees yet
https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/baden-champions-series-badminton-set-16bdnubdmntnstxxxstg/16bdnubdmntnstxxxstg
Thank you for the rec!
This sounds like me and our membership at the local JCC with an excellent pool. We became members in January and, uh, didn't use it until this past weekend. But it was a hit! And we can totally get there multiple times a week and the kids can master swimming and nobody will get sunburned or green hair from the chlorine..... right?
Absolutely! No rowdy teens or pool pooping toddlers to cramp your style
Haha you crack me up. We will breeze through summer on a rotation of the pool and pickle ball. Despite never having played we’ll all be good enough to enjoy it. And we won’t mind putting on sunblock and no one will ask for overpriced snack bar food. And I live in VA so let’s do this! TTYL, NRA 👎🏼
Thank you!!!
Not only will you be great at pickle ball you're going to look cool/hot while you play
Badminton is literally the only sport I am or have ever been good at. I 100% give the credit to my parents, who loved it and always put a net up and set some rackets and birdies out when they had parties when I was a kid, and gave me a kid's set to mess around with while the adults played (with a can of beer in hand, yes). We also had a croquet set we busted out for smaller parties, and that's also fun to play and doesn't require a ton of skill, and can include all ages. Our Magical Thing this summer is a new inflatable paddling pool. Our summers have become noticeably hotter year on year, and we've bought a new pool every summer and managed to get it to last a couple of months. My 4-year-old is dead keen, AND it attracts fox families in the evenings.
Pool by day, fox videos by night!
Can we back up to your high school had a badminton team?
Our team was good too! (I was not.) The coach was such a big deal they named a gym in her honor lately. https://www.eths.k12.il.us/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&ModuleInstanceID=25&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=8626&PageID=1
I liked her a lot b/c the boys would bitch about not getting to play on a team and she was like you can play intramural and boys get everything they want so shut up.
I also thought this!!
Loved loved loved all of this. Big “it puts the lotion on its body” energy for “we will put the set away before it rains.”
I texted my husband to move it inside when I saw a few drops of rain. hurry hurry
I am forever thinking about that TikTok with something like “thought it would be nice to buy an IKEA kitchen for the kids, and now I have two kitchens to clean.”
Oh I loved playing badminton in our backyard when I was growing up. I loved it so much that for years I’d claim I could have gone to the Olympics for it. I hope all your family badminton dreams come true this summer! I haven’t landed on my Magical Thing That Will Save Us this summer yet but now I want to buy a badminton set...
This is the set we got! Recommend so far. https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/baden-champions-series-badminton-set-16bdnubdmntnstxxxstg/16bdnubdmntnstxxxstg
The tent I just ordered will be for sure saving my summer - it will be a breeze to set up and I’ll magically not hate camping anymore and it will never rain and everyone will sleep peacefully for 10 hours straight in it every time we use it! But my two floral rompers - those might be what ACTUALLY save the summer.... I wore one of them 3 days in a row already. I have HIGH HOPES for the badminton set 🏸❤️
I'm not kidding a friend sent me a text of her girls playing in their yard like angels a few hours ago.
I hope the tent has lots of great little pockets for you to store everything. <3
Like usual, I’ll be counting on books and crafts to keep my 7 and 12 year old boys busy enough to stay off the video games (sometimes) when they’re home and I’m working. One thing new this summer: my oldest son is driving. So I’m hoping he can do some one-on-one outings with his younger brothers.
I have bad-badminton memories as a kid. It’s WAY harder than it looks. But it seems like it’d be fun if you could keep the back and forth going for longer than a few seconds. Sporty things I’ve tried with my kids usually don’t go anywhere, but I’ve seen them work for other families. Maybe I’ll keep an eye out for a set at a garage sale.
I also have a 23 year-old daughter. After so many summers with kids, I’ve learned to keep my expectations low from the start. If we get in some loungy moments on the couch with a book and spend some time wandering out and about, I’ll take it!
Are there any books your 7 and 12 year old boys like that you like right now? I need some new reads for mine
We’re almost done with Here in the Real World by Sara Pennypacker. Next up is My Own Lightning by Lauren Wolk. I like reading the emotional-journey type books with them. My husband’s reading Harry Potter to the younger one — and my older one is almost through the series. I also like randomly picking up a stack of books from the library and seeing what they like. Sometimes, I'm surprised.
I am also Team Badminton! Two summers running it is our go-to backyard activity, although yes the kids annoy me when they want to play for points--no, we play to Rally! LOL.
The hardest part for me is finding good birdies that don't break within a week. I've gone through so many. Do you have a rec?
So far the ones we got with our set have survived but I don't see them for sale individually yet. But you can find them here if you see any that resemble this:
https://www.badensports.com/products/copy-of-champions-volleyball-badminton-birdy?_pos=4&_sid=ef8ee3cc2&_ss=r
Can I come over?? (Also thanks for the shout out!)
I have totally thought about getting a badminton net. My kids and I were at a resort recently (my first on my own with them post-divorce) and we had so much fun playing. This post made me think I should just get one and hope for the best. I think the endless days of summer require that we think it will be different this time? And the need to get them off their screens is real. I am just about to buy a box with a lock and after their hour of screen time, lock them up. My daughter (who has a phone) maybe could check her text once per hour. I don't know. I feel like I'm losing the battle.
We actually did buy a lock box with a combination lock on it bc our one kid just could not control himself and would sneak off with the devices. Once I stopped being mad I had to do that and just did it it did help.
My yard isn't great for badminton, but I'll throw out bocce ball as a great summer activity that is actually fun for everyone in the family and is minimal pick up. And nobody will ever accidentally throw a ball at their sister's foot, surely.
My backyard is probably a smidge too small to play badminton in (and also it is currently under hostile takeover by 4-food weeds), but this year my younger one is old enough to go to tennis camp with her sister (who has been playing tennis and going to this camp for three years), so everyone in the house will be able to go to the city courts and play tennis this summer. Oh except despite having played competitively as a youth, the game is now super dangerous for my bad knee, so I guess my husband will have to take him on his own like he did this past weekend while I napped. Oh the fomo I will have, yes I will definitely.
I clearly need a badminton set. Or croquet set. We are a week into summer vacation and my kids have a camp this week but next week they don’t so I better get on figuring something out. Thanks for the shout out and contribution to that piece!
LOL! We have a European vacation planned that I've pinned all the past 3 year's worth of hopes and dreams on. So. No biggie. Gonna be totally chill.