Bring Winter Inside to Your Kids With Bathtub Snow Playtime

I'm probably wrong, but I feel like the winter of 2020-2021 has been more like the winters of my childhood than in any other in recent years. There is no doubt that when we're children everything seems so much bigger than it really is, but I feel like we got a whole lot more snow when I was growing up than we have in the years since I became an adult.

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I saw a chart on a website called The Golden Snowball which keeps a running tally of snowfall totals, awarding the Golden Snowball to the town that has received the most snow for the season, and this year, Binghamton is king. We've had so much snow that we are (so far) beating Syracuse which is no doubt one of New York State's snowiest cities and we're not beating them by a little, but by a lot.

According to The Golden Snowball, Binghamton averages 60.2 inches of snow a season while Syracuse averages 96.8 inches. This year, Binghamton has seen a recorded 91.3 inches of snow while Syracuse has seen 63.3 inches. Even Buffalo hasn't received as much snow as they generally do.

All of this snow has meant lots of outdoor playtime opportunities for our kids except for when it's too cold for them to be outside or when they're been sick. Thinking about that took me back to my childhood.

One of my brothers was prone to pneumonia as a little boy and it was heartbreaking for him to watch the rest of us from the window. My mom came up with a way for my brother to be able to be included in the snow fun while keeping him safe and that was to have us haul in bucket after bucket of snow and dump it in our bathtub. Mom would then bundle our brother in a snowsuit and cold weather accessories and let him sit in the bathtub to play with snow.

If your kids want to play outside but can't for one reason or another and it's breaking your heart, keep the snow in the bathtub trick in the back of your mind and I promise you that your kids will remember what you did for them for the rest of their lives.