Ten Great Ways to Enjoy a Porch Swing

Adding a redwood, cedar, or teak garden or porch swing, glider, or bench to your backyard, front or back porch, or garden can add beauty to your yard and enhance your life by engaging in some of the following.
1. A great way to spend time is to sit with your children or grandchildren and read. Reading to children is a wonderful way to instill a life-long love of reading in them. Bright, colored picture books for toddlers, easy to read books for young children, and chapter books as they grow older. Visit your library or pull books from your collection. You can read to them, they can read to you, or take turns. You read a page, they read a page, or a chapter.
2. As you enjoy the fresh outdoor air, talk—to your children, your spouse or significant other, your friends. Keep the lines of communication open and receptive as you relax on a swing, glider, or bench. You don’t have to talk about anything heavy-duty. How’s school going? Work? What did you like about the TV show, book, or shopping trip? Find out another’s favorite color, food, board game, or sport.
3. Do you have a flower garden? Place a bench or glider amongst the flowers to enjoy their beauty and fragrance. Take a break from tilling the earth, planting flowers or veggies, or harvesting the fruits of your labor.
4. Almost every child loves to swing, or you may have as a child. Hang a garden swing from a sturdy tree limb and swing away. You can create memories for your children or recall memories from your own childhood. You can also enjoy the leaves--from new buds and blossoms in the spring, lush green leaves in summer, and spectacular fall foliage. Sit on your garden swing and watch the snow fall in the winter.
5. Add a bird seed feeder or hummingbird nectar feeder to your yard, sit on your swing, glider, or bench and watch the fascinating behavior or the birds. Watch the antics of our feathered friends as they preen in a birdbath. Maybe a bird is building a nest in your yard or tree. What a great way to learn how birds build a nest, then about a mother bird caring for her offspring.
6. Soak in the natural beauty of the open fields, mountains, lake, or ocean from your porch. Where ever you look, there is bound to grass, trees, or look up and watch the clouds.
7. The night sky sparkles with stars. Look for constellations—the Big Dipper in the northern sky is the easiest for those not familiar with constellations. Orion’s belt is fairly easy to spot in the southwestern sky. Find a book from the library or a bookstore about constellations. See how many you can locate, depending on which hemisphere you live in and the season of the year.
8. The dazzling city lights at night are another way to spend time in a porch swing or on a garden bench. If you live in a small town or the country and have no sparkling lights, you can listen to the crickets.
9. If you need time alone, relax on a swing or bench. You can read, journal, meditate, take a nap, listen to music, or to nothing but the sounds of nature. Enjoy a glass of iced tea, lemonade, or cup of coffee.
10. Drop your pool towels on a swing or bench while you splash in the water. Then sit on the swing while taking a break from the water. Refuel with snacks and a beverage.
There are numerous reasons to add a garden or porch swing, glider, or bench to your porch, garden, or yard. You’ll be making memories while enjoying time with family and friends, learning new things, and strengthening relationships. You can relax while you take in natural beauty and the wonders of nature. Or you can take a needed break to seek solitude, all on a garden or porch swing, glider, or bench.