Plan For A Great Summer With Your Kids!
By Reina Lombardi
Summer break almost always starts off with pure excitement for kids to be out of school and not have to worry about homework.
They often romanticize this time of freedom and fun. Until week three rolls around and the “I’m bored! There is nothing to do,” statements start to make their appearance with great frequency.
What is that old saying about idle hands…. Kids crave stimulation and activity. Boredom can be a large contributor to depressive symptoms and maladaptive coping in order to feel stimulated in some way.
It is helpful to have a plan for the Summer months.
Summer break can be a great opportunity for kids to learn responsibility and how to care for their personal environment.
Can you identify a project around the house that needs to be completed that your kids can assist with while they are out of school? Organizing the closets or garage for example. Or, maybe it is taking on a large landscaping project – new flower beds and mulching. Perhaps, the baseboards and fans in your house are overdue for a good wipe down.
What activities are age appropriate for your child to complete? Obviously your 8 year old may not be the best person to take on painting the walls of the living room, but your 16 year old might.
Make a list of projects that you want to be completed over the summer. Ask that they choose one per week to complete. For each task, list something that they will earn for completion of the task. This could be an extra hour of screen time that week, a trip to get ice cream sundaes together or a new book of their choosing. It doesn’t have to be expensive, just motivating for them to engage. You know your child’s interests best. Bonus points for big projects that are completed together as a team or family.
Several years ago I had my sister’s three kids over their Spring Break, while my sister and her husband went on vacation. While the kids were here, they helped us with a massive landscaping project. We are talking ripping out bushes, digging out roots, removing dirt, installing fencing and much more! We worked together over several days to complete it. As a reward, we all went go-carting and had a crab boil dinner (they choose) as the reward for our efforts. Did they complain while we were doing it – Absolutely! And we made lots of memories and have many inside jokes now as a result. Expect some complaints and offer encouragement. Later, they will recall these memories with appreciation.
Make a plan for an activity at least once per week that gets everyone out of the house. Sunlight is great for sleep & mood regulation. Again, this doesn’t have to be expensive. It could be an outing to the library, swimming at the neighborhood pool or beach, biking at Lakes Park, a water balloon fight in the back yard, or having a chalk art contest in your driveway for all the kids in the neighborhood. Having something on the calendar gives them something to look forward to doing. It is helpful to have a family meeting about the types of things that you would like to do together based on what is realistically within your budget. Then add them to the summer schedule.
Everyday of the summer doesn’t need to be structured and planned, but having structured plans a couple of days per week will help your teens from getting into the sleep all day – up on the screen all night routine and the younger folks from getting bored and whining.
Most importantly, remember that time together as a family is about creating moments of joy, love and laughter. Those memories will be priceless for all – even if they are made doing manual labor.
We hope you have a great summer!