Summertime And The Living is Lazy

As a parent, I always approach the end of the school year with mixed emotions.  While I am happy to be free of the 9 to 4 school schedule, homework, after school activities and all the other school year commitments, it is replaced with thoughts of how to keep my children engaged in activity, while not over-scheduling.

My pre-teen son was opposed to many summer opportunities this year. My young daughter is still too young for many camps herself. So what is a mom to do who wants to keep her kids from being bored, without having to spend all her time being responsible for entertaining them?

Compromise was the word of the day for our summer planning this year. With approximately 11 weeks of summer, I encouraged my kids to look at half day camps that lasted about a week. Both kids selected two camps each that only require a morning commitment. We selected one camp each for June and another in July.  Also scheduled in July the kids agreed to attend a week long, mornings-only Vacation Bible School.  Originally they fought me a bit on this idea. They wanted a lazy, unscheduled summer. I reminded them, though, that it leaves a lot of time to be bored. One week a month was perfect, leaving a lot of time for free movies, trips to the Zoo, the pool, etc.

Intentionality is another word of the day for our summer planning. Last summer the kids and I took the time to make a 'wish list' of the top 30 places to visit over the summer.  We visited 22 of them. This year I made a different goal for us.  It is all about going to new places. It will include The Muny, the Children's Aquarium, and the circus. Sometimes we forget about all the wonderful opportunities this city offers and we need to visit these iconic places. In the same vein, I am scheduling regular play dates for my daughter, while encouraging my son to contact his friends regularly, too. I know that other parents can use a break from their kids as much as I need one.  It is a win-win for all of us. Plus, I want my kids to stay connected to their friends so that when school resumes again they feel it is a natural transition to being with them again.

Engaging is the final word of the day for this summer. As a parent, one of my biggest summer challenges is to have time for myself. There is still cleaning, cooking, laundry, errands--and my writing--to accomplish in an average week.  Plus, I want down time to relax, too. My 'aha' moment is that when I spend just a little bit of time with my kids each day, they are much more agreeable to give me the time I need each day. Every day I read with both of my kids for about 30 minutes each. Not only does that help them stay engaged academically, but they also have the St. Louis County Library Summer Reading program as a motivation to make this a daily discipline.  Another small, yet powerful, way I stay engaged with the kids is to play a board or card game with them daily, too. It has always been one of my favorite activities with my kids and we usually laugh more while we are playing than any other time during the day. We have some wonderful games, including some 'oldies' that I brought in from my childhood, which includes the 1970's version of LIFE.  It's wonderful to give my kids a little bit of my childhood into theirs.

Summer does not have to be filled with dread in figuring out how to fill that expanse of nothing but time. With just a little planning you can make this a summer to remember!