Top Tips for a Fantastic Family Summer
If you prefer listening over reading:
Summer break is a great time for so many things! It’s fun in the beginning when it’s all new and depending on your situation, you don’t have to rush mornings, you don’t have to worry about homework or projects. It does tend to be a less stressful time for everyone, working parent or not. But it’s also a time that can start to drive everyone crazy after a while, kids doing too much screen time or bugging you because they’re “bored” Oh man, I hate that!
In our family, my kids go to swim team practice in the morning and then go to camp right after for a lot of the summer. But I do love not having to squeeze in homework and plan school projects. I don’t have to worry about picking them up in the early afternoon. But if I want to, I can and go do something with them together or each separately. So it is a much lower stress time for me than the school year.
I love summer because it is a great time to work on things that need attention but get lost in the shuffle and chaos of the school year. So I’m going to make this a two part entry. In this entry, I’m going to discuss the ways to make the most of summer break in this regard, working on improving areas such as behaviors, getting organized, or just things we’ve been meaning to teach or work with our kids on. Next episode, we’ll cover more fun stuff, scheduling fun activities or outings and still giving kids time to have some downtime and to “be bored” and ways to handle that annoying saying!
Summer is a Great Time to Work on:
- Potty training – because toddlers can run around without underwear or just underwear and you don’t get concerned that they are too cold.
- Getting kids to listen the first time
- Reducing whining
- A strategy for chores and/or allowance
- Respectful communication
- Smoother bedtimes and/or mornings
You name it, anything that’s been a struggle, you can choose it and focus on that. If there are many issues, choose one.
To learn tips on how to actually work on these issues above, you can listen to this episode on our podcast.
