How to Delight and Rest with your Children this Summer
Summer is here again! A time of outside play, sunshine, beaches, and family. For those of us who don’t homeschool, this is the time of year when our children are home from school. Summer is a fun, exciting time with our children but can also be exhausting if you are not prepared. Our children are used to having a daily routine and expectations during the school year. Summer life can get a bit crazy but we don’t have to dread this time. Instead, we can delight in our children and rest with them this summer.
Summer in our culture is a time to reconnect with our children, have more family time, go on trips, and enjoy each other's company. All these activities are great but can quickly lead to anger, resentment, and boredom with everyone around each other all the time.
One search on Pinterest will give you hundreds of fun ideas to do with your kids this summer. They include things like creating bucket lists, vacations, zoos, activity kits, reading lists, and more. All these ideas can get overwhelming and quite honestly make moms who don't do all the stuff feel inadequate. I am going to propose that we do something different this summer. That we redeem this summer with our children. That our summer becomes a time of delight, rest, and discipleship with our family.
A restful summer of connection sounds wonderful! Not every day will be wonderful but here are some Tips and Tricks to help you have a more restful summer of enjoyment with your family.
Have a Routine for Everyone
I know that the LAST thing you want to think about in the summer is having a schedule or routine, but hear me out. Our children THRIVE with a routine. When children have a routine they feel safe and exhibit a decrease in behavior problems. How delightful it will be to have fewer arguments and whinnying. A schedule that is dictated by time can be very stressful and unachievable, especially in the summer when you don't want to be dictated by a clock.
Instead of a strict schedule set by the clock, have a routine. A routine is a WONDERFUL solution to the stress of following a clock. A routine allows you the flexibility to sleep late, the peace of knowing what is happening that day, and freedom. Below is a look at our summer routine. For my family, we prefer to start our day with time together and end our day with time together. Your family might be different. You might have nap schedules to work around or camps that kids attend. This is what is so great about a routine, it can be easily tailored to the needs of your family.
Daily Routine
Our daily routine looks very similar to our school year. We school year round, so our summer routine is our default routine when we are not doing school. Typically a few weeks are scattered throughout the year. When we wake up, each person gets their own breakfast, which is typically cereal. After breakfast, each child completes their morning routine. Our morning routine includes: getting dressed, making bed, and fixing their hair. After the morning routine, we gather together in the living room, or outside and spend about 15 minutes reading a read-aloud book together. Then it's free time until lunch. Some days free time is playing at home while other times this may be an activity somewhere. It kind of depends on what we have going on that week.
Lunchtime is simple in our house and usually includes leftovers, or picky plate lunches that consist of fruit, veggies, crackers, cheese, and a dessert. I have found that after lunch is the best time for us to get an activity of some sort in. (see list below for ideas) The afternoon is quiet time/reading time for about an hour, free time, dinner, and family worship.
This routine allows us to have an idea of what to expect throughout our days but allows flexibility to add in parks, splash pads, and sprinklers. Our children have TONS of time to play in between the few family activities and responsibilities. It helps keep our house in order as we are doing small chores every day and allows us to have strategic times throughout the day to connect.
Don’t Forget a Plan for Mom Or Dad!
Now that you have a basic routine for the family, you may want a more detailed plan for yourself. The routine works great as a basis for our days, but I prefer more details. Take some time to think about tasks you want to accomplish this summer. Do you want to spend time reading, writing, gardening, learning to bake, cleaning, or decluttering? Choose a few priorities and then plan when you will do those. Just as the kids have free time and activities planned, we need to plan for ourselves. I know if I don't plan when I will write, read, bake, and declutter those items won't get done. It’s too easy to waste the day away on social media, watching television or just being lazy. One of my favorite ways to plan my day is to use a block schedule planner like this one. I love the flexibility and the accountability I get by planning my day by blocks. I can get more accomplished on my to-do list, while still spending TONS of time with my family.
There are many ways to plan and organize what you would like to accomplish over the summer. I prefer to write a list of my big goals for the summer. I then use that list at the beginning of every week to plan out what small part of that project will be completed that week. One week at a time of planning, allows me to tweak as needed. If the weather is nice and we take an unplanned trip to the zoo, then great! I can just move my tasks to the next week. This helps me accomplish what I need to while still having energy and time for our family.
Family Fun Summer Activities
We all like to have fun during this summer. We love to find fun summer activities that we can enjoy as an entire family, from the 2-year-old toddler to the tween to the adults. Over the years we have learned that less truly is more. I am a low-key individual and prefer to stay home, save money, and do fun things together. Here are some quick ideas of activities you could do this summer that require little preparation and will create tons of family fun. Let’s make sure we are spending time enjoying and liking our children this summer.
Local Parks
Splash Pads
Library
Hiking Trails
Museums/Tourist Sites
Book Challenge- See who can read the most that week. The winner chooses a movie that week
Night walks with flashlights
Find your way home- parents take the child somewhere with their eyes closed and they have to tell parents how to get home
Build your own Fort
Make your own Obstacle Course
Service Ideas
Make Cards for friends and family
Bake something for a neighbor
Yard work for the elderly
Walk a neighbor’s dog
Clean something
There are many different ways we can keep ourselves and our children busy this summer without going overboard. We can have a restful, God-filled summer with our children at home. While we are spending time talking, reading, and working together we can teach our children about God. We can tell them stories from our lives about how we have seen God work in it. We can ask them questions. Summer doesn't have to be a time we dread. Summer can be a time we look forward to. A time to delight in our children, rest, and point them towards God.
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