Dianne

Schools Out!!! Now What???

 Now that the kids are beginning a two and a half mouth carefree summer vacation, which sounds fun for them, working parents must deal with finding temporary child care and stay at home parents suddenly have a house full of kids who need to be entertained and supervised. Any change in schedule can be hectic, especially the first couple of weeks. Children need some form of structure whither they go to day care or stay home. They are use to the structure of the school day. Having a summer with out structure makes it a real challenge to get back in the groove when school begins again. So what do we do? We set the schedule and stick to it when ever possible. If you are a working mom try to find a day care with a children's summer program. There are several in my area that are involved a wide variety of activities. They focus on giving the children fun activities that give them something to share when asked what they did during the summer. This gives them the structure of getting up and having a routine with lots of fun summer activities. Some working mom's have the luxury of a flexible schedule and have created a group with other mom's. One group in my town has created a five-mom group where each mom works four ten-hour days at her job, on her day off she does fun activities with all of the children. This is good trade if you can work it out. Keep the children's summer schedule as similar as possible to their school schedule. I have found that you can change the time they start their day and bedtime by one hour. If you change more then this it is hard to get back to the school schedule when school starts. Since it stays light longer in the summer and we do so many family things in the evening, I change bedtime to one hour later. Keep mealtime at around the same time of day, also. The body does best with a routine. If you are a stay at home mom make a summer schedule. Your children will benefit from this and so will you. It will keep them use to a structured routine.

Sample Summer Schedule ·

8:00 am-wake all of the children

8:30 am-dress, hair, teeth, put PJ's away, make bed

9:00 am-breakfast and clean up

9:30 am-free play time

12:00 pm- lunch and clean up

1:00 pm-quiet play time (encourage learning activities) or nap time for small ones

3:00 pm-scheduled activity

6:00 pm-dinner

7:00 pm-family Time

8:30 pm-chores and get ready for bed

9:00 pm-bed time

Adjust this schedule to meet your needs and your children's ages. Remember the purpose is to keep to a schedule that works into everyone's life and will make fitting back into the school schedule as easy as possible. This schedule accomplishes these main goals.

1. Keeps kids bodies on schedule, increasing health

2. Mealtime keeps the kitchen under control.

3. Gives children a time to keep up on their learning skills.

4. Makes summer fun for all of the family.

Ideas for scheduled activity and family activity time.

These ideas beat boredom and keeps everyone enjoying the summer. ·  

• Visit one of the area parks or splash pads
• Run through the sprinkles ·
• Story time at the library or do your own story time. ·
• Trip to historic sites and museums ·
• Go camping, even if it is in your own back yard ·
• Make crafts-we have some fun crafts in our Kids Craft Section. Try the Popsicle flowers. ·
• Make Popsicles or bake cookies (we have included a no bake cookie recipes in out recipes section) ·
• Go to a parade. Kids can take the backpack blanket from our craft section. -
• Go to the local fireworks. Take the noisemakers from our craft section. ·
• Check your local Craft Store. Roberts has a Kids Clubhouse scheduled for this summer. ·
• Visit your local library. ·
• Purchase some learning activity work books

So how do we keep our life organized and have some summer fun? Set the schedule and keep to it. It will take some effort but it will be worth it. Make sure to plan a mix of learning and fun activities for the children. This will really help everyone to enjoy thier summer.