Whether you work from home, stay at home, homeschool, work outside the home or rock some combination of them all the ending of the school year brings changes that can cause stress! This is my 5th summer with 4+ kids and I’m here to tell you that you can, in fact, enjoy summer with your kids and still get stuff done!
I’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t (at least for my set of kiddos) and want to share my tips and tricks with you!
Read on to learn how to enjoy summer with your kids (and still get stuff done)! Scroll to the bottom for the printable #purposefulsummer field guide.
As part of my focus on PURPOSE(FUL) living in June, I want to share my tips and tricks for a #purposefulsummer – with your kids.
I feel like we tend to look at the end of the school year with dread sometimes. Let’s be honest, the quiet and productivity and ability to have full thoughts is nice during school hours.
BUT, I honestly cringe inside when I hear parents say that they hate having their kids home in the summer.
I think that feeling often pops up when parents are stressed out, overwhelmed, overworked, and haven’t planned ahead or set up boundaries.
Enter me, your Type A #purposefulsummer Tour Guide. 😉
How can you enjoy summer with your kids and still get stuff done?
Brainstorm Together
Sit down with your kids (we like to chat over snack time because…FOOD) and ask them what ideas they have for activities, outings, etc. Get them excited about summer and involve them in the process. We usually brainstorm activities that fall roughly into these categories:
- Arts/Crafts
- Activities/Games at Home
- Water Activites
- Outings near us (different parks, local museums, local waterparks/pools, zoo)
- “Big Kid” activities (big trampoline park, laser tag, etc)
- Cooking
- Science experiments
I’ve done this with my kiddos every year. As summer gets closer they now volunteer ideas for the list without me even saying anything!
Here’s our list from last year: Summer Bucketlist
If you want some more ideas, we tested several things out one summer:
Summer Activities for Kids pt 1 and Summer Activities for Kids pt 2
Develop a Quiet Time/Nap Time Routine
This is major, especially if you need to get some work done or have multiple kids. This is my lifesaver no matter the time of year and regardless of your parenting style a version of this can be implemented!
I worked to have the littles naps coincide and now they both go down between 12/12:30 and sleep for a couple hours. If one wakes up, they can either play quietly or watch a show until 3/3:30. Older kids get quiet play time in their rooms or technology time IF their chores/daily work is complete.
This guarantees about 3 hours of (fairly) uninterrupted work time for me.
When they were younger, I trained them to do this and because I started early it’s now second nature to them. (And they all benefit from some peace and quiet.)
Tip: When your toddlers start to outgrow naps, give them quiet play activities that they can do independently. If you have a kiddo who struggles with this, try quiet time boxes. It takes some work at first because you have to teach some littles how to play independently but over time it will work! My kids now play for a bit and put themselves in bed if they are tired.
Keep It Simple
Don’t over think things! If you love daily activities and find joy in doing lots of projects with your kids – then do them! If the thought of having to do arts and crafts for days makes you want to freak out – then pick one 30 minute slot once a week and let your kids go nuts. What I’m saying is, don’t overcomplicate things. Summer should be fun and relaxing for you AND your kids. Use Pinterest for ideas but don’t let it dictate how your summer will go.
I’ve tried a variety of things over the years – simple and not so simple. Check them out below.
How I Structured Summer with Four
DIY 4th of July shirts (not so simple – but oh so fun… it started a tradition of making a shirt every year!)
Be Mindful of Boundaries
Learn to limit yourself if possible (esp if you work from/at home). I either write ahead or slow down with posting on my blog. I don’t schedule as many jewelry events, and I try to block out weekends that don’t have anything going on so we can be a family. Don’t try to cram everything in to a day or into a summer.
I am learning that the best thing I can offer my family is my full self – my attention, my focus, my time.
I am sometimes bad about turning the computer off at 3 when the kids get up and them I’m distracted and constantly running back and forth. I find myself barking at them more and it’s usually not because they are misbehaving more than usual. It’s typically because I’m distracted and on some level feel annoyed that they are interrupting me. Which is all kinds of backwards. SO, I’m getting better at keeping those boundaries in place. If I say I’m going to be done working at a certain time, the computer goes off and the phone goes away (if possible) so that I can focus on them.
Have Realistic Expectations
Your kids aren’t perfect and neither are you. There will be days when the plan goes out the window. Some days you may have to put on a movie so that you can clean the house or get to your emails. And that’s okay! I’ll get to the details in the next sections, but having planning ahead, prioritizing, and having a flexible rhythm rather than a set-in-stone schedule really helps to keep you on track.
Prioritize
Do this with daily, weekly, monthly tasks both work related and home related. What absolutely has to be done and what can wait? When you think about things this way, you’re freed up to enjoy your kids.
Use Time Management
This goes along with prioritizing, and setting goals really helps you create your daily task lists. Do what works for you in order to manage your time. Set a timer, have the kids help with certain things, get up early, do laundry every day at nap time – whatever works for you. I personally love a combo of daily time blocking and batch scheduling.
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Decide on a day for each task and a couple potential time slots for each as well.
- For example, here’s my laundry and cleaning daily tasks. I try to do them first thing in the morning or will knock them out after L is in bed.
- Monday (clean bathroom/wash towels)
- Tuesday (clean bedrooms/wash sheets)
- Wednesday (clean living space/wash darks)
- Thursday (clean kitchen/wash delicates)
- Friday (clean fridge/wash baby clothes)
- Saturday (wash J’s work clothes)(home, work, summer school, etc)
- For example, here’s my laundry and cleaning daily tasks. I try to do them first thing in the morning or will knock them out after L is in bed.
I do the same with my work and will have certain daily “summer school” tasks and chores for the kids as well.
Batch scheduling is the idea of getting all of one type of work done at once (such as emails or writing). For me, this works best for blogging/running my online biz but it could also work well if you want to clean a certain day and do laundry a certain day (for example).
Create a Summer Calendar
This is so important. It can be as detailed or as simple as you want, but I suggest going old school and having a paper copy first THEN transferring it into the digital world. It just helps keep everything straight. A paper copy is also easy to show a kiddo who JUST CAN’T WAIT FOR POKEMON CAMP. Here’s a quick outline of my mental process in creating a summer calendar for the kids and I. It really is the key to helping you enjoy summer with your kids because it gives you a plan. You don’t always have to follow the plan and you can change the plan. But a plan gives you a place to come back to when things start to get a little crazy, and that is what keeps us sane.
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Look at the entire summer
- block out vacations, camps, deadlines, etc
- add in bigger outings/trips (once a summer things)
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Look at each month
- add in once or twice a month things (for us: zoo)
- divide your kids’ brainstormed list up among the months
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Look at each week
- add in any weekly activities (i.e.: library on Mondays, golf practice on Fridays)
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Think about how you want your days to flow
- Go for a flexible daily rhythm over a rigid schedule.
- For us: TV off at 9, outside for 30 (if not going somewhere), school work for 30, GO+DO our daily activity, lunch around 11:30/12, quiet play/nap time 12:30-3, pool 3-5
That was a lot of information, but I sincerely hope it helps you enjoy summer with your kids and still get stuff done!
If you’re ready to apply this info to your own summer, download your FREE #purposefulsummer field guide ! It’s got a page for each section that we talked about in this post so that you can take back your summer!
Come find me on social media or tag me and use #purposefulsummer so I can see what you end up doing!
Happy Summer!