How to mentally prepare for the summer with kids

I am really behind the eight ball on thinking about and planning our family’s summer. I’ve been away for the last 12 days for an extended family matter which in truth, is still going on. Instead of letting myself spin out of control; however, I’m choosing to focus on grounding things. One of the grounding things I’m doing is taking time to envision my family’s summer. Even if the kids are out for the summer in a mere four days! Yikes! Nope. Not going to freak out. It’s never too late to put intention around something. This is no exception.

To start planning summer with kids, I’ve captured my visions, needs, desires, and goals in my journal. Good old fashioned pen-to-paper. Free-flowing it with not only what I want to accomplish and do, but how I want to feel. What I want my state of mind to be, and what I want things to look like. These precious summer days with my boys while they’re still young enough to want to be at home with me (more or less lol). I choose to actively cherish this time. Logically, I know it’s fleeting. I have friends with graduating seniors looking to send their kids off to college at the end of the summer. First and foremost, summer with kids is a time to cherish. (I will likely need to remind myself of this fact about two weeks in. LOL) 

With my overall vision captured for our summer, I’ll next start identifying activities or tasks to achieve the vision. That is, what the activity or task is that’s needed to achieve the feeling I’m envisioning. Additionally, adding to the mix all of the recurring appointments and classes we’ve already committed to. I plan to go with the approach of balancing structure and commitments with free-flowing play time. They’re only kids once! Fun and play is a key ingredient to any good summer.

Before I start putting a bunch of things on the calendar, I’m planning to have 1:1s with each kid. I want to find out what they’ve got in mind for their summer. What are the expectations? What do their hearts most desire? Do they have any visions of their own? Once I get this input from all of my boys (including the hubs), I plan to have us all sit down together to talk about more family-related visions and goals. I’d like to see where things may overlap or conflict. 

Once all of the input is in, it’s time to put my master organizer hat on. Time to start putting things on the calendar — things like appointments, day trips, and more extended trips. In addition to adding things to the calendar, I’m considering creating a visual schedule for the boys to work from. I can only imagine that as a kid, having pretty much zero control over the schedule, or knowing what’s going to happen next is really hard. I mean, even when they’re in school they more or less know what the activity or subject is.

Visual schedules will include things like their daily chores and daily development responsibilities. For example, I will be reinforcing with them that their “job” is to invest time in their own reading journey. I think I will create a second schedule with a list of suggested activities so when I get the inevitable, “I’m bored” I can simply refer them to the list. 

Speaking of the “I’m bored” thing… Can we just talk about kids and snacking during the summer? OMG. Non-stop. Thank goodness summers are when all the great fresh produce is in season. I’m making it my mission to keep the fridge stocked with cut up melon, cucumbers, cherries, and the like. The idea being, at least every other snack will be fresh produce instead of all snacks coming direct from the pantry. I’m sure they’d love to live in it if they could.

Once all of this up-front work is done, my intention is to check in regularly with myself. I intend to journal to capture how I think things are going. I am remaining open to adjust, as needed. None of this is set in stone. We just need something to work from. I don’t want to get to the end of the summer and realize a whole lot of it was spent in front of the TV and no actual progress was made on things like reading.

Oh! And the biggest tactic of all I’m employing this summer? Saving the best for last here… The concept of a transition week. That is, a transition week from school to summer, and then another one from summer to school. If you think about it, that’s quite a shock to the system otherwise. For both the kids and the parents. This transition week can be an opportunity to finish getting things on the calendar and “trying on” new tactics. Like tricks for keeping siblings from fighting (too much, at least) or being glued (too much, at least) to screens.

In a nutshell, my process for how to mentally prepare for the summer with kids:

1. Free-form journaling to capture not only what I want to do, but how I want to feel doing it.
2. Identify activities that will help achieve what I’ve captured in the journaling process, keeping in mind the overall theme of balancing structure with free-flowing play time.
3. One-on-one check-ins with the kids; then a family meeting to capture visions for the summer. And most importantly, to understand expectations.
4. Put things on the family calendar.
5. Plan to check in regularly with myself about how things are going and adjust accordingly.

Cherish yourself: Give yourself time to think about and plan your summer with kids even if it has already started; commit to checking in with yourself periodically and adjust, as-needed.