Planning a Fun Family Summer

CEBU, Philippines — Summer is fast approaching and so it’s high time to start planning for activities to make the sunny time a fun and productive season for the whole family. The time when the kids are off from school can either bring feelings of anxiety and stress or it can bring excitement and joy! Many parents – the moms especially – admits that whole days with the kids at home can be overwhelming.

Moms who are normally tied at home to take care of things while their husbands go to work and the kids go to school will certainly find it disconcerting when suddenly there’s a lot of noise and running around in the house. While the kids are always welcome company, they can be quite a distraction when there are other things to attend to. The solution lies in getting the kids busy with things that they like to do.

There is still little time left to let everyone in the family cast in their ideas for summer activities. Then at some point – say, on a weekend evening – maybe the whole family can gather to put their individual ideas together. This is the time for the unified summer plan to be drawn.

As much as possible, the summer plan shall work for the whole family. After the family shall have met together and discussed what activities they would like to do during summer, they may schedule their planned activities on a calendar, and the kids may then be allowed time to review the summer fun worksheet to see what other ideas they can come up with. The very act of coming up with a plan is at least already one fun activity to do as a family.

With a concrete summer plan in place, everything can go smoothly. What happens on the day-to-day is not left to chance. And, if even one schedule miscarries, the other schedules may still hold; thus, the overall plan may still work.

Having a plan saves parents from the insanity of having to quickly come up with a family activity when boredom begins to show on the kids’ faces. It’s so stressful, especially for parents who have other important things to do. A plan is always a good guide – or a reliable fallback in case other ideas that come to mind along the way don’t work out as thought. 

The website https://theconfidentmom.com shares other sensible ideas on how the family may ease their way into summer:

• Allow time to decompress.

The transition from the busy school year full of routine and structure to the lazy days of summer can be a bit challenging.  It helps to find a bit of time to transition into a time of loose structure, so there can be some set time structure and still there is fun time of just relaxing while everyone kick summer off.

To establish the mood that a summer day is a time free of the usual pressures, family members may remain in their pajamas the whole time. Of course, everyone will have to participate in accomplishing what has been scheduled for the day according to the set plan. But being in comfortable clothes (for activities that are homebound) can be quite relaxing.

• Be prepared and ready.

Even if the family has drawn a well-studied summer plan, some activities on the list may just be bound to fail. But that’s no reason for everything to fall apart.  The thing is to list fallback activities, in case some of the initial choices won’t carry through for any reason.  It truly doesn’t get better than not having to worry about second options because there’s several ready in line.

For example, it can suddenly rain in summer. So while most of the family’s scheduled summer activities may be outdoors, there must be fallback indoor activities too. Certain indoor activities may entail supplies, and these shall be ready as well. Aside from the usual story reading and home movie-viewing on a rainy day, things like cooking or arts-and-crafts projects shall also be considered.

• Have fun every day.

No matter how strictly the drawn family summer plan is to be followed, the plan shall allow for carefree days for the family to just enjoy each other’s company, for everyone to just sit back and take it easy. Leisurely making a meal for everyone to enjoy together afterwards is one fun activity to try.  Going through the old family photo album is another.

• Relax.

As everyone had toiled in drawing up a summer plan, everything should now unfold smoothly. But there’s no guarantee. As with anything, plans often come apart at the most inconvenient times. A good antidote is to go through summer and be ready for things to happen that will derail the day’s schedule.  Maybe it will rain on the day scheduled for going to the beach – the family may go with the flow and find ways to adapt.  This will help everyone make the best day, even if it rains on their parade!