Summer’s Here! What Now?!
Summer Parenting Tips for Houston Parents
Summer’s here! It’s getting hot, and the last day of school has come and gone for this crazy 2020-21 school year. Anything feeling different? Maybe your schedule is more relaxed and you’re feeling less pressure. But why are your kids acting worse?
Children’s Anxiety and Parent Expectations
We’ve all been through a lot in the last year and a half, and some of us expect smooth sailing now that things are feeling better. Believe it or not, it can work the opposite way. After a prolonged period of stress, it’s not uncommon for us to experience a time of increased anxiety and discomfort upon our return to “normal.” It doesn’t really feel how we expect normal to be, and we’re operating as if it is. Kids are no different.
Six Ways to Help Houston Kids
But there are simple strategies that can give your kids a good foundation and you some peace. Here are our top six tips for summer success.
Establish and keep a routine
Resist the temptation to abandon all schedules. Bedtimes and wakeups can be later if your obligations will allow, but predictability can help kids’ behavior. And they still need enough sleep, or the next day will probably not be their best. Even if you’re on vacation, try to keep in mind the things that your family needs to be its happiest. Snacks, naps, bedtime routines? Be sure you’re allowing time for them, and you’ll all have a better time.
Don’t keep your schedule and routines a secret
Keep your children in the loop on what’s going on. Starting a new day camp next week? Let them know about it. Describe how it will go and what they can expect. Keep a family calendar, post your schedules, come up with a routine for your kids to follow. (We’ve got a free, easy-to-use routine template that you can download to give you a head start.) We as parents get busy and can forget to let our kids know what’s coming for them. This can lead to anxiety, resistance, and in the end, unhappy family moments.
Form some basic expectations for chores and self-care tasks.
Even though we view summer as time off for kids, it’s not great for them to have no work to do. Chores and other tasks give them the opportunity to practice and improve their self-help and family help skills. Kids love being given real tasks. They might not do them perfectly, but they can learn. If your family has a slower pace in the summer, this makes it an even better time to really give them some responsibilities and expect them to handle them. You won’t be in such a rush, and your child will learn that you genuinely believe in their abilities. Have reasonable expectations, with age-appropriate chores and enough time to complete them. Using a routine like the one above can set them up to form habits that will serve them well their whole lives.
Leave time for boredom
Summer can mean a time of enrichment and entertainment for families, a way to give their kids experiences they don’t have room for during the school year. But unscheduled time, when kids are responsible for entertaining themselves, can give rise to some of their best growth and fun. It’s wonderful to let them use their imaginations.
Limit screen time
You may loosen your limitations on video games or videos on the ipad when kids aren’t having to finish school assignments and get to bed early. But don’t let them disappear into the screens available to them. Let them read, draw, create--even if they say they’re bored (see #4 above).
Have fun with them, on their terms
Set aside some time with your child when they can be in charge of what you’re going to do. This can be one time a week, for about 30 minutes, and is not the same as one-on-one time for something you plan (like going on an outing or for a meal with you). Play what they want to play (ideally not video games), don’t ask questions, let them make the rules, don’t allow any interruptions, and really pay attention to them. It can change your relationship with them. For real. We teach more about this and other parenting tools in our parent classes--more info here