Making the Most of Monday: Summer Break Life
If you are new to the magazine, Making the Most of Monday is a
regular part of our features. Mondays signify one important thing, a fresh start.
It's like a new years resolution at the start of every week.
Hopefully
by Monday you've taken some off time during the weekend to rejuvenate,
spend quality time with loved ones and friends, which makes Monday your
chance to really get to work and make the most of your week.
This week: Summer Break Life
Many of you may have children getting ready to end the school year for their summer break, me included. For some of us, well most of us it means re-evaluating our time. For me, I want to spend the most time with my children as I can for the summer so I'm re-evaluating how I organize my time here at Vintage Indie. I'm considering a couple of options and making sure I do what's best for my family. Are you having to make arrangements for your children this summer? Did you decide on camp, grandma's, daycare? Summer break can be wonderful in its flexibility, but are you being flexible with it? I hoping this is just a reminder to make plans to spend more time with your kids when you can.
Did you know that the average recess time in public schools is between 24–30 minutes per day? That was actually an old number taken from a survey in 2006 from The Center for Public Education, it could be even less where you are at. I remember when recess was well over 25 minutes sometimes 45-60 minutes and children were given more time to release the energy that that needed to burn off lunch and more. To me this is alarming and even another important reason why we need to get out doors this summer. I'm thinking with only 25 minutes to burn off energy, I can see where it would be rather difficult to sit in a chair all day especially when PE is only once a week.
Anyway, let's get back to Summer Break Life. I'll be taking some time to organize our summer break assuring we are getting plenty of exercise and less TV.
What about you? What are some of the things that you like to do during summer break with your kids/grand-kids?
I have to be honest- I’m terrified of summer break. I have 2 girls in grade school- and I have a 3 year old and an 18 month old at home.
It is very difficult for me to plan activities that can happily include all 4 of them. The little ones still take naps, and the big ones get super annoyed when they have to be quiet during this time. I know- I’m complaining a lot. It’s just very hard. I want to find ways of making it less stressful.
Hi Rachel,
I completely understand. My children are a few years apart so I had one napping a lot while the other one was awake. The best thing I did, was to let him play (not scream) and the napper got used to all of the noise. He can practically sleep just about anywhere now.
I’m sure the balance is difficult.
Anyone else have any tips or ideas for managing kids of different ages during summer break?
I can’t even think about summer break without having an anxiety attack. Now that I’m working part-time (outside the house), summer break is taking on an entirely new meaning. My kids are 5 and 10. Containing them and finding activities to keep them busy becomes more and more difficult. I have got to get my babysitting nailed down this week. Thanks for the reminder! LOL
I am looking forward to summer break! I have a 3 year old and a 5 year old.They only go to school from 9am to 12am, so summer break doesn’t change that much for me! We live in Montreal Canada, winter is so long here that once the sun is nice and warm everyone is excited to go outside!
We are going to do a ton of biking, lots of pique-niques, go the botanical gardens, go visit farms, go blueberry and strawberry picking and of course go the train and the tractor museums!.
We also go and have lunch at a large farmers market once a week. It’s a fun way to get the groceries done and the kids get to sample lots of fresh fruits and vegetables!
Plus I love that we can take our time in the mornings and some days we just hangout at the park or in the backyard!
I can not wait until it starts!!!
Zenzhey- you made me feel all upbeat suddenly! I guess I’ll just need to get some courage, and load up all 4 of them and go to local markets and such. Thanks for being so positive!
Rachel, my kids are 20 months apart and I have to say there was a time when things were really not easy! I think the secret is like Vintage Indie said, make the little one nap in the midst of chaos! I use to time it so that we would be close to something fun for the big one when the little one had a nap. I had an ergo baby carrier and I would pop him in there and he would sleep while we did something more “grown up”,anything the big one wanted to do! Now the little one can sleep anywhere! He also stopped napping altogether at about 18 months! But thats another story! 🙂
Rachel, I’m also with you with the getting a little scared about school break. I work from home and do have to be focused on work at times. My daughter is eight and needs to have lots of attention or will turn to the tv or computer or all the other things I would rather not have her doing.
As much as I enjoy spending time hanging out, playing and exploring with my daughter, it also means late nights, lost sleep, and generally grumpy mornings following just trying to get caught up on my work afterwards. Guess it all goes back to trying to find that balance in life…