If your kids attend
institutional schools – or if you’re a homeschooling family that follows the
typical school calendar – your kids are now “off” for the summer. In my city,
it’s only been a week, but I know kids in other communities may have finished
before Memorial Day. And, of course, you probably thought through at least some
of your summer plans well before the season actually launched (i.e., you had to
reserve the lake cabin and register for Vacation Bible School months ago). But
what about all the days in between the family vacation and the kids’ camp
weeks?
I struggle with
telling other parents how to organize their summers because individual
circumstances vary so greatly…in so many ways. Some have older kids while
others have littles; some are home with children and others are in the
workforce; some use summer to decompress from the “school year” while others
see it as the perfect time to play academic “catch up.” In fact, the way my
kids and I “do summer” is very different from that of most people I know
because we have a year-round homeschool schedule, and, thus, don’t have 12
weeks to “fill” with miscellaneous activities. We love our routine, but some
people think we’re nuts and would never dream of adopting it for their families!
All that said, I
asked my daughters – ages 13 and 14 – to brainstorm for me some
non-technology-based summer teen activities, hoping those who’ve recently read
Dr. Kathy’s book Screens and Teens
will appreciate ideas for using summertime to loosen the grip technology has on
some teens:
· Find a pen pal from another state or country
– not a “text pal” or even an email pal…but a person with whom to exchange
handwritten letters;
· Start and maintain a garden (not too late in
the season if you jump on it now);
· Organize regular outings with a small group
of friends (to an amusement park, the zoo, a city pool or lake, etc.)…and leave
cell phones in the car for the duration;
· Grab a couple of cookbooks from the library
and learn to prepare a full dinner for your family each week;
· Investigate area bike trails and plan one
trek each week;
· On a sweltering day, spend the afternoon with
friends in an air-conditioned bowling alley;
· Paint your bedroom…in a way that truly
reflects your personality;
· Learn to change the oil and tires on family
cars;
· Organize an ice cream social with friends at
an area park…and bring enough to surprise everyone else who happens to be there
with sundaes;
· Learn to sew…knit…make
jewelry…paint…draw…work with wood, etc.;
· Plan a weekly family game night – board and
card games only, nothing electronic;
· Challenge yourself to read at least one
chapter a day in a real (non-Kindle) book, choosing material of personal interest
– things you don’t get to read the rest of the year.
Of course, my girls’
list is not exhaustive. But share it with your kids and then use it to
brainstorm with them to plan a summer that will suit your own circumstances.
*****
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