How to help your child navigate the transition to Summer
Summertime is just around the corner, and for many kids that means a change in schedule and spending more time at home. Making the most of this season can be an opportunity to try new activities, learn how to handle more free time, and spend quality time with family. As you start planning the next few months, here are a few ways to help your child embrace this new season while staying on track with their goals.
Create a routine.
With a new schedule, your child may have trouble adjusting. It is important to talk about the changes and how they will affect your kid's life. First, it's important that they know that routines can help them adjust. You can ask questions like "What time do you get up in the morning?" or "When do you usually have breakfast?" or even "What do you usually do after school?". Once you have an idea of what their current routine looks like, try to change it up a little bit so that there are still some similarities but also some differences from before. For instance, if your child normally gets up at 8 am during the school year but now has more free time on their hands than usual because they don't have homework anymore and only has one class every day instead of two or three (or more), then maybe they should sleep until 9 am until they feel rested. You will begin to notice that when they wake up this small difference is a drastic step towards improvement. Second, set aside goals for themselves throughout each day - whether it be something small such as cleaning their room once per week or something large like volunteering at an animal shelter every other month throughout July & August. This way they'll always be working towards something while having fun too!
Talk about how it feels.
Talking about feelings of an unstructured routine and transitions are a great way to help your child understand and express their feelings. For example, your child might say phrases such as “It's hard when your friends are going on vacation and you're not” or “I feel sad when I don't see my friends all day."
When talking about feelings, it's important to be specific. For example, don't say “You don't want to go back to school?” Instead say “I know this transition may be difficult, what can I do to help?” If your child says something like "I'm bored," or "This sucks," try asking them what would make them feel better instead of saying things like: "Don't say that" or "It's not that bad." Simply responding with questions such as "What can we do together?" or "What else would make you happy?" will help them explore their own feelings and refrain from judgements or negative perceptions.
Explore Social connections (going on family trips, arranging playdates, summer camps)
It’s important to encourage your child to explore social connections such as going on family trips, arranging playdates, or attending summer camps. Summer can be an ideal time for kids to make new friends and develop social skills. For example, a child who has been placed in a camp with other children with similar interests will have more opportunities to interact with others their age than if they were at home all day. Similarly, camps provide contact between children who live in different towns or even countries – which can be a great way for kids who don’t have much opportunity for cross-cultural interaction at home during their school year.
Explore summer activities.
Summer is a time for many families to explore new activities. You might enjoy trying a new sport or taking a class together, or even just going on an adventure you've never done before. For example, if your child has always been interested in archery, why not take them to an archery range? If you're more of a board games person than an archer, why not try out some new ones? You could also look into local guest houses or bed and breakfasts where you can stay overnight and explore the area during the day.
While this is only one of many ways that summer can be enjoyed by everyone in your family, it can be especially beneficial if there are siblings who are close in age but different enough that they don't have much in common otherwise (for instance: one sibling loves sports while another loves reading). A shared experience like this will allow them both to learn about each other's interests outside of school and may help them become closer!
By doing these things, you can help your child make a smooth transition to their new schedule for summer.
Here are a few things you can do as a parent to help your child make a smooth transition to summer:
Give them time and space to express their feelings about school ending.
Help them explore new activities, people, places, interests, hobbies and skills. For example if they love music or sports in the winter months then perhaps encourage them to take up another activity for the summer such as dancing or martial arts; or maybe check out local parks with tennis courts so they can practice their tennis skills over the break. You may even want to show them YouTube videos explaining how different languages are spoken (such as Mandarin Chinese) so that they get excited about learning something new themselves!
The possibilities are endless when it comes to helping children learn new things throughout their childhoods but what matters most is that we give ourselves permission not only as parents but also as individuals who want nothing more than better lives for our loved ones.
Conclusion
Ultimately, you want to help your child make the most out of Summer. This can be achieved by reducing stress and maintaining a positive outlook while creating opportunities for your child to develop lasting friendships with other kids who share similar interests. Summer is often synonymous with fun and relaxation, but if it doesn't go well then it can lead to feelings of isolation or depression. Luckily there are steps that you can take now before school ends so that your child will feel better about themselves when they're back at school next Fall!