5 Ways to Create a Summer of Renewal
Do this… Not this
Does summer mean a time of renewal for you?
How do you make that happen?
Here’s how NOT to make it happen:
- Dive into the weeks ahead with no plan except to fill every moment with enriching activities.
- Schedule back to back camps or sports activities for the kids.
- Volunteer for every possible need or request that comes your way. After all, since you work with kids all year, you are the perfect fill in at vacation Bible school or scout camp.
- Plan exhausting family vacations and spend time on the road or jostling for space in line at crowded theme or water parks.
- Catch up on lots of classes and get the credits that you need…
I think you get the idea. If this is your plan (or lack of one) then you will return to school in the fall exhausted… and in need of a vacation.
How to Create an Oasis of Summer Renewal
- Take time to reflect and be aware: What do you most need to feel refreshed and energized? Relaxing time by the pool to catch up on your reading? An exercise plan to get you back in the routine of regular exercise? Quality family time to really connect and share? An educational class that will get you up-to-date and excited about new trends?
- Survey your family: Rather than assume that the kids want to spend all summer at the pool or standing in line at the theme park, set up a family meeting to get everyone’s idea of a perfect summer. You may be surprised at what is important to them.
- Set goals and create a plan: Schedule events throughout the summer. Create balance with family vacations and time for kids to explore and discover on their own. Studies show that creativity and critical thinking is enhanced with unscheduled and unstructured play time. This is as important for you as it is for your children.
- Post a calendar and the plan: Keep everyone informed of the scheduled and unscheduled time and their responsibilities. Re-frame “I’m bored” as a sign that a child needs to get creative and read, play a game or do something active outside. It’s not your responsibility to keep everyone entertained.
- Keep a gratitude journal: Every evening review what family members are grateful for and either write it down, take a photo or draw a picture for your journal. At the end of the summer you will have a great record of summer time memories!
Summer time can be a time to be renewed and energized or a time of exhaustion and over work. The real key is to create a plan and follow through on it. I wish you a summer that is an oasis of renewal in the busyness of life.
Wonder what Wyatt is doing this summer? Visiting his grandparents at the beach…
Check out the Wyatt the Wonder Dog Book Series, children’s books with an empowering message.
Wyatt the Wonder Dog didn’t make it on the All Star baseball team and he feels like a loser. All his friends will be playing baseball this summer, while he and his pesky sister, Callie, visit grandparents at the beach. How Wyatt learns to handle disappointment and failure will be an important lesson for the future. Will he give up trying new things? Will he have the confidence to try again? Are there some things that take more practice and persistence to learn than others?
This book is funny! Its dogs doing things that only people do! I learned to try new things. ~ ~Samuel Traub, Age 6
Need some activities to keep the kiddos engaged with the lesson in the story? I put everything together for you in one book!
Wyatt’s Little Book of Lesson Plans, Worksheets and Games
Here are activities, lesson plans, discussion questions, coloring sheets, word search puzzles and games for each of the nine Wyatt the Wonder Dog Books. Over 75 pages of ideas so that you can create lessons on cooperation, teamwork and leadership skills to quickly extend and incorporate the Wyatt stories.
