DOES SUMMER CAUSE YOU
STRESS AS A PARENT? ADVICE FROM A PSYCHOLOGIST FOR ACTIVITIES AND BEING READY
FOR
BACK-TO-SCHOOL
Summer vacation: no school, no schedules, sunscreen, rocket pops,
and bug spray.
The reality is that many families don't see summer as wide open
free time, but rather as a potentially stressful period. Often, parents must
work while their kids are on vacation. As summer looms, it's easy to get
overwhelmed thinking about how to handle the time by offering children a good
balance between free time and meaningful activities.
Loretta
L.C. Brady,
Ph.D., APA-CP, Professor of Psychology at
|
|
|
Dr. Loretta Brady
|
Saint Anselm College, a
Clinical Psychologist and parent, has some ideas for parents and children:
Check in with teachers: If you
want to know how best to support your child over the summer or in a particular
goal area, it's helpful to connect with the school before the last 6 weeks.
Things will be hectic for the school - and you - at that stage so think of
Easter or spring as a time for that summer support conversation.
Relieve Your Child's Stress with Action: Transitions
deserve to be honored and kids handle them differently. If your child is
feeling sad about leaving a favorite teacher, have them write a thank you
letter to the teacher for the work they did. Some teachers get a "lunch
bunch", kids from past years that they occasionally have lunch with the
next academic year.
Friends can be missed too. If you can look ahead to your schedule and see some openings, planning a mini-class or friend play date part way through the summer can be fun. Such invitations often result in return invites so your child may get to stay connected even with the school break.
Plan Activities for the
Summer: Check out your community parks and rec department or other
community action planning programs. Often there are special funds for kids and
families of different age groups; some programs help families with supplemental
food during the summer, while others help close the learning gap kids can
sometimes face when they are not in school.
Try New Things: Take
stock of what interests your children have that they haven't had a chance to
explore. Search for that and "summer camp" or "summer
class" and you might introduce an instrument, horseback riding, robotics,
even musical theater. Many programs have scholarships for those who can't
afford full tuition, and those usually go to first come, first serve. Always
ask, and look early.
Don't sweat the downtime. Yes,
reading and math are all-year skills, and it's fine to have your children work
on these during breaks, but it doesn't have to be like school. Boredom leaves
space for creative ideas so unstructured and unscheduled time can actually lead
your child to locating interests that they do have. Offer times of the day when
electronics are off and there is nothing planned. Maybe a clean closet will
appear, or maybe that book that keeps getting ignored might actually get picked
up.
Take a trip, even if it's just your back porch. Summer vacation is often a great time for exploring, and you don't have
to go on an overseas journey for memories to be made. Any spot in your
community that you have always wondered about? Tried camping in your living
room or yard. Take things that normally happen in summer (ice cream trucks,
popsicles, bike rides) and ask your kids to build their summer "bucket
list". They will look forward to the simple pleasures of summer no matter
how busy regular life might be. And, if you are lucky enough to have a major
trip or other experience on the list they will see how big and little pleasures
can add up to a lot of warm memories.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love comments. Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love to talk to you further