Today marks the middle of June.
You may have been out of school close to month already, or your last day is later on this week. Regardless of how much summer break you have left, it is important to use this time to rejuvenate and reconnect with your family.
Teachers are so busy during the school year that on a June afternoon, you may bump into your own child in the kitchen and wonder when they grew those 2 inches. Time goes by so quickly, and when we’re focused on other people’s children, it can be easy to miss our own.
Work-life balance is vital during the academic year, but it may be that summer is a time for you to tip those scales more toward children in your own family. Maybe what you need is some A to Z Summer Fun! (Keep reading to see what I mean.)
I met Cathy when our firstborns were both babies. We have stayed in touch and helped each other through the joys and difficulties of parenting our children into young adulthood, even though we lived many miles apart during much of that time.
I have always been impressed with the way Cathy has been present with her girls in every season of their lives. She was purposeful about her interactions with them and theirs with each other. One way she did this was to plan A to Z Summer Fun.
Early each summer, she made a list of 26 activity days she, or she and her husband, would do with their children. For example, B day contained baking or riding bikes, and eating banana splits. On F day, her daughters invited friends over for a play date, and they made sure to sing songs about friendship. P day found them meeting dad in the park with a pizza for lunch.
Each summer the list was a bit different. Her family enjoyed this time together even as the girls got older because ideas can easily be adapted to meet the needs of a range of children’s ages.
Somewhere along the way, Cathy was inspired to share these ideas with other people, so she compiled them into a book entitled A to Z Summer Fun. And she makes it available from her Etsy shop as a very inexpensive digital download.
A to Z Summer Fun
Catherine Baker
Etsy
I hope you will take my friend’s advice and suggestions to start planning fun activities as one way to reconnect with your kids this summer!
