4 Summer Tips for Parents Excited for (or Dreading) Summer Break
It’s summer again! We’ve got some summer tips for parents like you. Summer can be an amazing time for unforced connecting and free time. Kids can get off their devices and explore the great outdoors. Summer includes so much potential! But, also, it might also include kids flopping on the couch proclaiming their boredom, the incessant request for more screen time, and heightened sibling squabbles as kids spend more time together. Take a deep breath and let’s dive into these tips for how to have a great summer with your family!
Your summer nightmare coming true?
With the promise of long, lazy days of unforced fun and connection comes the not-too-distant worry that summer is too unstructured. Kids will get bored. They’ll get antsy. They’ll demand attention in the most annoying ways. Tempers may flare, and siblings (for lack of anything more constructive to do) will intensify their squabbles. A summer nightmare coming true.
These long days can leave kids feeling aimless and looking for excitement in all the wrong places. Vacations (we learned early on to call them trips) can quickly turn from fun adventures to stressful days in unfamiliar settings with competing agendas and desires from every family member. Parents commonly struggle to help their kids learn to constructively navigate these challenges.
If this describes your reality, you’re not alone.
Read below for four summer tips to help you manage this extra time, get closer to the best hopes for summer, and stay away from the worst fears. You’ll learn to retain your parenting sanity while responding to the classic summer challenges of boredom, sibling conflict, and more time together.
By offering grace to yourself and your kids every day, you can have a great summer!
Summer Tip #1: Guide kids to brainstorm their own fun and be a blessing.
What to do with all that time on your hands? Boredom is a choice, so help your kids take responsibility for their boredom by adding an element of purpose. One mom credited family meetings for a great start to the summer. In their weekly family time, the whole family problem-solved on how to work together to have the best summer possible. The purpose was simply to help her kids grow in planning skills and independence. Here are tips for setting up a meeting to succeed.
You can let kids consider fun, creative alternatives to screen time to jump-start their thinking. This helps them grow into the simple purpose of learning to engage well in the three-dimensional world. Involving children in this process communicates important messages: “You are responsible for your own activity choices, and you are capable of coming up with some really creative ideas!”
Ultimately, your kids, like you, are created by God to do good things; to be a blessing. As you help them grow into the purpose mentioned above, you can also work with them to consider and plan ways they can use their skills to be a blessing to others. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Run a lemonade stand to raise money for a favorite charity.
- Weed or do yardwork for an elderly neighbor.
- Make cookies or treats for a friend.
- If you’re feeling super ambitious about cultivating a sense of purpose, you could even plan a family mission trip. Many churches or organizations have opportunities for this.
Summer Tip #2: Focus on building valuable skills in sibling conflict.
When the “all together, all the time” stress builds, parents can view the increased sibling conflict as a great opportunity to build life-long relational skills, empathy, and insight. (The more frequent the conflict, the greater the opportunity! Check out our Sibling Conflict online course.)
Another great way to build strength in sibling conflicts is to discover each child’s “gift gone awry” — the God-given talent that is contributing to the conflict. Some examples:
- A passionate, expressive child is more likely to say hurtful things when riled up.
- A focused child may have more difficulty sharing toys.
- A natural leader might appear bossy to siblings and friends.
For help uncovering and affirming your child’s gifts, see our list of 12 misbehaviors and the gifts behind them.
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Summer Tip #3: Travel purposefully.
Planning a family road trip or vacation this summer? Check out our guide to planning a purposeful family trip as well as these tips to retain your sanity during a family car trip. Traveling with your family may not always be as relaxing as you imagined, but it can be a great opportunity to connect and grow as a family. As we often say (especially if your kids are young), “Don’t call them vacations — call them trips!”
Summer Tip #4: Have grace for yourself!
Take a deep breath. You are not SuperDad or WonderMom. You will not get everything right the first time or even the twenty-first time. But the times of conflict, frustration, and even tears hold the rich opportunity to lean into Jesus’ love for you all. During these moments your children will watch and learn about the depth of God’s grace. (Ephesians 3:17-19)
As you embark on this summer journey, remember that you don’t have to be perfect—you just need to be present. Trust that God has equipped you with everything you need to guide your family through these long days. When challenges arise, lean into His grace and remember: This summer holds incredible potential for your family to grow closer to each other and to Him!
Finally, if you found this article helpful, consider sharing it with a friend so they can have a great summer too!
In our online course, Sibling Conflict: From Bickering to Bonding, we teach parents how to teach kids The Peace Process. This process equips kids to work through their arguments without your constant supervision and refereeing. Join us! Your kids will thank you.
