It’s that time of the year, summer time. The kids have gained freedom from the interminable routine of school and oppressive tests. Parents are left suddenly adrift without their routine. The year has its comforting cycle for those of us with kids in the middle to high school years. The shorter public holiday breaks are mere pauses of the cycle. The slightly longer breaks at Easter and Christmas fall into time slots that generally have a rhythm and traditional routine of their own. But summer is different. It’s a really long break. How can you use the changed routine of these ‘lazy hazy crazy days of summer’ to your advantage. Read on.
It was the great Nat King Cole who in 1963 scored a hit with the song that gives its name to this blog post title. I love it for the mood that it captures. Even reading the main chorus and first stanza you can’t help but have a smile on your face as you think of your summer antics.
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, those days of soda and pretzels and beer. Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer.
Just fill your basket full of sandwiches and weenies, then lock the house up, now you’re set. And on the beach you’ll see the girls in their bikinis, as cute as ever but they never get em wet.
Well the times are different and certainly I’m hoping my 14-year-old son does not load up on beer, and certainly weenies will throw off his running nutrition, but you get the idea.
Besides the fun, though, and not including vacations and summer camps, what can we do as parents to keep our kids at least somewhat focussed on that dreaded date when they have to return to school? This is a great time to do inexpensive family activity, and it is a great time for kids to pick up new skills.
5 SUMMER ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS FOR TEENS AND TWEENS
1. Book Challenge. As nerdy as it sounds a curated book list from your local bookstore or Amazon (visit this link) is a great way to keep kids engaged and learning. Perhaps some of your old favourites are in there. A good book is escapism at its best.
2. Stay-cations. Vacations don’t always have to be about distance travel. Have a family conference and plot out a stay-cation filled with fun activities within driving range of home. There is normally a ton of things to do that you never actually get to because they are in your own back yard so to speak and you think you can go there anytime.
3. Learn to code. Don’t let the summer pass with kids playing video games. With no homework pressure set them up learning to code. It is a skill that will come in handy and if nothing else presents an orderly structured way of thinking. A good resource for kids coding is the iPad app by CodeAcademy. Some information on it is found at this link.
4. Cook. No child should go through to the end of high school without knowing how to cook a great meal. The summer is a good time to start this lifetime of learning, and Spatulatta is a great place to go to find recipes for breakfast lunch and dinner, each with videos of kids making the dish.
5. Organise. One grade of school is done, and another is about to start. Take a day (or more) and completely clean out the old books and notes and clear desks or clutter. While you are at it have the kids go through their closets with you and clean out uniforms or school clothes that do not fit. I know I feel more productive in a clean organised space. I bet that holds true for kids.
While a ton of downtime is certainly needed, hopefully the five tips above will help stave off the inevitable and dreaded statement, “I’m bored”.
What are your tips for keeping 10 – 15-year-old kids occupied over the summer months? Take a moment to share them here in a comment.
