What is your picture-perfect summer? Is it simply weeks with no set schedules? or a great family vacation? or maybe days spent at the beach, park, or swimming pool? Each of us has a summer-perfect image or idea in mind. This week, the first official week of summer  (the week following Memorial Day), things are going smoothly. No schedules, end-of-school get-togethers and lazy days. Yet, as parents, we know the ‘smooth’ days will come to an end and having somewhat of a structure staves off parent meltdowns, let alone child meltdowns.

There are all kinds of ideas, pictures, how-to’s on the internet, so I don’t need to give you another list of possible things to do with your kids. Instead, I give you my top guidelines and advice for making it a great summer for YOUR family:

• You are not a cruise director. You are a parent. A parent who desires for summer-time to be a magical, fun time. A parent who wants to make every moment count. A parent who desires for their children to become productive adults.
  • Guess what? Being entertained every single day may lead to non-realistic expectations about life because adults aren’t entertained every day. In fact, we outside of life itself, we are seldom entertained.
• You are you. Your family is your family. Each unique family member contributes to the overall personality of the family with its likes and dislikes, energy levels and preferences. Make it work for you, not for someone else, or more importantly what you THINK others expect out of you.
• Have guiding principles the family. These principles should be based on:
  • Parent personality and energy level. For example, for my own sanity, we had ‘go’ days and ‘stay-at-home’ days.
  • Family budget. Plan how much you CAN spend, and only spend that amount of money during the summer months.
  • Summer goals. Your goals might include serving others, family nights, practicing a new skill or character trait. Get the kids involved in creating realistic summer goals.
• Make flexible plans. Sometimes it rains. Sometimes kids get sick. Sometimes life happens. Depending on personalities, some need to know the plan every day; some need to know the plan for the week; some go with the flow. Make it work for you. To make the most of the time together, a loose schedule can assure flexibility as well as meeting your summer fun goals.
• Take advantage of days spent together. During the school year, days are spent apart. It is a blessing that there are multiple days together (even when it does not seem like a blessing).
• Take advantage of the Summer Feeding Program that offers free lunch for children ages 1 – 18. Usually served at different school locations, but sometimes at parks. A great way to add variety to your day and extend your budget a bit.

When it comes to parenting and planning ‘events’ for your kids, you will have mom-fails; plans that sounded good, but for whatever reason, did not work. That is life. I had many mom-fails; you will too. I asked our boys, “What were my biggest mom-fails?” Interestingly, what they recalled were laughable memories – memories that are a part of our life, the Tucker family life. And they reminded me, “we didn’t really care – you cared.” And “I never understood why you cried over a birthday cake”. What a lesson. Learn from those that go before you.

Whatever your summer looks like, make it yours. Make it memorable. Make it fun.

For the love of family,

Share your summer activity plans with one another by commenting below.