It’s the first day of summer! Are you ready? While summer may seem like a great time to simply kick back and relax without a whole lot going on, the truth is that if you want to make this an awesome summer, you’re going to have to plan ahead.
Whether your family has a lot going on or your schedule is relatively free, a summer routine is essential. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself rushing from activity to activity, forgetting things along the way, or you’ll find yourself wasting days on end not doing much of anything because you didn’t plan ahead.
Personally, since I work from home, I know I need a routine to make sure that I get the work done that I need to do while also making sure that I have plenty of time to spend making awesome memories with the kids.
How to Create a Summer Routine
Depending on how much you love or hate schedules and to-do lists, your schedule can be fairly loose or rather rigid. It’s all up to what works best for you and your family! Here are two different options–feel free to choose the one that works best for you, or use a combination of both!
Daily Routine
Daily routines are perfect for moms who follow the same basic routine pretty much every day. They help you designate which times of day you will do each activity so you don’t accidentally let the entire day slip by.
Take a piece of paper and write the hours of the day going down the left hand side. Then, fill in all of the events that happen pretty much the same time every day. For example, you may fill in the hours you work, the times your children nap and the times you prepare and eat meals every day. Note when everyone wakes up and goes to sleep as well.
Recommended read: Seven Free and Cheap Summer Activities for Kids
Once you see what blocks of time you have left, fill them with the tasks that are most important to you. For example, you might choose to take a walk or go to the park or the library in the mornings or to go to the local pool in the afternoons. This way, you have those times already set aside and can be prepared to make the most of them. Plus, it will help your children know what to expect too.
Monthly Calendar
Perhaps your daily schedule is all over the place but you want to make sure you find the opportunities to take your kids on outings throughout the summer. This is where a monthly calendar comes in handy.
Recommended read: The Family Manager’s Guide To Summer Survival
Print out a blank calendar template. Jot down any important events or activities you already have planned, such as soccer games, ballet lessons or summer school. Once you see which days you have open, start jotting in trips you’d like to take with your kids. These trips don’t have to be set in stone–in fact, you may even want to write in pencil–but simply having them on the calendar will help you be more intentional about taking the kids on fun outings you always mean to get around to.
Have you started thinking about what types of fun activities you’d like to do with your children this summer? What do you have planned?
Leave a Reply