I shared my own goals for June earlier this week (though I haven’t entirely finalized Q3’s list – will do that this weekend!). But the internet and podcast-land is filled with discussions of aspirational summer routines, and I can’t resist adding my own ideas to the pile.
SCREEN TIME
Ahhh, the first item on most people’s lists. Isn’t it wild that we’ve gotten here? Were our 1980s/90s parents thinking about this much? (Mine definitely weren’t, which is why I saw every episode of Saved by the Bell at least twice). AND YET, for better or for worse, here we are.
First, I have to share something funny: we recently got an NES (like, a super old original one) from our neighbors and set it up. I am incredibly impressed that it still works, and also how well it holds the kids’ attention. IE: it’s just as enticing to them as, say, Roblox. Or TiKTok (I assume, none of them are allowed to be on TikTok as of now). Obviously this may not last, but this was an interesting thing to note because it does go against the idea that today’s tech is just SOOO different than what we had back then.
(Some of it totally is. But some of it isn’t.)
Or maybe it just means that my kids’ bar to be enthralled / absorbed by tech is very very low. This is also possible. I used to get up at at the crack of dawn just to play the original Super Mario Bros before school.
ANYWAY! I haven’t exactly decided how we will handle screen time this summer, but I know I want to discuss it as a family on our trip and come up with a clear set of rules around it. Most likely they will be fairly simple and therefore easy to enforce, like not starting before a certain time or needing to do other non-screen things first (such as those noted below).
I do want to print out whatever we decide on and post it on the wall so it’s there in written form, to avoid debate over what was decided upon. I actually don’t think any of them mind having limits in this realm too much; they love screen time but kind of know that it can get to be too much.
Of note, we’re going to be largely iPad-free on our trip (we did concede to letting them use it on the ~3 hr flight).
READING
I mentioned summer reading before – I am determined to have the kids dive into books this summer (and track their reading!). ALSO on our trip, we will come up with an incentive structure for books read and I signed up for our library’s tracking program, so they can potentially win prizes that way, too.
Everyone has to read some things for school, too.
EVENINGS
Thus far we have a 7:30 pickup 3x/week (could change, but right now it’s there) and otherwise things are pretty free. I think we need to have a talk about . . . bedtime. Most weeks the kids are in camp until anywhere between 3p – 5p.
(PAUSES TO UPDATE CAMP SPREADSHEET WITH ARRIVAL AND DISMISSAL TIMES. WHEW IT LOOKS DOABLE.)
SOOOOO we should have some open evenings. In theory that would be great community pool time but a) I’m not going to suddenly have energy for that and b) it’s going to thunderstorm most evenings, let’s be real. So, thinking of lots of cozy movie nights, and some shows to watch together (and will allow for some separate watching too depending on circumstance). The main thing I have to figure out is BEDTIME because it will probably creep naturally pretty late . . . but those camp start times are similar to school! I think if we can stick to (and enforce) a screen curfew this will take care of itself as kids will end up tired, going to read or putter in their rooms, and will go to sleep.
CAMP
Thankfully this is already figured out. We have one “bad” day camp week with 3 drop-offs but . . . it won’t be that bad (they are pretty close together, AND our next door neighbor is going to be at one of them so there will be a natural carpool opportunity). Two day camp weeks contain just one drop-off, and another one has two (but again, the two camps are REASONABLY close together). Finally, all 3 kids will have 3 weeks of Monday-through-Friday camp. On paper (or on my Apple Notes spreadsheet) it looks like a pretty good plan! A will have a little bit more downtime than the other two, but not really all that much.
And, we have a sizable buffer with no camp to get ready for school (2 weeks for G and 1-1.5 weeks for A/C).
WEEKENDS
G will continue Saturday gymnastics, though at 11:30 instead of 8:30 (GOOD). I honestly don’t have many things figured out. I will try to plan ahead to meet up with friends/etc or hit the pool in the morning when the weather is less likely to suck. There will probably be some ice skating / bowling / trampoline park action — our summer is everyone else’s winter! We will visit my in-laws (and see my parents/sister/niece over a weekend in July, too).
But, there will be no soccer games or gym meets, so really a lot of free weekends. Looking forward to them!
LEARNING/BACK-TO-SCHOOL PREP
Various kids will be going to tutoring, plus we’ll use IXL (assigned by school, which is fine with me!) + some math practice assigned by school as well. Plus the reading mentioned above. I’m actually happier for SCHOOL to give some work to do so I don’t have to feel like the enforcer.
Part of the previously mentioned screen time agreement will include doing some amount of these things before playing games and watching things. Need to include that in the screen time agreement 🙂
12 Comments
Dr Mario is the best game of all time! I am considering hunting down an NES just to relive my teenage years when I spent many hours playing it. Super Mario 3 is a close second, though.
oooh yes – 3 is def my favorite out of 1-3!!!
Dr. Mario is also my favorite! I find it very relaxing 🙂
I modified an idea I heard on The Lazy Genius podcast for screen time this summer, and I have been shocked at how well it has worked thus far. (We’re only about two weeks in, but so far so good.)
The basic idea is that kids have a list of tasks they have to get done to have the opportunity for screen time the *next* day. The idea is to get them to manage their own schedules a little bit more. I had tried the “do your responsibilities first” thing in the past, but it would sometimes backfire when a kid would be motivated and blow through the list by 8 AM. This summer, I have a toddler who naps, so I implemented “nap time screen time” in conjunction with this. My older two have the option of watching a movie (good for their attention spans? maybe?) or playing a video game that involves movement (we have an old XBOX Kinect system) while little brother naps. (And I get some focused work time while all three are busy!) This option is available as long as they finished their responsibilities the previous day. Since nap is early afternoon, I didn’t want them to feel the pressure of knocking everything out in the morning, when we often have plans. They can also turn the TV back on at 5 PM if they’ve done that day’s responsibilities. I’ve honestly been shocked by the days they haven’t finished their lists, knowing they’re losing the option of screen time–and haven’t complained about it the next day because they KNOW they didn’t meet the requirement. Hoping it will continue–it softens the blow when I walk into a very messy bedroom!
This only works if both parents enforce it.
Sure, but isn’t that true of any “rules” made around screen time?
I know you love to track, but that strategy can really backfire with kids and reading. I think nyt has written about it recently? But for voracious readers, being asked to keep track can interrupt the flow and for non-voracious readers, it can become a source of embarrassment or judgment for what they are reading. You know your kids best, of course! But just wanted to put out there that this may be a space where a looser grip is best.
Interesting! I will have to find the article! I don’t totally think it would be a problem w the personalities of my kids (and I truly want them to read what they want, not aim for some certain level really). But I will see how it goes and back off as needed (could always look at the habit of reading rather than actual books completed)
Our summers are much shorter – only 6 weeks, and we’ll be gone for nearly 4, so there’s not as much of a routine. Only 3 days of camp this year – a bit of whiteknuckling it, grandparent visit, and then we’ll be away.
I want to make sure reading and some academic skills happen each day – he always seems to enjoy the Brain Quest workbook. I bought a reading journal off Etsy and T’s excited about it. He’s a very strong reader but doesn’t seem to have a ton of stamina/won’t typically pick up a book for fun so I’m hoping focused time over the summer might help it really click for him. I think we’ve ruined his brain with audiobooks which are more exciting/easier 🙂
We got an old Wii and games, and this seems fun / less addictive than some of the other options available. And non-interactive Minecraft on the Chromebook.
Wow, you are really organized! I feel like a huge slacker. But I guess I was more intentional when my kids were younger. I’m pretty much just letting my daughter do her own thing this summer (of course, if things get way out of control I’ll step in- we’ll see how it goes.)
I like the idea of more relaxed weekends for you, and cozy movie nights! Late afternoon or evening plans OUTSIDE usually lead to disappointment in South Florida.
Omg I would love to have an old school NES! I also loved Dr Mario and super Mario bros 3. I played those games so much as a child.
Our kids are outside the house M-F in child care programs so we only have to focus on screen time on the weekends. We watch Bluey together before bedtime on week nights but I am ok with that routine. On weekends we are trying to reduce screen time. It’s tough though because less screen time = less of a break for the parents. I wish we had a yard that allowed for a play structure. Then we could send them to the backyard more often. But we live on a giant hill so it’s not possible.
With our older, I’ve been reading with him for 15-30 min before bedtime. He used to prefer to read Dogman books on his own but that has shifted recently. We just finished Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary. It was a tough sell at first but he loved it and wants to read more books in the series. Now we are reading a chapter book about robots by James Patterson that he loves. We are on book 2! He really likes it since the chapters are short and there are lots of cartoons/graphics.
I know you didn’t ask for recommendations, but just incase you end up looking for any family shows to watch together- we have found that all of us (of varying ages) really enjoy watching Amazing Race and LegoMasters.