Summer Schedule
Posted by: Mom in Summaries, crafts, family, grow up, kids, moms, my projects, parentingI’m not sure what possessed me, but a few days ago I decided the kids and I needed a schedule to follow this summer. It had to be flexible enough to be spontaneous, but firm enough to guide our actions in the day to day. I dedicated Mondays to sticking around the house, Tuesdays are grocery shopping day, Wednesday we go to the pool, Thursday to the library, and Friday is our Adventure Day, where we go somewhere exciting around town and explore. Adventure Day should mean the zoo, or a museum, or the beach. But, I’m still trying to recover from our late night Wednesday so I wanted to to stick close to home. So we followed Monday’s schedule more than Friday’s, yesterday.
Here’s what we did:
7-8am: read in bed, watch TV, or check email
8-8:30: breakfast and get dressed
8:30-10: Gardening: planted the rest of the iris and started some seeds in containers
10-10:30: Shower/change clothes, have snack
10:30-12pm: Craft Projects (I was collaging our summer schedule, J was doing a sort of engraving project and X was painting)
12-12:30: Lunch
12:30-1:30: Chores (Clean up lunch dishes, clean kids’ bathroom, scoop cat litter)
1:30-3: Shopping at Home Depot and CVS
3-4: Quiet time
4-5: TV watching
About that time, J got a phone call from a friend inviting her over for the evening. So we dropped her off for that and then went out to eat, instead of eating at home like we were going to. Ooops. 
So far, the schedules are popular with the kids, and I liked it too. I feel like I was more productive today than I normally am, and this made me happy. I felt like the kids enjoyed their day. There was enough time for them to go off on their own and do their own thing, but not so much free time that they were whining at me about boredom. They got to do fun things (gardening and crafts) but it was balanced by getting things done that we needed to get done (chores and shopping). Jillian especially seemed to appreciate being able to look at the schedule and know what was coming.
I really hope that we can keep up this schedule. I’ve never been one to stick with things like this, except when necessary. But I really think we NEED this structure to our days this year.
So, if you’ve got kids, what do you do to help tame the wild days of summer? How do you keep from hearing “I’m bored” all summer long?
June 7th, 2008 at 6:17 am - Edit
“bored” is a bad word here. If she tells me she’s bored, I tell her that I hope she can find a solution to her problem and go on with what I’m doing. Now, if she asks me to do someting with her, or help her decide what to do, I’m more than glad to do that. Usually “bored” means “I’m anxious and want attention”. I try to help her find more positive, less annoying, ways to express herself.
I like your idea of a schedule. We have been letting our days happen to us and have not gotten much accomplished so far in these first few days.
June 7th, 2008 at 12:12 pm - Edit
My response to “I’m bored” is usually “I’m not your cruise director. Go find something to do or I’ll put you to work.” heh.
June 9th, 2008 at 6:13 am - Edit
Levi never says “I’m bored.” He just says, “Can I go play my computer?” But sometimes I can tell he’s bored when he comes to wherever I am and just sits there watching what I’m doing.
I used to say “I’m bored” all the time as a kid.
I have a love/hate relationship with schedules. I’ve tried everything from the strictest of routines to none at all. I’ve found that having a flexible framework works best for me. And alternating physical and mental activities since I get bored easily. Levi seems to have a longer attention span than I do. Maybe that’s why he never says he’s bored. Hmmm….
December 6th, 2009 at 9:52 am - Edit
Kids are restless most of the time. My son is only 4-yr-old, but he seems so full of energy. I can relate with Stacie here, although my son wouldn’t tll me he’s bored but it’s obvious that he wants to do something else that is out of the ordinary.
I’m planning to enroll my son to a sports academy to learn taekwondo or muay thai. I want him to engage in sports or martial arts to make him tough.
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