Luckily for me, I no longer have to entertain my oldest son. He has a job and a life of his own, which doesn’t include me very often. I remember that he was 17 years old, it seems like yesterday, but it was actually a long time ago. Now, instead of him asking me to do things, I’m on the begging side, trying to make every idea feel like the best experience. As you might have guessed, he doesn’t get fooled very often!
My daughter will go to her preschool this summer. She loves it and is learning so many new things every day that I can’t stand hanging out with her too often. I do have a few things planned for her though that will involve a day or two away from school.
However, this is the summer of dreams for my middle son. Matt is 12 years old and he is the perfect age to do really fun things and actually he still likes to do them! He has some summer camps and he has practices and All-Star baseball games, which we’re going to have to work on, but I’ve got some great ways to keep him entertained this year.
To start this great summer, we decided to start well… watching the sunrise on the beach on the first day of summer vacation. Well technically it was the second day…my husband needed to babysit while we did this and he was away on business the first day but he still counts in my book as the first day…
After doing some research, we discovered that the sun would rise at 5:35am. We live about an hour from the beach, so all things considered, we’d have to wake up around 4:00 am Did I mention this was mostly my idea? However, Matt was a soldier, he still wanted to join in the adventure!
On the day of, we wake up at the designated time. We drove over, parked, grabbed our blankets, put on our jackets (keeping in mind it’s always a little cooler near the water), and were sitting on the beach by 5:30. What did we see… yes, clouds! No big deal though, we did the best we could. And it was even more exciting when we could make out the outline of the sun.
We only stayed about 30 minutes and then we went to have a nice breakfast; unfortunately most places in the area were still closed. Again no problem we decided to drive most of the way home and stop along the way. Of course I had to stop at a rest stop and have some “zzzs”. I hate driving when I’m a little tired! But the rest of the trip we talked about all the fun things we wanted to do this summer and the things we wanted to accomplish, just another chance to bond!
We had breakfast at a fine Jersey restaurant and headed home. We had a really fun time, and even though it didn’t work out the way I hoped, we made the most of it and created a great memory, maybe even a new tradition.
Here are some things to keep in mind as you plan your summer fun with your kids:
- New is good: Don’t be afraid to try something new (even if it means getting up at an odd hour). Your kids may resist at first, but don’t back down, they’ll appreciate it in the end.
- Fun is better: Find ways to infuse fun into the event. For example, Matt and I could have brought a ball and caught it on the beach too, we could have packed food and we could have had breakfast on the beach (your kids will think this is cool because it’s something you probably wouldn’t do), we could have done drawings of the sunrise as we watched it. All the fun stuff to turn a possibly “boring” event into something they’ll love.
- The traditions of the past are the future: Look to create new traditions, things that children will remember fondly as they grow older. For example, we usually go to see fireworks at our local high school on the 4th of July. It’s not much (although the show is spectacular, really, the best I’ve ever seen), it’s a brisk walk from our house with a few chairs scattered around the football field, and then the fireworks. However, this year my son did an entire school project about our tradition of going to fireworks, how he loves it, and how much it means to him. Don’t underestimate the power of traditions, even the smallest ones.
- Ask, listen and speak: Take advantage of opportunities during the fun to talk to them. Ask them questions and listen to the answers. For us, the trip to the beach took some time, we could have listened to music, but instead we talked about many things: the sunrise, the planets, the atmosphere, having a summer job, the value of money and of course, all the other great plans we have. It is the perfect time to understand the way they think and make them understand how you think.
- Plan well but don’t stop: Plan things that everyone will enjoy too. If you have fun, they have fun. Most importantly… keep your expectations in check. If things don’t go as planned, that’s okay. It can be even more fun, you never know, unless you let your guard down and go with it.
