How to Keep Children Engaged During Summer – While Making Sure You’re Relaxed, Too!

Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash

Summer is here! And while that’s probably very exciting news for your child(ren), as a parent, you might be having some mixed feelings about it. It’s great to have your child home for a few months, but you know that the change of routine will be disruptive. 

On top of that, many parents worry about how the summer break will affect their child’s learning and development – they gained so much during the school year, and you don’t want them to forget all the progress they made. 

Plus, you now have to keep your child engaged and entertained all day, and it can be hard (and, let’s be real, often expensive) to find camps and other enriching activities.

So today, I want to talk about how to balance all of this – how to keep your child engaged during summer, but also how to let go of your own worries and fears. Because we want you to be relaxed during the summer, too!

Why summer can be stressful for parents
Summer is so much fun for children and adults, but it can be a stressful time in parenting. I often hear the same concerns about summer from the parents I work with, and I can definitely relate to a lot of them myself! 

Some concerns you might have for your child during the summer months include:

Their routines are changing – and that can cause chaos

Whether or not your child’s going to be in summer school or camp, their routines could completely change during the summer. If they’re staying home all summer, then they might have different bedtimes, different wake up times, and a whole lot more unstructured play time during the day. They might also have more screen time than they and you are used to. 

If they are in camp, then they’re also going to have to get to new things – new places, new friends, new counselors, and so on. 

Understandably, many parents worry that this disruption in routine will cause chaos.

They’ll lose the academic gains they made

Lots of parents, including myself sometimes, also worry that their child is going to lose the academic gains they made over the school year. For most children, we’re talking about 2 to 3 months away from daily school-based learning. You might wonder, how are they going to remember everything they learned over that time?

They’ll miss their friends

Children also can miss their friends during the summer months, especially if you live in a larger city (or a more remote area) where they can’t just walk around the neighborhood. You might worry about how this will affect them. Will they feel lonely and sad? Will they lose their social skills? 

They’ll get too much screen time

We all know about the worries of too much screen time on young children, but it can be so hard to adhere to those guidelines, especially during the summer. You need to live and work, too, and it can be a challenge to say “no” to screen time when you know it’ll keep your child entertained for a long time. But you’ve worked so hard all year to limit screen time, and you’re worried this will make them backtrack.

How to let go of your worries and (kind of) maintain a structure

I know it’s really hard, but try to let go of the worries you have about potential losses of skills and learning that might happen during the summer. There usually is a bit of a loss – teachers call this the “summer slide” – and that’s perfectly normal. 

If you’re super anxious about it, then you’re likely going to bring that anxiety to every interaction you have with your child. All summer, they’ll feel a heavy pressure to keep up with the same learning routines that they had during the school year, which will really make their summer a drag and likely make parenting even harder for you.

Try to put yourself in their shoes.

Remember that last day of school? How that taste of freedom felt when you knew you had months of leisure time ahead of you? That’s one of the best feelings in the world – let’s try to keep that feeling present for them.

That doesn’t mean let your child do whatever they want all summer. As long as you’re trying your best to make sure that your child gets some sort of learning opportunities and enrichment during the summer, you’re doing alright. Figure out some type of learning routine that doesn’t necessarily mimic a school schedule, but is fun and engaging for your child.

Here is one strategy I’ve been trying and it seems to be working.

On my 7 year old’s last day of school she bought home folders from Spanish, Math, Reading and Writing class. I set those folders aside and put in sheets that she had from school plus some other handouts I had lying around.

A few nights a week, I take them out, put them on the table and have her do one sheet from each subject. This routine, takes us no more than ½ hour depending on her willingness. At the end of this ½ hour, I feel good that she was able to get some learning in and she feels good at having completed some activities. 

Perhaps this is something you would like to try to? Of course, make it your own and tailor it to your child’s learning needs and capabilities.  

Affordable summer resources to keep your child engaged

I also wanted to let you know about some other places where you can find engaging, and affordable resources that you can use to keep your child learning and entertained all summer. These resources have worked for my family and many others I know. 

Please check them out, and comment below if you have any others to share with the community!

School resources

You know those apps that your child does their homework on? Some schools will allow your child to still have access to those apps even in the summer. Yes, it’s still technically screen time, but it’s also a type of learning. Perhaps this is the kind of electronic you can have your child engage in while you’re working from home to keep them entertained.

Books

If you don't have access to those apps or you just really don't want to go down that road, then a learning book from your local bookstore can be an option. Some learning books will have incentives, like stickers, to help keep your child motivated to complete each page. Find a book on a topic that your child is interested in and use that as your learning material – do they like animals? Space? Literature?

Community resources

Most cities and towns have tons of community resources for parents and their children during the summer. The local library is a great one; most offer summer reading programs for children. Township community centers and local parks may also have special learning and extracurricular programs. Many cities, like NYC, have school lunch programs that can help with both providing a meal and getting your child around other children to play with which can help with socialization.

You can look online for programs that are offered by your city or county. You might be surprised at what you find!

Your own resources
​
On top of all of that, there are also so many other enriching activities you can do with your child that don’t necessarily cost a lot of money. Go for a hike or walk at your local nature preserve. Go play in the sprinklers or fountain at the park. Do some arts and crafts projects or set your child up to do some solo coloring/reading/playdoh, etc.

There are also lots of STEM-related activities that keep them learning in a playful way – I’m thinking of things like Magnatiles, building blocks, Legos, etc.  There are so many options!

The important thing is to keep a routine of some sort, and fill it with predictable, fun, and enriching activities like the ones I’ve listed above. You don’t need to be as strict about the schedule as you are during the school year, but having some sort of schedule/routine can be helpful to keep the body moving and the brain stimulated for both you and your child. 

If you need some help setting up a schedule for your child, check out my other blog post!

Parenting support and workshops

Are you in need of other types of support/education around parenting? Check out my latest workshop and course offerings here. 

If you are a therapist looking for more information to expand your knowledge and help your client, then check out my next workshop on August 24th.

I’ll be hosting a CE workshop for mental health professionals in North Brunswick. More information coming in the next week or so, so be sure to sign up for the Mailing list if you are not already on it. 

Hope you have a great start to your summer! Thanks for reading.

---