For the parents out there, keeping children busy in the summer aside from a family vacation can be a challenge –whether you work or not. If you have 2 or more kids, they may not like the same activity. My son told me before the end of school he did not want to go to camp. Ok, I have three kids and I just graduated and I’m looking for work. That requires lots of quite time. Luckily I found a climbing camp for half a day that helped one week and I took the rest day by day. Once vacation ended they started with the “I’m bored story.” I don’t like keeping them inside on a computer when the weather is warm. We headed to the gym pool, parks, play dates, backyard trampoline fun, zoo, nature center, bike rides etc.
Their voices always raised when the phone rang. I needed to talk to potential employers. So, these last few days I tried to change my approach with them, reward good behavior and say less and not raise my voice. It kinda worked. I used “mommy bucks” when they did something extraordinary and we used them for a ten dollar toy. ( if you can find one? ) Two of them put their dollars together and I went over the limit for the last toy. So we did that reward system once. School is about to start and I can’t say I was always quiet. My approach to the car fighting is to stop and pull over and wait til they are done. It usually works.
To the dog days of summer to the start of school, let the challenges of parenting continue. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t make a decision on their behalf.
Cheers to the parents and praise to the children. Someday they will thank my advice and discipline.
