It's been awhile since I've posted an idea, but hopefully summertime will get those creative juices flowing once again and will allow time to post them before they are forgotten! I'd like to remind you that the purpose of this blog is for ALL OF US to SWAP ideas, so please comment if you have any fun summer activities you'd like to share. Ideas for ALL ages are welcome...toddlers through high school, and I'd especially love to see ideas for those who fall into the kids and tweens category.C'mon, folks! Let's do some Summertime SWAPping!!!
Ok, this is not an actual activity, it is a mind set. This summer I would like to be more intentional of not just creating fun activities that my kids can do, while I catch up with a friend, read a book, check my emails etc... I want to challenge myself to actually make plans and physically do them with my kids.... not just watch them swing, not even push them while they are swinging, but actually swing with them. There will be plenty of times that I will "take a load off" and let them do their own thing, but I want to try to to surprise them several times this summer and watch their faces light up, when they say "You're going to swim, too, Mommy?". Just a thought. So now I am looking forward to the awesome ideas that everyone will blog about things that I can do. I'm all ears! Love you, Jill!
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous (AKA Julie!),
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder to cherish this time with our kids! Lord, make us ever aware of precious teachable moments in the ordinary day-to-day life and help us to let down our guard and just be SILLY with our kids! This is the stuff of which memories are made.
Love the idea above. The summer is the time I like to focus more on character training since I have more time to stop and address daily issues that come up between the kids. I usually choose a book or ciriculum that I've heard about it and take my time working through it with the kids.
ReplyDeleteThe last few years I've done a "club" with my two girls. We invite a family or two to do it with us. Each family chooses a lesson from the book "Precious Cornerstones" by Doorpost Publishers and then once a month we get together and do activities from the lesson we chose. The book is about encouraging our girls to grow into Godly women. We've had some fun, memorable times. The idea could be adjusted to any book- just find some friends to learn with and do it in a way that is fun for everyone.
A friend sent this via email:
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the book Sanity in the Summertime? It has lots of great ideas. One thing we have done in the past is made coupons. Each child gets a set and one child gets to use one each week. They have things on them like date with Dad, stay up an hour late (and they play a game with us) - more for when they were younger and actually had summer bedtimes, etc. All were geared around spending one-on-one time with us but of course could be anything. I've also had the kids make lists of things they want to do (bowling, pottery painting etc). We put them in a hat and draw one each week. Finally, I do a reading challenge with prizes.
She also added a comment about setting aside a certain day of the week for getting together with friends for a park or zoo day.
Thanks, friend!!
OK, folks, keep those ideas coming!!