I remember those summer nights staying up late playing kickball on my grandma’s front lawn. We spent summer evenings biking through the neighborhood with my aunt, scraping our knees at the park, and catching fireflies. The memories of those summers put a smile on my face.
In today’s economy, it is more common than not to have both parents working full time. Our parenting guilt doubles through the summer. Trying to juggle our daily tasks and give our children “the perfect summer” can be rough. Knowing that if we are lucky we only get 18 summers with our children. This is why I chose to make a list of things I want to accomplish this summer with my children. This method helped me cope with my anxiety of the summer and give me peace of mind to work while also knowing my children will have a summer filled with stimulating activities.
I made two lists for each month in the summer that consist of four “field trips.” I planned one field trip for each weekend and a couple small activities I would like to do with them throughout the week.
June:
Field trip for each weekend
- Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge: Bring our Bird worksheet to identify more birds.
- Go to a local Carnival
- Camping at Cape Henlopen
- Delaware seashore state park to swim and explore their hiking trails
Easy Summer Activities
- Build a birdhouse
- Download a children friendly worksheet to identify different birds that visit our birdhouse
- Create a butterfly garden by letting them choose their flower seeds and planting them
- Explore different parks to take family strolls in the afternoon.
- Fly a kite
- Swim at the pool every other afternoon if the weather permits. (If you do not have a pool, consider a pool membership for the summer.)
July:
Field trip for each weekend
- Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge: Bring our Bird worksheet to identify more birds.
- Go to a local Carnival
- Camping at Cape Henlopen
- Delaware seashore state park to swim and explore their hiking trails
Easy Summer Activities
- Build a birdhouse
- Download a children friendly worksheet to identify different birds that visit our birdhouse
- Create a butterfly garden by letting them choose their flower seeds and planting them
- Explore different parks to take family strolls in the afternoon.
- Fly a kite
- Swim at the pool every other afternoon if the weather permits. (if you do not have a pool consider a pool membership for the summer)
August:
Field trips for each weekend
- Take a small dinosaur on a road trip to a nearby city (D.C, or New York) and let the kids take its picture in all different locations. We can make a story book scrapbook out of the pictures.
- Go to a vineyard and let them collect fruits and make a dessert with the picked fruits.
- State Carnival
- Back to school shopping trip
Easy Summer Activities
- Bake cookies from scratch
- Have a game night
- Bike Rides
- Collect rocks and paint them to add to our butterfly garden
- Make clay sculptures, paint them, and bake them (to cure)
- Make beaded bracelets for grandma (while also working on fine motor skills)
- Search for a science experiment together and recreate it at home.
- Movie night with a trip to the dollar store for snacks.
I chose these trips based on my budget while keeping in mind that we have a family trip planned for the summer. I hope my list gives everyone ideas for the summer. Take a deep breath and know that you are not the only one with the summer mama blues. Take one day at a time to map out your summer, and your working parenting guilt will soften.
Sending love and words of encouragement!