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Early Planning for a Stress-Free Summer Break

We’re strong believers in planning and goal-setting (and beyond just those annual New Year’s resolutions). In Canada, we’re unfortunately only granted a brief period of beautiful summer weather and if you don’t plan it carefully, it can just slip through your fingers. So it’s surprising just how many parents, even those who are mindful of their schedules, resist planning their family’s summer activities. With just a month and half to go before school’s out for summer, we suggest you carve out some time this week, sit down with the whole family, and make a plan before it’s too late.

stress-free summer

Consider the Benefits of Camp

We think camp is an amazing opportunity for students of all ages and the benefits of camp are plenty! Camp is a great way to develop skills in areas beyond the classroom; camp helps build independence, confidence, social and adaptive skills, resilience and a chance to nurture personal interests and creativity.

The best part is that camps, like all of us, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. For those who are younger, there are overnight camps, day camps, drama camps, science camps, video game design camps, and even camps for kids with special needs, including LD, ADHD and Asperger. There are camps to suit every budget and every interest. We recommend you use the OurKids directory to see all the available options in Ontario – you can even narrow your search by different criteria such as type and length. For older students there are lots of employment opportunities at camps that help develop strong leadership skills (great for the resume) as well as the added bonus of a summer income.

If you are a parent and camp is something you’re considering for your children, make sure you ask them if this is something they’re interested in it before enrolling them in any program. However, keep in mind that there is a different between interest and emotional resistance. Some kids experience resistance and anxiety about certain aspects of camp, such as making new friends or being away from home, so make sure you acknowledge and discuss these feelings with them beforehand. Stay positive about the outcomes of your child’s experience, even if they are not enthusiastic at first.

Important note to parents: While registration is still open for most camps, keep in mind that many of the sessions fill up quickly so it’s important to register in advance. Also, many camps still have open houses and events for parents in May, so make sure you don’t miss these!

Planning Summer Activities for the Whole Family

If camp is not an option available to you and your family this summer, or if your child is planning to attend a shorter camp session, then you still have to consider planning other trips and activities that will keep everyone busy. A lot of parents grumble at the idea of planning out their leisure time, but if you want to avoid the nagging “Moooooom, I’m boooored” comments from your kids, avoid the dreaded summer learning loss, and still have time to enjoy the summer for yourself, it all comes back to planning and preparation.

Here is a step by step planning guide you can use with your family:

1. Create a Family Summer Bucketlist

We recommend that you sit down with the entire family and come up with a Summer Bucketlist of things you want to do this summer – it can be as simple as make fruit popsicles or as complicated as spend the weekend camping. The idea here is that everyone gets to contribute to the list. It’s also a good idea to encourage a variety of activities, such as rainy day activities, long-weekend activities, and kids-only activities.

2. Research Events and Activities

After creating your Family Summer Bucketlist, you may want to also do some research on upcoming local events that you and your family may want to attend as well as other activities you may want to try that didn’t initially make the bucketlist. Some good websites and resources that may help in this regard are:

3. Get a Calendar and Mark Your “Known” Dates

We suggest you either purchase or print a large monthly calendar for the summer months (May – August). Having a hardcopy calendar (as opposed to an online one) is great because you can make it constantly visible to the whole family. Once you have a calendar, add in all the “known” dates and activities, including things like holidays, parties, deadlines, and other events (like those camp open houses we mentioned earlier or specific festivals that you came across in your research).

4. Start Scheduling the Family Summer Bucketlist

After the “knowns” are scheduled, you’ll have a better sense of what your availability is like and you can start working on scheduling the activities from your Summer Bucketlist. You may want to first schedule the bigger and more complicated activities, like camping or a family vacation, while other activities may not need to be scheduled until the week or day of. It’s also a good idea to make a side list of all the things you need to plan or research for those particular activities. For example, if you decide to go camping, you would need to research available camp sites, book the camp site, gather and rent all necessary equipment, make a meal plan several days before, etc.

5. Do a Weekly Planning Session

Revisit your calendar at the end of each week (Sunday nights are ideal) and schedule in activities from your Summer Bucketlist for the upcoming week. If you’re a working parent, this step is even more crucial to maintaining a happy household!

This exercise is also an excellent opportunity to practice some of those key executive function skills like planning and organization, which are both areas that many students with ADHD/LD struggle with.

We hope that we’ve inspired you to begin thinking about your family’s summer activities and encourage you to start TODAY by researching camps or starting your Summer Family Bucketlist!