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5 Things You Need to Do with Your Kids this Summer

June 11, 2017 by Jaimi Erickson 4 Comments

Ready to have the ENERGY to be the best mom you can be? Get started! Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome back! Did you already get started here?

Welcome to Mom Motivation Mondays where weekly contributing writers share their motherhood experiences to encourage you to find the joy in being a mom.

{This week: Post by Heather}

We can enjoy a laid back Summer that still involves making the best of out time with our kids. These 5 things you need to do with your kids this Summer is a laid back bucket list. Not a checklist, but a mindset for a great Summer.

Summer is by far one of my favorite times of the year.

The sun stays out longer, there is more flexibility in our schedule, and I can actually drink my coffee. And by drink my coffee, I mean I don’t have to chug the scalding liquid on my way out the door.

I start anticipating the summer months right after Spring Break has come and gone. I can’t help it, by this time I’m just over the monotonous nature of the school year. I want my freedom as much, if not more, than my kids.

However just because I love the summer months with the kids doesn’t mean it doesn’t come with it’s own unique struggles.

For example, as I write this post my kids are arguing with each other over their Magna Tiles. They are arguing after my youngest begged her sister to play with her. They are huffing and puffing at each other, and I’ve already had to go out and discipline them no less than 4 times.

So there’s that.

Or perhaps one of the biggest struggles during the summer is finding the delicate balance between doing fun activities and entertaining your kids and also giving them their much needed downtime. Albeit giving them downtime and freedom also comes with a lot of, “I’m bored,” and, “There’s nothing to do.”

It’s the best of times and the worst of times.

Since I know how tricky it can be to navigate through the summer months I’ve come up with 5 things you need to do with your kids this summer. We’ve done a few of them previously and others we’re trying out for the first time this summer.

Things You Need to do With Your Kids This Summer

Create a Family Summer Bucket List

We started doing this three years ago and it is awesome. We bought a giant posterboard and fun markers and pens. Then we picked a night everyone was home to sit around the kitchen table and discuss what each member of the family wanted to do individually during the summer and also what we wanted to do together as a family.

We hung it up in the kitchen so it was a daily reminder of the things we wanted to do. I tend to like to hide things away by organizing them, but keeping it out in the open is key to it’s success. This also helped with the “I’m bored” sentiments. I would simply look at the list and see if there was something on there we could do or something that my kids could do on their own.

It was not only fun to create the list and then do things from it, but it was fun to see just how many things we were able to check off and do as a family. I know sometimes we get so busy that we didn’t even realize just how many things we had checked off during the summer.

Consciously Have a Laid Back Summer

This year I’ve made a huge effort to have a laid back summer with my kids. In the past, I’ve worked too much or we’ve over scheduled activities which just brought stress. Stress that we didn’t need. So this year I’ve advocated for taking strides to have a summer that has more freedom, less rules and more fun.

This year I’m concentrating on incorporating more fun activities and less things we don’t want to do. Going to the beach and simply enjoying being there without worrying about to-do lists or the other million things I have to do. Because the truth is they will still be there waiting for me.

For me having a laid back summer is simply an opportunity to live a simpler and more conscious life.

Find Free or Cheap Activities

Let’s face it, most of the activities during the summer months for kids and families can be quite pricey. If you want to go the amusement park, water park or even a museum the prices alone can make doing these activities few and far between.

Finding activities for kids and the family that are free or cheap is key to a successful and fun summer. I used to think it was next to impossible to find free or cheap activities locally, but the more I’ve scoured the more I’ve been able to find.

For example, in our town you can go to the Naval Air Museum with the kids completely free. There’s also a STEM learning center that does a discounted family rate for the year meaning it’s cheaper to get a membership and pay only dollars each month. Obviously this is only good if you expect to use the membership a lot.

Be on the lookout for free and cheap activities in your area. I promise they’re out there and with a little bit of searching you’ll be able to add these to your family’s summer bucket list.

Do One Thing You’ve Always Want to Do

If you do the math we only get 18 summers with our kids before they’re out of our house. That’s roughly 54 months of summer times activities, and that’s not counting when they’re teenagers and won’t want to hang out with us.

That’s why I think it’s so important to do at least one thing each summer that you’ve always wanted to do. It can be anything, big or small. It can be something as a small as camping in the backyard or having a movie marathon day. It can be something as big as a 2 week family trip going to the Grand Canyon.

Whatever your dreams make sure you do at least one thing with your kids during each summer. Summers sometimes feel like they’re dragging, but those months will be gone before you know it so you need to make sure you’re making the most of them now.

Continue Educating Them

I know it seems counterproductive to plan some time to do some educational activities especially when I’m trying to have a laid back summer. But we use the extra time together to help them continue to educate themselves.

When I was a kid I was of the school of thought that when summer came we didn’t touch a school book for three whole months. I read fiction for fun, but I never really worked on continuing to educate myself. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized it’s the perfect time to continue to learn new and exciting things.

So this is why our kids have time during the week where we continue to work on math, reading and writing. They actually like doing workbooks and learning activities a couple of times a week because it doesn’t seem like such a chore or like “school”.


Summer is a great opportunity to do all the things you don’t get to do throughout the year. It’s also a great time to try out next and exciting things since you have more time and less time restrictions.

A weekly series of motivation for moms brought to you by stay at home mom bloggers at The Stay-at-Home Mom Survival Guide.

Do you have any must try activities for your kids during the summer months? What are your favorite things to do with your kids?

We can enjoy a laid back Summer that still involves making the best of out time with our kids. These 5 things you need to do with your kids this Summer is a laid back bucket list. Not a checklist, but a mindset for a great Summer.


Heather of Just Becoming Me contributor to Mom Motivation Mondays series at The Stay-at-Home Mom Survival GuideHeather lives in Florida with her husband, two girls and two pups. She is a lover of most things in life, too many to name here without scaring you, but a few include working out, learning new recipes, Pinterest, organizing (yes, it’s true!), home decor and learning to lead a more minimal and purposeful life.

She started Just Becoming Me as a venture to better understand herself and what will lead her towards a more fulfilling life. Her motto is: “We only have one life, and I want to learn to live mine in a way that gets me excited to jump out of bed.”


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Filed Under: activities, motherhood, motivation, parenting Tagged With: bucket list, cheap activity, education, summer, summer vacation

Comments

  1. Jen says

    September 20, 2018 at 3:16 am

    I am thinking of surprising my child with a bike… but floored by the glut of options and specifications. My kid is big for his age (6). Any tips?

    Reply
    • Jaimi Erickson says

      September 23, 2018 at 4:51 pm

      I would definitely get a bike for him to grow into. We generally buy bikes that have 20″ wheels when our children are around 6/7 years old. Taking him to the store with you to sit on a few and find the right one will be helpful too.

      Reply
      • Jen says

        September 24, 2018 at 3:51 am

        Thanks Jami! I was thinking surprising him with one which explains the struggle. 🙁 I found this guide and it did help me and was able to place an order.

        Reply

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  1. 5 Things You Need to Do with Your Kids this Summer - Just Becoming Me says:
    June 12, 2017 at 11:51 am

    […] Here’s an excerpt from my post over at The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide. Read the rest of the post here. […]

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I pictured myself as a mom of boys before having m I pictured myself as a mom of boys before having my babies. I have learned so much from all my children but having my girls is a blessing I never knew I needed. 

Want to eliminate mean girls? Raise daughters to do the opposite.

Want to teach women to better communicate with each other? Raise daughters to listen and articulate.

They are my own little girl group and I am grateful for it. They love me on my bad days and give me compliments I do not even deserve. 

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Will you be spending time with family for Easter? Will you be spending time with family for Easter? 

My husband’s parents have arrived - adding one more big dog to our house and lots of crafts and fun. We have not seen them since June. Everyone is excited to spend time together.

Both of my big kids have birthdays and we will all get to spend time at the beach this month. Our school work will morph into field trips so we soak up every day we can being present with family. 

I am looking forward to making memories, soaking in time together and celebrating two milestone birthdays - one happening tomorrow. 💛 

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🌟The faces we make when a Costco run with all t 🌟The faces we make when a Costco run with all the kids actually goes well!!! 🌟 

Ice cream after helped of course. 😂

All prepped for my in-laws coming to visit us after not seeing them since our move last summer. Looking forward to some fun events ahead that will make my kids think they are on spring break but they will technically be field trip days. Check, check. 

Are you guys on spring break this week? What do you have planned?

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Some days you put on the 10 year old comfy jeans, Some days you put on the 10 year old comfy jeans, fill your mind with encouragement and just keep moving forward. 

Recovery days are not just for working out. They are for the mental state we walk around with too. Yesterday felt heavy. My God is a power lifter and takes the burden away. 

Today will be better.

Today we will rest and refocus.

Hooray for comfy jeans, motivational graphics and the Word to focus on through it all. 

(Faith fashion: @choseninchrist use code Jaimi to save.)

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🌟That Face!!🌟 That little boy is soon to t 🌟That Face!!🌟 

That little boy is soon to turn 13, guys! I mean in a few weeks. 😅

This is a throwback but brings back so many fun memories. 

—————————————

I love creating activities and crafts on the fly. Always have even before my kids were here.

I noticed that my son did not have a lot of little toy people to play with while he was pretending one day. We have a few cylinder blocks in a set. We never used them when we built. I thought we could turn them into little DIY toy people. 

They were so cute and easy to make. It was a preschool art project for him. We made them together.

If you don’t have wooden cylindrical blocks at home, you can use pieces of wood dowel or even a few square blocks glued together. You can even make DIY toy people out of toilet paper tubes. 

🌟Full details through Blog link in bio 🌟

——————————————

I am so excited and yet in complete shock by how fast these little lives grow. I have never missed moments and I am so so grateful especially as we approach the teen years in my house. 💛 Soak up even the hard days of being a mom. TOTALLY worth it. 

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👌 There are a lot of parenting opinions out the 👌 There are a lot of parenting opinions out there. I try to ignore a lot of them. 😂 

My kids stay up later than most recommend, but so did I when I was a kid. 

She loves to read. She loves to write. Abby writes plays, journal entries, songs and on a bad day she will write her feelings about it all, in depth, no holds barred. 

This night she was trying to finish up a play - setting, character details, order of lines - for a play she made for her younger sister. 

I am so thankful that we can count her love of writing in her free time as school work. I am so thankful that how we do school allows this passion and talent to thrive. She has stacks of drawings, plays and writing blurbs. They are all precious to her.

There are days I question whether this choice or that choice is right or “approved,” but it does not matter when I see my children dive deep into the things they love. 

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Give me my people any day. Family time this Sund Give me my people any day. 

Family time this Sunday was a 5k fundraiser race. We helped raise 💵 for the spouses’ club scholarship fund. Scholarships will be awarded for post secondary education to military kids and spouses. 

If you can choose any action in life, choose to help others. Side bonus when it involves fun family time together.

Best day yet. 💛💛💛

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💛 Friday Introductions💛 It has been a while 💛 Friday Introductions💛

It has been a while since I did a good run-down here to give ya the cliffs notes (are those still a thing) version of me. 👋 

💛 Detroit-born a few blocks from where Eminem lived. The city is still my hometown despite moving away as a kid.

💛 I am a big believer in traditional values, but with a modern woman twist. My husband drives his career and I drive this household.

💛 We live in eastern NC 30 mins from the beach. I want to stay here forever, truly, but military life will come to an end some day...still don’t know specifically when that will be.

💛Born and raised to be a planner, Type A personality, having 4 kids beat that out of me 🤣 and I am very “day at a time” now. 

💛I was a teacher turned stay at home mom turned blogger turned entrepreneur that had to set it all on the back burner a bit to focus on homeschooling my kids. I can only have so much on my plate and complete it successfully. (When we listen, God guides and is loud and clear with His direction. 💛)

💛I believe I can be humble and confident; I can be fully present with my kids and make space to rest and rejuvenate; I believe the biggest successes I will achieve in life will not have a paycheck as its valuation. 

💛I believe that true peace, value and love all come from Jesus. 

You will find me sharing the ups AND the downs of motherhood, wife life, homeschooling and being a Christian woman with the modern day pull to fight what that can mean. (There is def a force trying to convince us to push those values aside, my friends.)

👌What is the cliffs notes version of you? What do you want people to know/realize most of all?

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🌟Teaching Kids to Make Friends🌟 Often our c 🌟Teaching Kids to Make Friends🌟

Often our children learn hard lessons when they have to move to a new state or school. 

My kids have become all too familiar with this through military life. Every three years they have to make new friends.

It is not always simple.

As a child, my family moved a lot. We were not military, but in junior high I moved to a new state and had to make all new friends.

This was a challenging and even to some extent a traumatic time of life.

Being the new kid, is a humbling experience. Suddenly you are hoping that your peers will want to get to know you and like you. It creates some self-consciousness.

Reading is such a beneficial way to teach children about life lessons. It teaches much more than that. It teaches self esteem through the cuddle time. It teaches language skills, and it teaches children to use their minds to be creative.

As they have grown and navigated more friendships, books are a resource for us to discuss tough challenges. I have found a great series of books that present friendship challenges and help children learn to navigate them.

It just so happens that the author is my neighbor too! How cool is that?! Moms are amazing.

These books will be treasured by your family for their quality values. The @stingrayjelly series teach children how to make friends and navigate friendships to love others well and support them through shared similarities and recognized differences.

Author, Lauren Giannella is a military wife and my neighbor! Anna Perdue is the illustrator and also a military child. 

Read my blog post for details on each book and links to purchase through @barnesandnoble 

We love our military community and all they do to give back.

What are your favorite children’s books that teach children how to make friends or help them maneuver through tough life challenges?

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