10 ways to foster growth & development over the summer

Summer is officially here! Yay!!! I find there’s a special relationship between the summer and a child’s growth and development. My own theory is that school is out, camp is in, and thus kids are overall more relaxed. A happy child is a relaxed child, and a relaxed child learns best. This also holds true for toddlers who aren’t in school yet. I find they spend A LOT more time outside, which means more time to move and groove. The more active the child, the more in balance they are internally and thus the more relaxed they are overall. The developmental leaps that take place over the summer are always the most obvious to me.

With that said, children don’t make these leaps on their own. They count on you for a lot of it. Here are 10 ways to maximize your time over the summer to foster growth and development.

Here it is…

1. Set up a solid structure & routine

Children thrive off of predictability. They do really well when they know what to expect and what’s coming next. So if your child is not in a full time daycare or camp program, make sure you are providing a solid structure throughout their days and weeks in the summer. Create a structure with very clear expectations and outcomes and create a summer routine that allows them to have lots of opportunity to experience new learning opportunities. If you can accomplish this, then your transition into the fall and start of school will be a breeze. This will also help keep disruptive behaviours down.

2. Provide your child with opportunity to contribute to your household

Toddlers & school-aged children need to feel a sense of empowerment to satisfy their developmental needs. They are now at a stage where they are becoming independent little people and learning how the exercise control over their world. The most functional way you can keep their empowerment bucket full is to start letting them contribute to household tasks. For example; making their bed, sorting laundry, putting their clothes in the laundry basket, preparing simple foods, turning lights on and off when you enter and exit a room, and the list goes on…. This won't happen over night, there's some teaching involved here but trust me... a little teaching now will help you out big time in the long run. Don’t forget to make this super FUN!

3. Lots of physical activity

Summer time is the best time to be outside and give your child lots opportunities to engage in proprioceptive and vestibular movement. These movements are necessary to awaken all the sense our bodies need to develop strong gross and fine motor skills. Let them climb ladders and slides, hang from monkey bars and problem solve their way through different playground structures. Bonus is that your child will build confidence and self-esteem from this!

4. Let them “do it myself” and “help”

The name of the game is INDEPENDENCE at this stage of development. This might be the most painful thing for some parents because we know there’s a dreaded mess that’s going to follow or just create more work for us but…. We have to see the value in process over product here. Children are convinced they are “response-able” at this stage and if we send them a message that we think otherwise then what are we really teaching them? Be patient, take a deep breath, and be ok with a little bit of mess.

5. Teach responsibility around peer and/or sibling interactions

Stop forcing your child to say “sorry”. What’s the point? What are you actually teaching them? You’ll be better off to help them label their own emotions when they are confronted with a conflict  and help them work through those emotions. Empathize with them and let them know that you also experience these emotions. Once your child is calm then you can talk resolution with them. Ask them what they could do different next time. Ask them what they’ve learned from the situation. You might be shocked to see how inclined they are to apologize on their own or problem solve a little better next time. This does however take time and work, so don’t give up if it doesn’t resonate the first time around.

6. Model responsibility around caring for items

You are your child’s greatest role model in life! Be very explicit about choices you are making in and around the house. Start speaking your thoughts out loud. For example; “I forgot I left my shirt on the floor, I better pick it up and put it away” or “I’m feeling so tired but I better put my books away so I can find them tomorrow”. Model and they will do!

7. Teach your child a new skill every week!

This is the best! Create list of new skills you want your child to learn over the summer. Every week you are going to focus on one new skill and provide a ton of opportunity to practice that new skills. This is your time to get creative!!! If you have a child entering Kindergarten in the fall, this is the perfect opportunity to work on some of those essential skills they need for the Kindergarten transition- such as holding a crayon properly, using scissors, getting dressed by themselves, using buttons and zippers, opening and closing food containers, and the list goes on…. have fun with it!

8. Foster problem solving skills

The goal here is to present your child with new situations and activities and start asking them question to problem solve through them instead of telling them what to do. Encourage your child to explore different solutions and even ask questions if they are unsure. If you are binging on playground time while the weather is nice this is the perfect opportunity to foster problem solving skills. Take your child to new playgrounds and let them figure out how to navigate through the different play structures. If they get stuck, present them with questions to spark their thoughts. For example; “what can you grab on to to make it to the next level?”

9. Encourage risk taking

Be honest here… How many times a day do you say “be careful” to your child? We need to be cognizant of this and try to limit this expression. We need to expect bumps and bruises along the way. Taking risks presents our children with challenges. Working through challenges makes them feel so good!!! HELLO self-esteem! This will take them a lot further in their growth and development than constantly hearing “good job”, “ you did it”. Let them feel it intrinsically!

10. Do something a little extraordinary

It’s summer time!!! This is the time to do something new, novel, and extraordinary with your child. Give them an experience they’ve never had before. Whether it’s going to an amusement park, the theatre for the first time, a sleep-over, or blueberry picking (one of my personal favourites). These novel experiences are priceless learning opportunities for your child. Exposing them to something new will just help widen their view of the world and broaden their understanding of their own emotions, thoughts, and relationships with other people and things.

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Let's talk MORNING ROUTINE!

So if you are the "wake up before your child" type of person and you get your day started without any interruptions- then you should know I’m envious of you! The odd time I’m up before my children, I always have the exact same dialogue in my head... 

"It’s so nice and quiet, I feel so relaxed, what a great way to start the day!"

The other 363 days of the year this is how it goes….

A typical morning usually consists of….
My children waking up and finding their way into my bed
The tv goes on and we have the most delicious snuggles (never want those to end). 
After 15 minutes of watching tv and snuggling the race is on! 
And in no particular order...
Get dressed! 
Eat breakfast!
Get dressed again because clothing got dirty from breakfast
Brush teeth!
Shoes on! Jackets on!
Occupy the kids while you do all of the above
Oh ya… then one kids starts screaming because the other kid isn’t sharing toys
Then my daughter gives up and decides to change her clothes again because why not!?!? (does this stage ever end?!?!?)
The phone is dinging as those work emails start coming in on both mine and my husbands phones… 
Then both my kids try to leave the house with toys in each hand to take to school (you know because there aren’t enough toys there already) and then comes the negotiation to get them to leave the toys at home…. cue the crying…. 
We finally take 1 step out the door and I realize I’ve left my phone inside- run back in and search everywhere for it.

WTF?!?!

Does this sounds familiar to you??

I recently did a poll in Behave it or NOT! and it looks like I’m with most you, which was a huge relief on my end so thank you for that!!!. 

I’m certainly not an early to rise person, nor is my family. My children have become our alarm clock, and to be honest I’m totally ok with it. So what does this mean for us? …..our mornings are very face paced as we race the clock to get out of the house. Over the years I’ve had to figure out how to keep our house moving in forward motion --> to get out the door on time with minimal bumps along the way. 

Efficiency is always my #1 goal. 

I always get asked "how do you do it?"

Well here you go...Here are some of the strategies I’ve used to help us be successful with our morning routine.

1. I always make a mental list (for those who know me, I love lists!!!) in my head of things I can do the night before to make the morning smoother. For example; pack bags for school, dance, baseball and throw it in the car- can’t forget it the next day if it’s already in the car! BOOM!
2. Those first 15 minutes of snuggle time in the morning are a MUST- this is our opportunity to get emotionally connected with our children before the day gets started. All kids need a good dose of attention to fuel their day. Give it to them before your day starts so they don’t try to seek it out in a non-functional way while you are trying to rush out the door
3. Minimize the number of transitions you require your child to get through from wake up to getting out the door. The way I’ve set up our morning routine is based on location in the house where tasks need to get done. So.. we start in our bedrooms (getting dressed, making bed) and then move our way to the kitchen (breakfast, wash up) which is close to the front door, and then front door for shoes & jackets and out the door! There’s very little back and forth required for transitions.
4. If my child tries to swerve from the routine because she wants to "play with her toys"- I turn to the "when-then" routine. It would sounds something like this.. "When you get dressed and make your bed, then you can play with your toys for 10 minutes (timer is set for her)"
5. Model a solid routine for your kids. If you are like me and aren’t one to get up before your kids, then go through the morning routine with them. You get dressed while they get dressed- getting dressed together is a great opportunity to connect and be in it together- kids love this!
6. For children 3+ years old you can provide them with a checklist of tasks for them to follow in the morning. If they can’t read yet, use pictures. Kids love to be in control! What an easy way to give them a sense of empowerment to start their day! The only thing to remember here is this needs to be taught- go through the motions with your child a few times until you feel confident they can do it on their own.

In an ideal world, I would get up at least 30 minutes earlier than my kids to get myself dressed and ready for the day- This is on my "to-do" list. 

-Cori

p.s. I love hand delivering strategies directly into your inbox. Sign up here for instant delivery! 

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