Saturday, May 3, 2008

Summertime!



I absolutely love summer. I love the weather, the pool, the fresh foods available, vacation, and the easier pace. What is not to love? RAD. When RAD entered the picture in our home it changed everything. It turned summer into a battle zone. So here are some tips for getting into summer.

As Bren said in her comment on the last post, structure. I believe it is key. Make up a schedule. I know that is hard because summer is fun when you don't have one. Trust me. Yours will be more fun if you do. Set a certain time to get the kids up. It can be something like this:

8:00 am wake up


8-9 am get dressed, make beds, eat breakfast


9-10 chores


10-11- school work


11-12 play outside


12-1 lunch and clean up


1-2 reading time


2-5 plan an activity such as going to the pool, the library, a museum, a park


5-6 dinner


6-7 play outside


7-9 quiet activity such as board games, Lego's, puzzles, go for a walk as a family, surprise trip to DQ or for a pop somewhere (soda for some of you : )


9-10 reading in room


10- lights out



This is pretty much the schedule we followed last summer. I keep a large stack of library books so there is always something to read. We try to keep it the same every day. Of course we cannot but the more we do the calmer things will be. Good luck!

6 comments:

~Bren~ said...

That is pretty much our schedule too. I also have a schedule of their chores. They have their regular ones...clean your room, pick up your mess, etc., but then they have 2 chores a day. One takes place in the morning and one in the afternoon. In making out the scedule of chores, they had a hand in picking what they wanted to do. BOTH kids love to feather dust so I made sure they both got a shot at it...she does the banisters and he does the chair and table legs. Just a "Choretime" on my schedule did not work for them...they needed a schedule of chores. I also tell them that the schedule is not in charge of us! WE are in charge of the schedule. That way if we want to spend the day away from home they don't freak-out because it is not on the schedule. RAD kids (especially girls) can become slaves to the schedule. My 6 year old son has it printed out and taped to his bedroom wall. It is important, but I need to keep it clear that we are not slaves to the schedule. Yeesh...there is always something! LOL

Brenda said...

Bren,

We have a chore chart year round. It is on the fridg. I change it once a month. When they finish their chores they have to say "Mom I am ready for you to check my work". I also find it helpful to say "Stop and look at the room and see if you did everything." Inevitably they forgot part and then they catch it themselves instead of me nagging.

~Bren~ said...

Do you find the schedule helps you too?? I ended up making an entire Binder for my schedules. My kids and their unique needs have made it impossible for me to get through my daily tasks without having it in my own personal schedule. Remember, I also home school so they are with me ALL the time.
Another area I need to work on...my standards are too high with my dd. I let my son slide on more as is age appropriate, but my daughter, not so much. I think I still have it in the back of my mind "She did that just to tick me off!" when whether she did or didn't is of no consequence. I need to remind myself "I AM THE ADULT, I AM THE ADULT, I AM THE ADULT!!!"

Brenda said...

bren,

Oh my goodness I think that it is so hard to know when it is intentional or not. I usually just try to act like I don't care either way.

Renee said...

Brenda - I can't believe I missed question day! I have been out of the loop a lot lately. I guess we need a schedule.

Brenda said...

Renee,

You can ask me anything anytime you want. You probably already know everything there is to know about me anyway.