Summer vacation is around the corner and there is a lot of excitement in the air - especially for your kids. They may be looking forward to yet another fun vacation, dreaming and making plans for the next two months. You as a parent may be looking forward to it too, as it is a good break from the morning mayhem of packing lunches, helping with the HW, temper tantrums to go to school, and waking up early so that they do not miss the school bus (lest you have to drop them off!). 

You may have started thinking of ways to keep your child/children entertained, occupied, and out of trouble during summer. Of course, you want them to have fun and they deserve it. After all, they have been putting a lot of hard work into their school year. 

However, though you have great intentions, there may be constraints too that you need to keep in mind. For instance, you may be a working parent who has to work through summer and cannot be at home with them all day - all summer. You may also be an at-home parent who will have to manage the kids without a break. Either way, this could be a stressful period if not planned well. Here are some ideas for you, to get this summer "rocking and happening" for your kids. 

Keeping them busy 

What can you do for two months? How do you plan out the fun? What are some of the options and choices of activities? 

* How about planning a short family trip or vacation? All families love to vacation together. This gives you quality time together and can be a fun and learning experience for all of you. 

* Enroll your child for a suitable summer camp. This is a great way to keep the kids occupied with some fun activities in a structured environment. Summer camps are available in many areas - sports, dance, drama, and art. 

* If you are working, and if you can take some days off from work, you could spend it with your children. How about planning some quality time with the kids? This could be time to just relax with your kids - take them to the park, catch a couple of children's movies, take them to their friend's home or cook some special and exciting meals for them, etc. These are simple and practical ways to keep the fun going. It won't be their routine and it can be quite an exciting time for them. Even if you cannot take leave, you could try to squeeze in some of these into the weekends. 

* Children love being creative and messing around with colourful art and craft materials. Getting them engaged in some art and craft activity can be exciting and fun for them. Once they are started on such a project and you may find them engrossed in it for hours. If you as a parent cannot supervise this activity, an older child could do the supervision for you. For more information, read Fun Activities for Children. 

* Planning sleep-over at a friend's place: you could plan this in such a way that your child goes for a sleep-over at a friend's place for a day or two and you in turn invite the friend to your home for a couple of days. 

Please make sure you know the friend and his/her family well enough and also check with your child on how comfortable they are with the idea. 

* Spending time with grandparents/cousins/uncles/aunts: this is a good time for children to spend quality time with the larger family. It could be in your city or maybe in your hometown, which could be a fun and exciting journey for the kids on a train or a bus. Maybe you can look at sending them over, for a fortnight or more - whatever suits you. However, you must make sure that these are relatives you trust and will take good care of your children. They should also be healthy and happy to have the kids over. This will also give you a break to rest and focus on your marriage, your work, or some special projects that you want to complete, like painting your home. 

* Check if your company offers some flexibility during the summer, like working part-time or working from home for a short period like a month. This will help relieve you of some daycare problems but just make sure you can focus on your work too. 

* While planning it all out, do keep in mind an essential part of a child's growth - free play. Unstructured, child-directed free play, is important to healthy brain development and allows kids to use their creativity and nurture their imagination, dexterity, and other strengths. It also helps kids to learn to work in groups, helping them work through their fears and build their confidence. 

* Some limited time playing video/computer games and watching TV may also be something that you may want to give your kids. A combination of some of these arrangements would help you sail through this summer and your kids would have a bunch of exciting experiences to share with their friends when they get back to school. 

How to choose a good summer camp? 

Here are some points you can keep in mind and things you can check out, as you look out for that perfect summer camp. 

• Make sure your child, as well as you, is involved in selecting a suitable camp. 

• What do you and your child want? It is important that the ultimate selection of a camp accommodate all or most of the needs, interests, goals, and expectations of both parent and child. Goals could range from learning new skills, developing more self-confidence, improving proficiency in certain areas, becoming more independent and so on. 

• Programmes and activities of the camp. 

• Cost. 

• Location. 

• Size of the camp or number of children attending the camp. 

• Safety measures for the campers. 

• Type of camp - residential camps, day camps, co-ed camps, all girls or all boys camps, sports camps, art camps, personality development camps, adventure camps etc. 

Apart from these pointers, talking to others who have already gone to the camp and listening to their experiences, can also help you zero in on a camp. 

Summer for your teenager 

Though you may not need to structure every bit of your teenagers' summer, some planning and structuring can make summer a positive growth experience and a memorable one for your teens too. 

How about some: 

• Volunteer work or contributing in some way to the neighbourhood or society. 

• Take up a project like planting trees or other environmental activities. You could browse the net and find out about such projects in your neighbourhood. 

• Part-time job/internship. 

• Helping you pay monthly bills - e.g. electricity, water, buying train/bus tickets. 

• Running your home - taking care of budgeting, groceries, meal planning, laundry, etc. 

• Don't forget, just like your younger children need free play, your teens need time to hang out with friends and have fun. 

While planning the holidays for your teens, it is necessary to involve them in the planning process and allow them to choose the activities that they want to be a part of, so that they do not feel they are moving from one school to another! 

Encouraging them to take decisions for themselves would also help them grow as individuals and become independent. 

With a little planning, creativity and flexibility, you as a parent can surely make this summer a memorable one for your kids. 

If you would like to discuss this further or need some help or support in this or any other area, our counsellors would be happy to help. 

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