Summer Tips

We are reaching that half-way summer mark. Count yourself lucky if you haven’t yet heard the words, “I’m bored.” Most of us working parents are doing the awkward dance of cobbling childcare together all the while remaining available at the office. Some weeks seem to go better than others.

I thought this week’s newsletter could be a series of prompts for overcoming the summer ‘boredom.’

Read, read, read
We’ve been having a lot of fun with books this summer. The more the merrier. I’ve tried to make it a ritual of us going to the library once a week together, picking out a bunch of books, seeing what sticks with Clyde, and then going back the next week to try again.

Local libraries tend to have awesome reading lists put together by age group. I've noticed that these summer reading lists are not on the library websites. You need to go in and pick up a sheet. Alternatively District of Columbia library and Loudoun County Library have reading lists geared towards age groups on their websites. You can also ask about read-a-thons and other types of fun challenges that get kids motivated to read and to spread the word about reading.

Another source for reading lists could be your school. Clyde’s school has a summer reading list with dozens of suggested authors by age group. In his case they are asked to fill out Summer Reading Tickets and bring a total of 12 to the first day of school. Another form of motivation that even if you don’t do that through your school, you could just do a home. As simple as:

Title of book:
Author:
Recommend it: Y or N

A last fun thing we have been trying out now that Clyde is old enough to read on his own is reading parties at night where a few nights a week we all crawl into mom and dad’s bed and read our own books separately.

Be outdoors
Pools, waterparks, playgrounds, and the like provide much needed refuge in those summer months for urban families. DC has so many wonderful waterparks for the little ones and so many fond memories were built around us making an excursion of it: taking the bus from our house down to the Georgetown Waterfront was one of my favorites. I am sure there are many more.

If you have some time off and want to get out of the urban sprawl, consider a visit to a farm. We have a really fun one out here in western Loudoun County called Great Country Farms. Kids can play all day on the various outdoor equipment but they can also pick berries and feed animals.

The best part is then being able to go after the farm visit to a local brewery which in our area are also very kid friendly. Three of my favorites being Dirt Farm Brewery, Vanish, and B Chord Brewery. All these places are completely kid-friendly, have food trucks, and often do music in the afternoon and evenings. Just bring your bug spray if you are going to be there in the evenings.

Outdoor theatre is also a great option. Consider Wolftrap's outdoor theatre for kids.

Get tactile
Games or activities that children can do solo are also worth checking out. I’ve mentioned Kwico before but there are plenty of these DIY kits. Note though I find these require parents to still be involved so not ideal if you are trying to get a break to do some work.

We are absolutely loving LEGO right now. Depending on your child’s interests, you can buy sets now for building cars, animals, alien in outdoor space, every cult movie possible (Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc). These are really wonderful sets to keep your little ones engaged and if they are 5+ they can pretty much navigate the sets on their own.

Have a garden or backyard? Set up a dirt pile and let them have at it.

Got tips to share? Send me an email!