Guess what! It is summertime again. The cold and harsh winter is over and you will be enjoying the sun a lot more with warmer temperatures. Also, your kiddo and you can now spend those extra hours in a day which you’ve been craving for some time now. This time is fun, comes only once a year, one should make the best use of it. But this calls for something. No, I am not talking about the games and fun – but the exact opposite of it – RULES! So, before coming to the what aspect, first let us tell you why!
‘Mama, I am not a kid anymore’
‘No, you are’
So here is why. Summers are great. It probably might even be your favorite season. But during your kid’s summer break, your stress hormone could just rise up. So how to avoid that? Simple, rules.
Before you get us wrong, the rules discussed below are just small restrictions or guidelines. They will keep a tap on the both of you – you and your child.
1.Be Independent
Your little one might always seem a baby to you, but guess what, he is growing up. He should learn to be responsible at least for his daily chores as soon as possible. This habit you can develop in him this summer. Prepare a list of daily activities he should do himself. You can start with something really basic like brushing, bathing, dressing, or for that matter even making his own breakfast. This will help you relax a lot more and will prepare him/her for the future.
2.No Brain Drain
In the 21stcentury, kids are surrounded by electronics that take over their lives. An average kid less than 8 years of age is having a screen time of around 2-3 hours a day– well, that’s unfortunate and catastrophic. The younger he is, the more harm it is doing to him. Among many such effects, one is losing your intellect.
As parents keeping this under control is extremely important. Replacing electronics with books is a good deal. If not books, outdoor sports, or any other substitute that claims keeping them away from screens is a very good option. Anything which involves usage of the brain, like puzzles or board games could be in your bucket list. You can also get him enrolled into an offline or online summer course by sites like Etutorworld.
3.Beat the Heat
You might find this to be an extension of the above point. In certain ways it is. This basically means to get outdoors. This might be the best time around the year to do so. Replace their phones with a football and tell them to kick it around. Your kid will get physically fitter and better. He will also make new friends in the process.
4.No ‘I am bored’ speech
‘for this time, you waited the whole year and now when it is here. you don’t value it?’ Is something you will have to say to them when they come up with ‘I am bored’ face. They need to play with their toys, read books and novels and try to keep themselves busy. If they don’t do so, as discussed above, they will just sit and keep staring at the screens – and you certainly don’t want that.
5.You don’t see a maid in your mom
Summer means your kids will be a lot more home. This means that they will be playing around a lot more in the house than usual. Ofcourse you can’t expect your house to be not messed up more often than ever. So like in the first point, which basically meant self-sufficiency. You can’t just keep on cleaning the house all the time, so confer it to your child very very clearly – ‘You are going to clean your own mess, and don’t expect me to help.’
6.Practice Kindness
Being kind never goes out of fashion. Never. Children need to learn this on a very tender age. They might get into fights, they might be on the wrong side in some situations, and sometimes even being on the right side wouldn’t fetch them a lot good, but what they need to understand is to learn to forgive and forget. Tell them, that World is not a wish-granting factory and they wouldn’t always get what they want – but better things are ahead, just keep trying!
Here’s the final reminder – enjoy your summers well but also remember to embed some rules in your kids to ensure that they fly in the safe borders!
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