MomsTalk: Tips for Making the Summer Transition

Many families find the transition from the over-scheduled school year to the lazy days of summer to be jarring and difficult. Our McLean Patch Moms discuss their strategies for handling this time of year.

McLean Patch Mom Alison Senold:

There is really nothing my family doesn’t like about summer, but the two challenges that come along with the transition from school to summer vacation are the kids missing their friends and me missing my quiet, productive time during the day.

For my boys, it usually takes about two weeks for the novelty of staying in pajamas all day to wear off and the squabbling to start. Around that point in the summer, I know one of the boys will look at me over breakfast and ask (with a slight whine) "What are we going to DO today?"

That is my cue to pull out the list. Several years ago, a clever friend of mine told me about her strategy for combating summer boredom. It works great and we've done it every summer since. A few weeks before school gets out, when our anticipation of summer is at it’s peak, we make a list of everything we want to do during the summer.

The list usually includes some things we want to do during any trips we are taking, but the important parts are really the items that we want to do at home or locally. Nothing is too small to be included on the list, so it ends up ranging from things like Kings Dominion, kayaking and horseback riding to having s’mores for dessert, walking to the farmer’s market and building a pillow fort in the basement. I can trade something on the list for some peace and quiet when necessary – i.e., “If you guys go outside for an hour while I get these flowers planted, bills paid, etc., then we’ll be able to do something on the list this afternoon." We know we can’t do everything on the list in one summer, but it does mean we never really run out of things to do – unless we want to.

McLean Patch Mom Anne Wydler:

Last year we booked a vacation, leaving the day after we got out of school. Many friends told me they thought we were crazy – how could we just up and leave so quickly? It turned out to be one of the best things we could have done. We didn’t suffer from any doldrums of missing our school friends (daughters) or missing our alone time (mommy) because we were having so much fun on our cruise. 

This year, a group of friends is putting together a trip to an amusement park, literally leaving straight from the school parking lot. Unfortunately, we can’t make that work this year, but we’ve got several things lined up to ease us into having less to do. 

Celebrate Fairfax is a wonderful fair, held on the grounds of the Fairfax Government Center. It is a wonderful opening to summer – food, rides, entertainment – and it goes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Our school year ended this year on June 9 so we did both Celebrate Fairfax and started summer at the same time.