Surviving Lockdown Summer As A Family
The COVID -19 pandemic has been an especially stressful time for families. After all, they've not just had the kids to entertain over the summer vacation but also for months beforehand. All without school, and without being able to take them on days out or longer holidays. Fortunately, some tactics that can help make these lockdown times with family a little easier. Keep reading to find out what they are.
Get into a routine
Usually, summer is a time where we don't have to worry about routines. When life isn't ruled by the school bell or the alarm clock. However, because many families have already gotten out of their routines, not having one over this summer could be a bad idea. In fact, it can make it even harder when things do get back to normal.
When kids are out of their routine, they are also much more likely to come to you and say that they are bored or haven't got anything to do. In fact, providing them with a routine means, they become much more responsible for their own actions and entertainment during the day.
With that in mind, it's best not to allow them to sleep in until midday, or go to bed too late every evening. Of course, you don't have to have strict bedtime or get up time rules, but around 10-11pm and 8-9pm is a lot easier to work with when you go back to getting up at 7am come school time!
Encourage their creativity
To survive summer in lockdown as a family, encourage your kids to get as creative as possible. Now, don't panic because getting creative doesn't mean that they should go nuts and start coloring the walls! Instead, it is all about completing some projects around specific themes or topics.
In particular, creating artwork like the examples you will find at https://www.artbarblog.com/40-summer-art-ideas-for-kids/, that you can display around the home works well, especially if you can make it a more extended activity such as a mural wall for the outside.
You may also like to encourage your kids to get creative with their writing, creating stories, or even journals. You can even get some great resources like the ones at https://studentreasures.com/teachers-lounge/lesson-plans/fourth-grade/, which can help less confident writers get started. After all, writing isn't just fun, but it is a great activity to keep the kids entertained over the summer. Not to mention that it also will help them with their schooling when things go back to normal in September (fingers crossed).
Plan a staycation
You may not be able to take the kids on an overseas holiday or make a lot of day trips to built-up areas like cities and theme parks. However, there are still many ways you can create a fun staycation atmosphere at home.
One of these is investing in paddling or even swimming pools and some sun loungers for the backyard. You may also wish to plan picnics, BBQs, and outdoor games as well. Which, while not exactly like a beach holiday, can certainly provide a lot of fun and entertainment to keep the kids busy over the summer while COVID-19 is still causing problems.
