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Time to Thrive: How to Improve Family Well-being This Summer
Summer is a big deal in the Northeast. The extra hours of daylight and warmth of the season are a welcome reprieve from our long, dark winters. It’s also a busy season as New Englanders scramble to take advantage of the good weather and it can be easy for family well-being to get lost in the shuffle of barbecues and beach days, especially if you’re also juggling school-age kids.
The key to optimizing well-being during the summer is finding a mix of play and routine that complements your lifestyle. Instead of trying to fit even more activities into an already packed schedule, we’ve put together some simple routines that you can adapt for your unique family situation.
1. Move your body every day
Summer is the perfect time to get outside and walk, bike, or swim. School-age kids should get at least 2 hours of physical activity daily, including at least one hour of unstructured play. Giving kids space to self-direct their play builds confidence, social bonds, and problem-solving skills.
If high temperatures are threatening to interfere with your outdoor fun, plan activities for the cool morning or evening. And don’t forget the sunscreen!
2. Build a simple summer routine
Long weekends and school vacations are the perfect time to plan new and exciting experiences, but anchor your days with consistent sleep and meal times. Keeping a simple routine that aligns with the rest of the year not only makes the transition back to school easier, but also can help reduce anxiety and improve children’ s moods.
Planning a summer schedule can be a fun family activity! Use pictures to create a visual chart of daily tasks and upcoming events, as well as quiet time to help prevent overwhelm.
3. Nurture kids’ social bonds
Summer break can strain the social bonds kids nurture during the school year as they are swept away from their friends by family trips and conflicting schedules. Make it a point to arrange time for playdates with friends to prevent loneliness. Consider planning activities at your local library, community centers, and day camps to give your kids opportunities to form new friendships. You can also foster stronger family ties at home with group activities like playing board games or doing an arts and crafts project together.
4. Manage family screen time
Kids’ screen time tends to increase during the summer as a natural outcome of having less highly structured activities and that’s okay! Moderated use of screens can educate, entertain, and offer caregivers a much-needed break, however, health experts recommend balancing this use with tech-free activities. Encourage kids to do some form of physical activity before screen time and create “tech-free zones” in certain rooms, like bedrooms, to facilitate healthy sleep habits.
The most powerful tools parents have in their toolkit are simply modeling good media habits and engaging in conversations about these topics. If your child is old enough, working together as a family to create a summer media agreement is a great way to create a media usage plan that keeps everyone’s needs in mind and enhances well-being. You can use the template in the MPY Resource Center to help jump-start your own family agreement.