How to Get Through Summer Break Without Feeling Burnt Out
When you were a kid, you’d wait all year for summer break. No school, no homework, no schedules… Just freedom. A whole summer of freedom.
Then you grew up, had kids of your own, and now that same summer break is something that makes you cringe. Your kids get easily bored, the living room looks like a craft store exploded in it, someone’s whining about Wi-Fi, and you still have to unload the dishwasher from last night. And the worst part? This isn’t a bad day, it’s just a typical Thursday in July.
Sounds familiar? I totally get it.
You might say that the problem with summer break is that there’s not much to do, but that’s not it. The actual problem is that you don’t have those same “stops” everyone’s used to. Nobody has a bus to catch, there’s no specific time to do homework, and no pauses. Just one long, unorganized day for the entire summer. Man… How do you get through it and stay sane?
Well, I don’t have a magic wand or a time machine to make the new school year come sooner, but I have some advice that could really help you out.
Why Summer Days Feel Harder Than They Should
You know how they say January is the longest month of the year because it seems to drag on forever? Well, I’d say that any parent feels that summer is by far the longest season. And that’s a real shame, because the sun and the warmth are things to be happy about. It’s sad to feel drained all the time, isn’t it? So, why does it happen?
When your kids go to school, they have a schedule. And that schedule runs itself.
There’s a specific time when the bus comes, which stays the same every day. School ends at the same time every day, too, and then there’s dinner, homework, a shower, and bedtime. Your kids don’t have to figure out a schedule from scratch, and neither do you. That’s a huge weight off your shoulders, so when summer break rolls around and you lose that, it’s normal to feel like you’re losing your mind.
During summertime, everything’s on you. When do the kids eat? When do they go outside? How long do they get to be on the tablet or the laptop? You’re in charge of all that, on top of what you already have going on every day. Unless you’re Superman, you’ll be exhausted after 2 weeks of this chaos.
The thing summer lacks is structure. And the reason structure is so important is that it gives your brain a break from having to make decisions every minute of every day.
What should you make for lunch? How do you keep the kids busy? Do you switch the laundry or break up their argument first, and so on?
Every single choice is tiny, but make a hundred times, and your brain has been crazy busy. A busy brain needs a lot of energy, which leaves you feeling fried and irritable.
This is called mental fatigue, and you know what comes after that? Burnout.
How to Make Your Day Easier
Now, let’s talk about how to fix this because I promised you advice.
Stop Deciding Things Over and Over
You make a bunch of tiny little choices every day, like what to give your kids for a snack, whether to allow them more screen time or not, etc.
My advice? Don’t.
Set some defaults so it’s not all on you.
Take snack time, for instance. Pick two snack times that happen at the same time each day, and think of a few ideas for snacks.
Then, just rotate those throughout the week. It’s the same with dinner. Make up a schedule of what you’re making for the week on, say, Sunday. That way, you don’t have to deal with the “Moooom, what’s for dinner?” every day because they know. Tuesday’s spaghetti, Wednesday’s casserole, it’s all there in the schedule. You can do this with activities, as well.
Create a list of the ones that don’t take up a lot of your time and energy, and you’re already making your life easier.
Give the Day Some Shape
When I say schedule, I hope you know I don’t mean a whiteboard with 15-minute increments. That will make you AND your kids crazy. However, your kids need some sort of structure because that’s the only thing that can prevent the summer from turning into one giant migraine.
For you, of course.
I’d suggest breaking the day into 3 chunks.
There could be a quiet chunk after lunch where everyone reads, plays computer games, or something like that. Basically, they’re quiet, that’s the point. Then you could have an active chunk, which can be in the morning, where the kids go outside, run, whatever.
And the reset chunk would be before dinner: picking up toys, cleaning up, etc. Kids respond really well to this because they always know what’s next.
Let Outside Time Make This Easier on You
Essentially, this means letting your kids burn off energy somewhere that’s not your living room.
And what better place to do that than outside, in the fresh air?
This part, though, is where I see a lot of people getting stuck.
What do they do once they’re outside? If there’s nothing to keep them occupied, all you’ll hear is whining and complaining. They can run around, play catch, jump on a trampoline, dig in a sandbox, or spray each other with a hose.
If you have the means and the space, you might also want to think about putting in a pool. You’ll want to be careful here because there are quite a few things to consider in order to make your pool actually functional, and a lot of it depends on your climate.
A pool builder in York County PA will always prioritize proper winterization to make sure that your pool can handle the freezing winters, heavy rain, and ground shifting.
On the other hand, in places like Arizona, you’d have to think of extreme heat, evaporation, and sun exposure because it all affects outside surfaces, as well as water levels. Naturally, a pool isn’t a must-have, but if you can afford it, I can guarantee that your kids will love it.
Conclusion
Let me be completely (and painfully) honest. I have zero advice on how to make the summer break feel like any other normal day of the year. Your kids are home all the time, and you’ll feel it. But I think that I’ve given you some pretty useful tips on how to keep them occupied and how to make it easier on yourself. The most important thing is not to let everything depend on you.
If you make a few things known beforehand (like schedules), you’ll have a much easier time with this.
Oh, and one other thing. As stressful as this can be sometimes, remember that it’s summer. If your kids are spraying themselves with a garden hose, why not join them? If they’re bored, why not take them for a walk in the park and throw a picnic?
Squeeze in a little time so you can enjoy summer, too.
