Naperville Karate Teacher gives Practical Tips on keeping the Summer Productive for YOUR child…To easy to be true?
Kids love structure and they thrive in it!
Fellow Parents,
Have you had a few summers of your kid getting bored after the first month of summer break?
Worse yet, they spend the rest of the summer sulking and saying “there is nothing to do” and then go on to play video games or surf the internet for days at a time!
Let’s face it, the pool, riding their bike and going to practice or camp a few days a week is not enough to keep your child engaged and growing toward their potential.
As a Naperville Karate Teacher, I have worked with kids for more than 25 years.
One thing I’ve learned is that kids need a few elements to create an environment where they thrive and grow during the MANY hours of Summer.
Summer can be a time where your Child actually develops an edge going into the next school year.
What are the ELEMENTS that my Child needs to GROW and become more FOCUSED during summer?
There are 5 Elements that Children need.
In this post we will focus on the the 1 st element – Setting a Summer Routine for your child! Stay with me…
Think about it, your child has a set Routine while they are in school and they THRIVE.
But, in summer if we don’t have a DAILY ROUTINE set for them (better yet your child and you create together) they will lack the stability because they don’t know what they should be doing with themselves.
Have you ever been on vacation and you woke up at the time you normally wake for work? You feel awkward, as if your not sure that your suppose to sleep in.
When your child is used to going to bed and waking the same time during school and all of a sudden they are allowed to dictate their own sleep rituals it causes your child to break a routine that has actually worked for them. Allowing it to deviate to much from the school year routine, doesn’t set up your child to stay in the learning state that they already established during the school year.
Naperville Karate teacher shares the Top 3 Routines to Establish for your child this summer.
What I mean by “establishing” these 3 routines is that you will discuss the terms of the routine with your Child, Link the achievement to keep the routines with a reward, Link the failure to keep the routine with a consequence and how your going to keep them accountable. More on this later.
Here are the top 3 Routines:
1. BED & WAKE – Establish a time to go to bed that is within 1 hour of the school year bed time for weekdays and weekends. Also, do the same for the wake time. Keep it within 1 hour of normal waking time.
2. MORNING RITUAL – What seems to work best is when you set up different activities in 1 hour increments followed by 30 minutes of free time until 11am. Activities would include in the order I use in my home and teach our students parents is…
- Getting Ready for the day – Brush teeth, wash face, clean ears and all hygiene matters includes straightening up the room!
- Chores – I consider chores are things to contribute to the family. Dishes, replacing toilet paper, consolidating trash…make your list good!
- Skills – Choose a skill that they can learn over the summer 1 hour a day. Pick a skill that they can learn from YouTube. My child is learning how to edit video this summer.
- Reading & Book reports – Let your Child pick some books to read over the summer and have them right book reports on each one. I actually select a few books on success, goal setting or a story that teaches a moral to have my child read and PAY her $5 a report. 😉
Make sure to give 30 minutes of “Down Time” between each morning activity.
3. EVENING RITUAL – After your child has had a productive morning and a fun afternoon- its time for them to recover. Set up a time for these activities to happen daily.
- Journal – Have your child answer these questions every night on paper (or tablet). ” What am I thankful about today?” “What did I learn today?” Go over the journal entry with your child and ask them questions about what they wrote.
- Stretch – This is a good family activity. Instead of being in the family room or everyone in their room. Have the whole family put AFV on and stretch on the floor instead of sitting on the couch. It will help everyone relax and sleep better!
- Shower, PJ’s and off to bed
Please Note: Remember to give 30 minutes of down time in between each activity.
What’s next?
Establish these Summer routines and you will be giving your Child the PERFECT environment to keep engaged in the Summer and go into the next School year strong.
Give your child one week with no routines immediately upon summer break. It work as a RESET before you start the Summer Routine.
I promise if you implement this program and you keep your kids accountable to stay on track, the RESULTS will be amazing.
There will be times they resist the routine, your child needs you to reaffirm the reward and consequence and stand firm on not giving them “DOWN TIME” until they complete the scheduled activity. That’s what their teachers at school and that’s what I have to do with The karate classes I teach.
I hope to hear about your success stories..Feel free to leave them in the comments. Also, if you liked this post please share it on facebook for other parents to benefit!
Yours for Rock Solid Kids,
Dion Riccardo – Founder Victory Martial Arts Academies
PS. If you have questions you can contact the number below or go to our Kids Martial Arts Page for more info.
Also, for a study on this from Vanderbilt University <– Click Here!
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About Dion Riccardo
