Kids love schedules and they help your little one feel secure and happy.
These tips will ensure you can maintain a schedule of some sorts during the school holidays:
Bedtime
Just because they don’t have to get up for school the next day doesn’t mean they should be allowed to stay up really late. It is important you stick to their bedtime schedule - although you don’t have to be as strict – but try to send them to bed at their normal time or a half an hour after. Get them up at the same time each morning so that they don’t end up sleeping through the day. lack of sleep can make for very grumpy kids and this is the last thing you want.
Allocate specific times for things
Do up a list of activities of things to do and allocate a specific time to each one. This way your little one won’t wake up and roll onto the couch where they will spend the rest of the day – they will have things to do.
Camps
If possible, try to enrol your little one in a camp so that they have structure to their day. There is nothing worse than having a child who keeps telling you they are bored – don’t give them the opportunity to say this. You don’t need to have your little one do a camp everyday but it is great for maintaining structure.
Don't overschedule
While it is important that kids have a routine and structure it is vital that they enjoy some downtime. The school year can be particularly draining so youngsters need time to recoup and get over the pressures of school and enjoy free time. The best way to do this is give your little one the weekend off to do what they like or just schedule things in the morning during the week and let them have the afternoons to play freely or even watch a little TV.
Do things together
Make sure you schedule in some family time. The summer is the perfect opportunity to catch up so schedule time to go to the park, do some baking together or simply to sit down and watch a movie.
When it comes to maintaining a routine during the summer you don’t need to be overly strict on it.