Summer Time Squabbles

Summer time arrives and regardless of whether you homeschool or not you are ready for a change. Those who don't homeschool look forward to having some time to spend with their kids.  Those who do homeschool are looking forward to some time away from their kids.

So summer starts off  with a bang! There are camps, VBS, swimming lessons, trips to the grandparents, and maybe even vacation. Suddenly the whirlwind  of activity slows down a bit and we are left with half the summer trying to figure out what to do.

 Then summertime squabbles begin and you find yourself wishing they were back in school. I realized the other day the big difference in summertime and school. We are still at home either way, but school time is much more structured. I don't know why it takes me so long to realize that me getting a break should not mean no schedule. No schedule equals chaos and more fighting. Once you have more than one child it gets harder and harder to let the day just happen. When I let the day "happen" it is not pretty.

So, I am pulling myself up by the bootstraps and reeling them in again.

Today every time I had fighting I gave them a job to do. The funny thing is I never had whining about the jobs I handed out. They were happy to have something to besides making their own fun. Bonus for me: no fighting and getting more things accomplished around the house.

I have moved through my day with purpose. After we got some things around here finished we went to the Florence pool.(who knew they had a pool) The kids had a great time and they were tired when they finished.

I know that if I keep them busy I have much better days, but I have a tendency to wait until I am having problems to try to come up with things,and I am not good with spur of the moment plans. One of my favorite blogs Preschoolersandpeace says with young kids you must have a battle plan. This is so true because otherwise they make you the battle and at the end of the day you feel like you've been in battle.

So write out your battle plan.......your list of things that you can use to entertain your kids. Keep it handy, write as many ideas as you can. When the battles around your house begins you don't have to think, you have your ideas all on paper. Better yet look at your list at the beginning of the day and steer your kids through the day that way. I promise it will be so much better, less whining, claims of being bored, and less fighting. Now if I can just remember that summer is a time to relax, but routines can still help with that I'll have more days like today and less wild frontier days!