#Blogtrain- "How to Plan a Creative and Stress free Summer Vacation for Kids!"

Finally after a long wait summer is here.  And we as a family are really excited to welcome the summer with great energy, good mood and enthusiasm. Of course, summer is a perfect time to have fun and enjoy outdoor activities.  Another side, it is also a good time to follow your hobby and discover new passion too.

As a responsible and caring parent, we all want that our kids had a great summer vacation and most of us usually plan ahead to have a good vacation too.

I am also one of them. And of course, I want my kids had a creative, enjoyable experience during summer vacation.

But, before sharing my ideas for a creative summer vacation, I want to share something more important with you.

It is my eternal feeling and I am sure most of you will resonate with me.

“I believe nowadays kids are having really different (and difficult too) childhood period.  Kids are facing lots of pressure from parents and society from such an early age".

If I share my childhood experience, I would say

I grew up as a suburban kid in 1980s 90s in a small town in India. And I can say one thing proudly that I had enjoyed a really great childhood with free-range parenting from my parents. I had good learning, education, ethical and moral values with less stress and so much fun during my childhood days.

I had never seen my parents as stressed as I had while raising my girls.

Now the time has changed and so many other things too. Technology becomes the unavoidable aspect of childhood. Kids always had the tremendous amount of academic and extracurricular pressure from parents and surrounding society.

They never get enough time and space to explore the things in their own ways.

In fact, they often did not get enough time for free play or just enjoy the nature and outdoor.

We are raising the kids in a culture where it is assumed that we could and should protect our kids from all the things.

Even summer vacations too negatively affected by all these preconceived notions. And during this time too, kids are not free from social and parental pressure.

As a conscious and competitive parent (who always wants to run ahead in parental rat race) we always plan a heavy schedule for so many activities for kids and put a constant pressure on them to learn and perform.

With this scenario, sometimes it felt that Morden world has lost the essence of pure childhood.

So during this summer vacation, I am trying to make a promise to myself (and hoping you all would agree with me), that

• ·         I will try to avoid being a part of parental rate race and I will not compare my girls with other kids.
• ·         I will try to make sure that my girls had enough fun during summer vacation and enjoy this great time with good mood and positivity. I will try to give them proper time and enough space to explore the things in their own way.
• ·         Rather than putting a long to-do list of task, I will try to explore the individual genius of my girls. It could be anything (painting, singing, and writing). I will put my all efforts on focusing what they love and what they want to learn.

So, with this resolution, I am sharing some useful tips that will definitely help you to plan a creative summer vacation for kids.

Talk to your child and take a mutual consent before planning anything

Yes! The first and most important thing, it is very essential to talk with your kids before planning anything. Ask them about what are their expectations for summer vacation? And what they actually want, learn or explore during these days. With this positive communication, you will get a lot of help to plan ahead according to their choice and preference.

Make a summer bucket list

I always love the idea of making “Bucket list” and my girls loved it too. Be creative and innovative, and add best possible activities (both indoor and outdoor), in your summer bucket list. This thing will help is keeping the excitement alive and rememorized you, that you had lots of funny and creative things to do in this summer vacation.

This summer my girls want to make a scrapbook, want to go for a hiking and want to enjoy so many awesome movies. And I am so excited to help them for completing their summer bucket list.

Use an activity planner

Planner work always great when we had lots of stuff to do. And for summer, it is always great to list down your desired activities in a planner. Keep remember one thing, planners should be flexible and avoid putting too much pressure on your kids, to complete the task or activity.

Also, keeping a theme for a particular week is a good idea to stay organized during summer vacation. This thing helps you to learn the thing properly and with complete satisfaction.

Mixed and match creative and fun activity

This is another important aspect, to plan the things. It is very important to mix and match creative and fun activities. Kids should have fun while learning.  And this is a unique way to entertain kids.

Rather than focus on end result, enjoy the whole experience and learning

Sometimes when we get started with any creative activity or any project, we tend to get more conscious about the end results. With kids, it is more important that they have an enjoyable learning experience and fun. So, try to make each activity is an awesome memorable experience for the family.

Enjoy nature and explore outdoor

Last but not the least; spend some quality family time with your kids, in Mother Nature. Explore the outdoor world is one of the best things that should be done during summer vacation.

So, these are some of my ideas to plan a creative and stress-free summer vacation for kids. What your thoughts? How are you planning for summer vacation? Share with us.

This post is a part of “Summer Blog train”, organized by Neha Sharma from Growing with Nemit.

I want to say thanks to Alpana fromMothergurukul.com  for introducing me in her blog post.

 Now, the train will move to Shipra from vibhuandme.com. please visit her blog too to read more exciting summer stories.