I’ve finally unpacked most of our new house and it’s time for Summer Solution #4, QUIET TIME. If you’ve been following, you know that I’ve been posting some positive, media free, solutions to surviving summer with your sweet kidlets.
If you’ve missed the previous Summer Solutions, here they are:
And now #4 QUIET TIME. Summer is a blast, but we all need some down time too. I have always set aside some quiet time in our summer schedule. It’s a time for everyone to take a break, separate, and relax. Here’s my top tips for making quiet time work at your house this summer:
1. Have a set time. Ours is during the hottest, most boring part of the day. But in the past when a baby was in the house, it would be after lunch. If the kidlets know it’s routine, there will be less whining.
2. All ages can participate. I’ll even have my older kidlets, 9 and 11 years old, have a little quiet time. They don’t have to sleep and they like having some time to themselves. And don’t forget that Mommy gets some rest too.
3. Be together or be separate. Depending on the mood of my children (and me) each day I decide if we’ll be together or be separated. Sometimes we are on each other’s nerves and need to separated into our own rooms to do something quiet. This helps give us strength to finish out the long summer evening happily. But sometimes we’ve been busy all morning and are happy to settle down together. We often all read together on our king size bed. It depends on the mood.
4. No media. Have quiet time be a special time to do something besides electronic devices. Read, color, do puzzles, listen to books on CD, or actually sleep. I don’t like my kidlets to be plugged into media all day, so I reserve media time for another part of our day. Summer days are long so it helps to break it up.
5. Provide incentives. If they have trouble with quiet time, provide little incentives to help them through it. A chart to mark off if they are good. Extra time at the park. Or yes, even a popsicle at the end of quiet time (shhh, don’t tell anyone I told you to use treats as a reward!).
6. Switch it up! Make a tent in the living room. Rest in the hammock out back. Let them use flashlights in the closet. Make it fun . . . quiet and fun.
Hope this helps you survive summer and enjoy the time with your family!