You’ve set your priorities and cleared the calendar clutter. You’ve set up a realistic summer routine.
You’re pumped, excited, and ready to have an amazing summer. There’s only one problem: your family doesn’t have a clue that you’ve got their summer all lined out for them! And if you approach them in the wrong way, it could completely ruin your plans for a summer success.
Tonight, we’re going to be talking about the Do’s and Don’ts for getting your family on board this summer. Let’s dive right in…
1. Don’t Become a Drill Sergeant
The worst thing you can do is take your summer mission statement and routine and start barking orders at everyone. I promise that’s only going to make your troops want to rebel.
Chore Charts by Stephanie from Totally Together
2. Do Be Enthusiastic
Instead, call a family meeting — or whatever it is that you do at your house when breaking big news — and enthusiastically let them know that you’ve got some great ideas for summer you want to talk to them about. You set the tone for how they are going to receive things and your excitement will invariably be contagious.
3. Don’t Forget to Listen
Share some of your ideas and then ask for their input. Listen to them and take their suggestions to heart.
Your plan is a great starting place, but it’s by no means set in stone. In fact, I encourage you to make some adjustments to it based upon the input of your family. They probably have some great ideas you wouldn’t have thought of on your own.
Chore Chart from ThermoWeb
4. Do Communicate Your Expectations
Once you’ve all signed off on your summer plan of action, make sure that everyone clearly knows how it’s going to work and what is expected of them. If a routine is something new to your kids, review and practice how it’s supposed to go. Don’t expect that they’ll know how to follow a list or complete a project if you haven’t shown them how.
And don’t be discouraged if it takes awhile for the new routine to stick — or if you end up needing to tweak it after a few days. That’s totally okay!
5. Don’t Get Hung Up on the Details
Don’t become obsessed with following your routine or plans to a tee at the expense of your relationships with your children or husband. Some days, you just need to throw the routine and to-do list out the window so you can care for a sick child or do something spontaneous. That’s real life, not something to be frustrated by!
6. Do Remember What It’s All About
Remember your summer mission statement? Don’t lose sight of that this summer.
And at the end of the day, if you made memories as a family, invested in things that matter, and haven’t completely exhausted yourself, you should be encouraged and happy. Your kids are going to remember the memories made much more than they are going to remember how well you stuck with your plan.
The plan is only there to help facilitate more intentionality. If it starts to get in the way and becomes a burden rather than a blessing, it’s probably time to tweak it or toss it altogether and go back to the drawing board!
Carol@simple_catholic says
Very good advice, Crystal. This is something I am going to have to keep in mind so that I remember to stay flexible. Not everything is going to go the way I want or planned!
Anna Lowell says
Can you add a pinterest link so I can pin this? Thanks! I really appreciate this series and am looking at coming up with my summer plan today!
Crystal says
Done. I’m so sorry that I somehow didn’t add that in last night!
Victoria says
The don’t be a drill sergeant thing really speaks to me. I was raised with a strict routine, and for a few years when I was a young adult rebelled from that and had no routine at all which backfired when I became a mom and so slowly over time I added in routine and thought I had a happy medium . Now 17 years into mothering I hear my inner drill sergeant come out all too often and hate it! I am trying to curb it by stepping out of the situation for a few minutes when it unleashes itself and regaining an fresh perspective and attitude. I also ask my children for forgiveness and try to involve them more in the planning and structure of the day.
Monica says
Thanks for the reminders, great tips.