A Teachable Moment: Summer Is for Relaxing, But Not too Much! 

I love summer! It’s the time for ice-cream cones and icy-cold dips in the pool. It’s also the best time for kids—normally programmed with school, homework, and activities—to kick back and relax. This is good—we all need down-time, especially kids.

However, even in the laid-back summer months, too much relaxing can turn into trouble. A child with little adult guidance for how to spend time, or worse, no accountability to an adult for where or how he is choosing to spend it, is far more likely to become bored and turn to mischief or danger to excite and amuse himself. This is even more likely to happen with older children while hanging out with friends during the long summer days or evenings. In addition, without school and other organized activities to keep a child engaged, a loner will become even less social, spending free time connected to electronics or books.

Even if your child is spending part of the summer at camp or another supervised program, it’s important to consider what she is doing the rest of the time and in the evenings, (which often last longer in the summer months due to later sunsets and eased-up schedules). Spending hours in front of the TV or playing with electronics may appear relaxing, but for a young child, it’s actually boring and mind-numbing!

In addition, now that school is out, many kids spend much more time with a childcare provider than they do during the school year. It is important to make sure that your babysitter is supervising adequately and providing enough interesting activity for your child at this time of the year.

Stay trouble-free
To ensure that your child’s summer is relaxing, as well as being trouble-free and safe, follow these five suggestions:

1. For younger kids, make sure most time is structured and busy—playing outside, or inside with games or other projects. Electronic downtime shouldn’t be much more than during the school year—an hour or two a day, at most.
    
2. Older kids and teens need time to hang-out with friends but must be accountable for their whereabouts. Research shows dramatic increases in teen alcohol and drug use during the summer months due to boredom and lack of supervision.
    
3. Plan a few highlights around which to structure the summer—these don’t have to be expensive. Depending on where you live, day trips to the beach, mountains, public pool, children’s museum, or nearest big city are a treat.
    
4. Be vigilant about how much time your child spends on the internet. Even more importantly, be aware which websites she is visiting and with whom she is socializing online. With extra time on their hands and no teachers reminding them of online dangers, even younger children may be tempted to explore the dark side of the internet.
    
5. Give your childcare provider a concrete schedule each day, including plenty of outdoor activity and alternate plans for rainy weather.

Dr. Susan Bartell is a child, teen, and parenting psychologist and award-winning author. Her latest book is Dr. Susan’s Fit and Fun Family Action Plan: 301 Things You Can Do Today. You can learn more about Dr. Bartell at drsusanbartell.com.

July 2009