It’s been years since I’ve been in the corporate world (and oh, how my wardrobe, bank account, and ability to create a spreadsheet reflect that!), but there are some practices and methods I’ve taken from the corporate world and implemented into my parenting life. I spent many a meeting back in the day reviewing projects and/or project teams with a Start/Stop/Continue technique. It’s pretty self-explanatory, yet allows for some good evaluation. As we head into week one of summer for my family, I’m trying this approach with our summer plans.
START
- Pennies for Pages—I got this idea from the (very active) San Antonio Charter Moms Facebook page, and I love it! My kids will get a penny for each page they read this summer. I printed out monthly calendars and made each kid a folder with the calendar. They are in charge of recording their daily tally, and I’ll pay out on Saturdays. We’ve already started, and thankfully I took another mom’s advice and put a cap on the amount they can earn. I’m capping it at $5 a week and telling them they can use the money however they want. Already I’m appreciating how my incoming first grader is getting to both practice his reading and math skills as he adds together the pages of his shorter books.
- Preparing one meal a week—My nine-year-old daughter is excited about this new plan. She is in charge of finding a recipe, making out the shopping list, and preparing one meal a week. I’ll supervise as needed, but I’m going to try my very hardest to quiet my inner control freak and only step in to help if it is absolutely needed. She’s picked out an Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal for this week and excitedly selected several (rather ambitious) cookbooks from the library yesterday. We may have some interesting dinners this summer….
STOP
- Summer Journals—This is painful for me, as I love the idea of daily summer journals. The writing practice! The memory preserving! The instant keepsake! All great things, yes—but after two summers of nagging and arguing about them, I’m calling a time out. The previous two summers we started out strong for the first month and then petered out. We’d get days behind, and it ended up becoming a chore and something my kids dreaded. I’m deliberately taking this out of our summer plan and, hopefully, saving a little sanity for all of us.
- Militant Media Monitoring—For the sake of saving even more sanity, I’m going to lighten up on my tendency to over-police screen time. My brother recently reminded me of our summers full of Super Mario Brothers and Zelda, interspersed with The Goonies and Top Gun. During the school year, my kids watch very little TV and play very few video games. As they get older and start to enjoy movies and more involved two-player video games (Minecraft and Lego Harry Potter are the current faves), I’m learning to loosen up. I hear them working together on the games and enjoy watching them figure out strategies. When it comes to movies that I actually enjoy, I’m loving the luxury of a two-hour movie break on the couch with my babies in the middle of a hot day (movies I don’t enjoy give me some reading time with my mad sound-blocking-out skills). We are pitifully behind on current movies, so I’m looking forward to a Redbox summer.
CONTINUE
- Summer Passport—This will be year three of our summer passports, and they continue to both evolve and be enjoyed. This year we will stay with the ABC format we used last summer, trying to find a San Antonio (and surrounding areas) place or activity for each letter of the alphabet (obviously with some serious creative license, as a kid-friendly place beginning with X is hard to find!). They cross off each place after we visit. As they continue to work my phone better than I do, I’m thinking this year I’ll let them create a photo book or slideshow with pictures or videos from each place.
This is from last year. We haven’t crossed off five B’s in week one! That’d be bonkers.
- Room Time—On days we have empty afternoons, screen-free room time is a sanity saver for all of us. I quite like for my kids to get bored and have to find something to do on their own. They have plenty of books, art supplies, and toys that tend to be rediscovered during room time. I enjoy a quiet hour to read or, more realistically, hop onto social media.
Here’s to a summer with new memories, a little learning, a little laziness, and a lot of books!
Great ideas! Love the pennies for pages and summer passport.