{"id":7859,"date":"2012-05-27T21:22:46","date_gmt":"2012-05-28T03:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/?p=7859"},"modified":"2012-05-27T21:22:46","modified_gmt":"2012-05-28T03:22:46","slug":"staying-sane-this-summer-part-2-weekly-summer-routines-and-the-importance-of-being-flexible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/27\/staying-sane-this-summer-part-2-weekly-summer-routines-and-the-importance-of-being-flexible\/","title":{"rendered":"Staying Sane This Summer, Part 2: Weekly Summer Routines and The Importance of Being Flexible"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is Part 2 in my mini-series on Staying Sane This Summer. \u00c2\u00a0You can find Part 1 here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

I don’t know about you, but for me, the days all start to run together during the summer. \u00c2\u00a0It’s easy for that to happen when you don’t have any regularly recurring events to anchor your days. \u00c2\u00a0I think our children feel the same way. \u00c2\u00a0Just like us, our children rely on routines and repetition. \u00c2\u00a0They need to know what to expect each day. \u00c2\u00a0When preschool is in session, The Little Apple knows that he has school on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, and that Friday is his short day at school.<\/p>\n

So I created a simple weekly routine to anchor our days. \u00c2\u00a0And I don’t have super-fancy graphic for you, but hopefully you’ll get the idea…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Weekly Summer Routines<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Monday: Movie Day. \u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Watch ONE movie (not a whole day of movies, so this is a bit of a misnomer). \u00c2\u00a0Some Mondays it will be The Little Apple’s pick, some weeks I will select a movie.<\/p>\n

Tuesday: Grandparents Day<\/strong>-This is not just for summer time! \u00c2\u00a0The Little Apple spends the day with grandparents. \u00c2\u00a0Both sets of grandparents live nearby, so they trade off weeks. \u00c2\u00a0It’s a nice little break for me. \u00c2\u00a0I get to spend some quality time with Slingshot and attempt to get some extra stuff done around the house (depending on how fussy Slingshot is and whether or not he decides to take naps). \u00c2\u00a0And The Little Apple gets to spend some quality time with his grandparents. \u00c2\u00a0It’s a WIN for everyone!<\/p>\n

Wednesday: Friends Day<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0We invite a friend or two over for a playdate. \u00c2\u00a0Since Slingshot was born, we haven’t had many playdates. \u00c2\u00a0(I miss our Art Playgroup<\/a>!) \u00c2\u00a0This summer we’ll get back to seeing our friends on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

Thursday: Field Trip Day<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0We’ll make an effort to get out of the house to do something fun! \u00c2\u00a0Mini-golf, bowling, Chuck E. Cheese, Moody Gardens, zoo, museum, paddleboats, the park, etc. \u00c2\u00a0I’m going to try to alternate between free activities and those that cost….this could get expensive otherwise! \u00c2\u00a0Sometimes we’ll invite a friend or the grandparents along!<\/p>\n

Friday: Water Day<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0On Fridays we’ll head to one of our many neighborhood pools or splashpads. \u00c2\u00a0(This will probably happen more often than once a week, but on Fridays for sure!) \u00c2\u00a0We also have the option of playing in our backyard inflatable pool or breaking out the water balloons and water guns. \u00c2\u00a0This is another great one for friends!<\/p>\n

I can already tell that this Weekly Routine is going to be a lifesaver for us this summer. \u00c2\u00a0I have our Routine written out on the chalkboard in our kitchen<\/a>, and The Little Apple starts his day by asking “What do we do today?” \u00c2\u00a0“What’s on the board for today?” and “What day is it?” \u00c2\u00a0He’s already got most of the Weekly Routine memorized after only one week and he was a little confused and disappointed when I didn’t have a “planned” activity for Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Importance of Being Flexible<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And now for a little dose of reality: \u00c2\u00a0Last week was our first week of summer, and The Little Apple had strep throat. \u00c2\u00a0He was out of commission Monday through Thursday. \u00c2\u00a0Playdates and field trips were cancelled. \u00c2\u00a0Basically our Weekly Routines went out the window the very first week!! \u00c2\u00a0Sometimes, things like this will happen. \u00c2\u00a0Kids (or mom) will get sick. \u00c2\u00a0You’ll go on vacation. \u00c2\u00a0Summer storms crop up when you planned to spend the day at the pool or have a playdate at the park. \u00c2\u00a0That’s why it’s crucial to be flexible! \u00c2\u00a0The Weekly Routine is not set in stone, but more of a loose framework for your week. \u00c2\u00a0Try not to get so caught up in The Routine that you forget what this is all about: having a FUN summer and staying sane. \u00c2\u00a0So what if your friends aren’t available for a playdate on Wednesday? \u00c2\u00a0See if they can join you at the pool on Friday or at the park on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for more posts in this series on our Summer Bucket List and our Daily Summer Routines.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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This is Part 2 in my mini-series on Staying Sane This Summer. \u00c2\u00a0You can find Part 1 here. I don’t know about you, but for me, the days all start to run together during the summer. \u00c2\u00a0It’s easy for that to happen when you don’t have any regularly recurring events to anchor your days. \u00c2\u00a0I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activities","category-motherhood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7859"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7878,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7859\/revisions\/7878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}