Implement these ideas for a fruitful summer for your kids

Here is my 12-step summer program to strengthen your kids for the next school year and beyond.

Originally published in the Moultrie News.

Are you concerned about your children’s progress? Do you worry that you could be doing more to help them become thriving, independent adults? Summer is the perfect time to change that. Here is my 12-step summer program to strengthen your kids for the next school year and beyond.

1. Go on vacation. If everyone practices patience, it will bring the family closer, all at the right time of year. By going on vacation over the summer, you won’t have to go during school, causing your kids to fall behind and forcing a poor, tired teacher to catch them up. Crazy as it sounds, vacation times make the best times for vacations.

2. Reduce tech consumption. It’s strange. The same parents who force-feed their kids carrot sticks and slather them from head to toe in SPF 100 will turn around and give them a digital Pandora’s box containing virtually every kind of evil in the world. If you don’t stop them, your kids will spend more of their summer online than off, so instigate a program to decrease their tech intake. One idea is to make screen time a privilege that must be earned by reading: an hour of reading per hour of screen time is a good ratio. Speaking of reading…

3. Learn about books. Read aloud as a family every night. Take a weekly trip to the library. Start a family book club. Reading is a key that opens many other doors, so find ways to encourage (or force) your child to do it.

4. Do things together. An excellent safeguard against mental health issues is a stable, loving family. Start a weekly game night. Begin a hobby with your child. If you don’t go to a church or place of worship, summer is the perfect opportunity to try it together.

5. Establish a work ethic. Assign chores, teach kids to do them well, and lay down a timeline for getting them done. Don’t let your kids get into the habit of going to bed at 3 a.m. and waking up at noon. If they’re old enough, make them get a job.

6. Fix a character problem. Is your child lazy? Ungrateful? Rude? Develop a plan together with rewards and consequences to work toward improving the troublesome trait.

7. Emphasize safety. Kids get hurt a lot during the summer. Resist the impulse to give control of golf carts and motorbikes to bored, immature kids. Review safety protocols for swimming, boating, and other potentially risky ventures. Institute a curfew.

8. Get to know their friends. Don’t always slough off your kids at their friends’ houses; invite the friends to yours. Spend some time talking with them (but not too much, or they won’t come back).

9. Visit family. How long has it been since you’ve seen Aunt Edna in Idaho? Plan a trip to go see her. Kids benefit from getting to know their extended families.

10. Learn each other’s love languages. Take the online love language test as a family for insight into strengthening your relationships.

11. Teach a skill. Show your child the basics of cooking, home repair, car maintenance, or frog breeding. (Okay, maybe not frog breeding.) And if you have no skills of your own (like me), learn one together.

12. Talk. Get off your own phone and find out who your kids really are. You don’t need to be a helicopter parent to discover their likes and dislikes, their personality traits, and their developing values. You just have to spend time with them.

In implementing any of these ideas, remember that consistency is essential. It’s easy for everyone to get slack over the summer. But you’ve got a two-month window to nourish your children and help build a lasting relationship with them. This won’t just help the kids but will benefit the whole family. Be grateful for that opportunity, and don’t squander it.

Read original column here.