The biggest event this summer is that we are driving to California for about a month. This will be longest I've spent in my home state since I graduated from college about ten years ago, but with Covid in the past year, we've seen family less than usual this year. Joel is also able to work from home for part of the summer, so it seemed like a good opportunity to spend lots of time with family and enjoy some beach time.
Both while we are away and the weeks we are at home, I'm trying to get a sense of ways I can have a shape to the days while still embracing the flexibility of this time. An obvious form of structure at this age is nap time (which gives me some time to work on professional development, summer reading, or just rest). I'm also thinking having a daily walk and park time will be good in the mornings, as well as a list of some fun and low-key afternoon outings with Avi that I can chose from. I also want to make a point of helping Avi learn to dress herself more independently. When I slow down a lot, I'm amazed with what she can do, and she feels so proud of herself.
As school ends in the next week, I'm planning to make a summer fun list of places to visit around our house and my parents house as well as activities to do around the house. I'll also probably lean heavily into some practical life activities and other Montessori ideas( reminding myself to check out the index of my favorite parenting book so far, The Montessori Toddler).
How do you plan time off from work as a parent? I'm so lucky to have this time to spend with Avi, but it's also a big shift from being a working parent to a stay at home parent for a few months. What activities or routines help provide a general rhythm or outline to your summer months?
I haven't thought too much yet about how our summer will look outside of a couple weeks of various camps + family vacation in August. But the boys are older now and will probably be wanting a lot of "unstructured" time, compared to when they were younger, to just play with friends, etc. My mom was a teacher when I was growing up and I LOVED having her home in the summers. I have the best memories of those times. We used to ride our bikes with my mom first thing in the morning over to a McDonald's near our house many days when the weather was nice. She'd get her coffee and I would get an apple danish and we'd sit and do the word scramble from the newspaper. haha. I just loved doing that. It felt so special. :-) That's one of my favorite summertime memories. Funny the things we hold on to!
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