5 Things Kids Should Know in the Summer

1. Every kid should know boredom and how to cope with it (non-electronically)! In our house, "I'm bored" is not allowed. I tell the kids being bored shows that you don't have the imagination & creativity to come up with something to do. Then there's the ol', "Oh, I can give you something to do..." At this point my kids are suddenly un-bored. My experience working with teenagers has shown that most kids are so continually entertained they can not handle doing nothing -once again electronic free.

2. Kids should know WORK! Summer is a great time to really spend some time having kids master some more involved chores. Chores need to be discipled and that is time consuming. Plan a new chore that your child can be discipled to take over by the end of the summer. Today I'm working on the middle child becoming the master -mopper around here! I'd love to turn that chore over to a kid!

3. A step further - Kids should know work for money and EARNING their own way in the summer. Extra time means time for extra projects for pay; from parents, grandparents, and others. There are so many trips, camps, activities to save for - or if you need incentive to save take them to a toy store and get some inspiration. My 3 just followed me to Mardell's for a book sale and came home eager to to do some extra work for some extra money!

4. Close friendships. I was reading an article in the recent Women's Day about how kids need to interact with a group and not have 1 close best friends friendship. MULARKY. Childhood friendships help you know how to relate to a future spouse. Group friendships are a lot of fun for kids, but bouncing around to the next friend when one of them bothers you, how does that train up a child? Close friendships provide lessons in faithfulness, patience, discretion, love. Cousins and siblings really meet this need too because you HAVE to learn to love & deal them unconditionally. What better practice is that for life and marriage?

5. Discipline. Maybe this is just for older kids- it's time to begin to learn about budgeting time and determining what is important. Summer time is more free; kids should have plenty of time to set aside for a personal devotion time, for chores, for pursuits they are passionate about, and for play. What an ideal time for some discipleship on time! Sit down with your older kids and talk about the plans for the week; talk about what they want to accomplish and help them create their own plan. I love the list of summer goals. What are some skills they want to really get good at? Ask them lots of questions to guide their goals. How much money do they want to earn? There may be some sports skills they want to really work on, or something they want to read and learn about.