Kids wait all school year for that glorious 10 to 12 week break known as the summer time, but for a lot of kids, after just a few weeks in they experience the summer time blues. The summer time blues can mean different things for different kids, but for the most part it boils down to sadness that is related to boredom, loneliness, lack of mental stimulation or a combination of the three. Here are some simple ways you can help cure your kids of the summer time blues:
– To squash boredom, give them things to do. Whether it’s some chores around the house, games to play, crafts to do or a field trip of some kind give them something to do. Lost for ideas of activities to do? A simple search of “summer time activities” on Pinterest yielded hundreds of fun ideas! Check it out here.
– To curb loneliness encourage interaction with people. This could mean scheduled play dates or putting them in a summer day camp. If you are involved in a church or a community group bring the kids along and suggest they hang out with other children.
– Get them moving. Another way to stop summer time blues is simply to get up and move. Dancing, running, swimming, jumping up and down- physical activity not only gets the blood pumping, it gets those feel good brain chemicals flowing.
– Take them outside. Believe it or not one thing that can lead to the summer time blues is simply not seeing enough of the sun. Of course, this doesn’t mean over do it and you should always drink plenty of water and use sunscreen, but soaking up some vitamin D may be just what the doctor ordered for blasting the blues.
– Mentally stimulate them to avoid brain burnout. We recently posted about the importance of keeping your kids minds working during the summer. Check out the post here for some awesome ideas to keep your kids mentally stimulated potentially stopping the summer time blues.