4 Steps to Setting the Stage for Summer Success + FREE PRINTABLE!

8 days. 5 full days. 3 half days. And then it starts.

Summer: 2019 will be here in just 8 days, and I have 2 words for you:

PREPARE NOW!!!

It’s always fun those first few days. We’re all excited to be home together, or to just get a break from school. We stay up too late. We sleep in too long. And we basically do nothing. And then one day, we wake up and wonder where our summer has gone, and spend the next days cramming in as much summer as possible.

What if we treated Summer Vacation like any other change that we see coming down the pike? What if we actually prepared ahead of time so that we can make the BEST use of the different pace? Today I want to share with you some ideas for how to prepare NOW for the summer, in order to really soak it all in this year.

Most families don’t hit their “Summer Groove” until July 1. If you’re out of school on June 1, that’s a LOT of time spent trying to figure out the right rhythm. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about being laid-back and (kind-of?) spontaneous. But if there was a way to tentatively plan ahead, maybe it would allow us to feel like we actually had a summer when August rolls around?

At my house, we usually have some sort of “rough plan” for the summer, with “icing on the cake” extras on the side. I work during the week, and my husband stays home with our little Dears, so it is really helpful for him to have some ideas of what to do with the day. The rough plan is something like this: wake up, eat breakfast, do summer workbooks, play, eat lunch, play, do something active, play, eat a snack, play, have dinner, play, maybe take a bath, go to bed. If I get home from work and the kids have been fed, are all intact, and have gotten most of their energy out, it’s basically a win. All of the other stuff is just icing on the cake.

Full disclosure: I was a teacher before I was a wife, before I was a nurse, and before I was a mom. What you are about to read and do is a direct results of all of those things, put into one person.

Before we dive in, you might want to get this free printable to track your ideas!

Here are 4 Steps to Setting the Stage for Summer Success.

Step 1: Identify 3 goals for your summer.

These goals can be simple (get to daycare before 8am every day) or complex (go to Zion National Park). They are YOUR goals, so they can be whatever works for your family. Just make sure they’re attainable goals… Going the moon isn’t exactly an attainable goal in an 8-12 week timeframe.

Goal #1	Goal #2	Goal #3
Date night once a week.	Get to daycare on time everyday.	Maintain reading and math levels.

Step 2: Identify barriers to your goals.

Out of the these three goals, choose one to work on right now. You can come back and work on the others later if you want. Now, think about three issues or things or situations that get in the way of that goal happening.

Goal #1:	Get to daycare on time everyday.
Issue 1:	Shoes are always so hard to find.
Issue 2:	No one wants to eat breakfast.
Issue 3:	So hard to wake up in the morning.

Step 3: Identify solutions to your barriers.

For each of these issues, think about what could be done to help that issue disappear. It might not go away completely, but whatever the issue is, it might become more manageable.

Goal #1	Get to daycare on time everyday.
Issue 1:	Shoes are always so hard to find.	Solution 1:	Find shoes the night before.
Issue 2:	No one wants to eat breakfast.	Solution 2:	Maybe they’re just not breakfast people.
Issue 3:	So hard to wake up in the morning.	Solution 3:	Work on a bedtime routine.

Step 4: Make an action plan with steps to make the goal a reality.

We can make all of the lists we want, but if we don’t act on them, they really don’t mean anything. Now write out a process of how your goal can happen, from the beginning to the end, and incorporate your new solutions into your process. The process below is just an example. If this were my process, I would put time goals so that we could gauge when things needed to be done.

Goal:	Get to daycare on time everyday.
Step 1:	Find shoes the night before & set them out.
Step 2:	Implement bedtime routine.
Step 3:	Wake up at _______.
Step 4:	Whoever is hungry eats breakfast. Whoever isn’t hungry brings a snack.
Step 5:	Everyone in the car at _______.
Step 6:	Get to daycare by _____!

Okay, there’s one last thing… ENJOY!!!

Now that you have a basic plan in place for you to reach your goal, it’s time to relax and enjoy it. The purpose in making a plan like this isn’t to hold a schedule over your head and beat yourself up when it doesn’t happen perfectly. It’s to take the anxiety and stress out of the summer schedule by having a basic plan that you can rely on.

I hate to tell you this, but someone is going to lose their shoes. Bedtimes are going to be later than planned. When that happens, roll with the punches. You will know your process well enough that you will be able to pivot, adjust, and continue on.

So, what is the NUMBER ONE goal YOU have for YOUR family this Summer of 2019?

Share in the comments! I can’t wait to see what everyone is up to!

Until we meet again, don’t forget to Live Life Dearly!