I put out a challenge for the Motherhood Community last week for parents to make a post with ideas on what to do with the kids once they are out of school for the summer break. If you havenāt participated you still can, just
Click Here. This idea came up out of the necessity to know ā¦
What to do with my child!
He is only 4 years old but going on 5 in a few months, his daily routine consists of going to school until noon and then swimming lessons until 3pm and then back to the house, this is awesome it has worked for us, but with the summer vacations on now, He will spend all morning on the house, donāt get me wrong I LOVE my kid to death and I actually enjoy spending time with him, but he is clingy like I cant do anything without him stuck to me, the only way I have to control his clinginess is
The use of screens
I donāt care if you donāt do it, and I donāt really care for any advice on how he shouldnāt use screens, this thing works for us, I only allow educational content and use all the tools available to control what he sees, he only has Youtube Kids. So, this is not an issue for me, but the amount of screen time is not something I'm particularly a fan of, I mean I donāt care if he spends a few hours on it, but he then wants to be stuck to his phone or tablet all day and well that is not good.
But when I'm busy specially if I'm on a work thing and I need him to stay quiet and act as an invisible kid than I have to give him his phone/tablet, is the only way.
Only child
As the only kid in the house, he sometimes gets bored, he doesnāt know how to play by himself, and I think it has to do with the phone and tablet to be honest cause I was an only kid up until 6 and after that my sister was not someone I would play with, I was pretty good at playing by myself, I donāt know why he just doesnāt like it, He has so many toys, and he just doesnāt play with them, he always asks me to invite his friends over, but I canāt have the house with another kid to look after specially if I'm going to be working.
Afternoon activities
He will continue his swimming lessons, and I just enroll him on English lessons too that will be 3 time a week in the afternoon as well, for now that is all that I can afford not only economically to pay but also time wise cause our car is broken (I hate it!) and as of now those 2 activities are in completely opposite sides of the town so, adding a 3rd activity wouldnāt be possible without a car.
One would think this would tire him and he would just be out of energy for the rest of the day, well nope this kid runs on never ending auto-recharging batteries.
And I still have the issue of not knowing what to do with him on the mornings, I have seen too many Investigation Discovery and seen too much TikTok to be ok with him going to some sort of vacation plan just yet cause he is too little and to send him without me, is just not something I can physically do letting him go like that nope, not going to happen.
What have I tried?
So, I'm all for vacation is fun time and not so much homework time, specially since he is already on English lessons on the afternoon, he is little and I want him to take a break from school stuff, he is going for 3 level of preschool education (one grade before getting into elementary school) and I will probably introduce some sort of refreshment of knowledge activities by the end of summer but for now, I want him to enjoy his vacations.
Iāve tried doing artwork, but he gets excited at the beginning and then just loses the momentum and ends up getting bored, also this would mean I have to stay with him and the thing I need is for him to be by himself while I work.
Naps, after he turned 4 it was like nap time switch was turn down and he has never again taken a nap, I have tried we get into bed turn down everything but, nothing he will just roll around the bed and after even 1 hour of trying I have giving up and accept nap time is out of the question.
Taking advice!
Do suggest things for him to do during the morning that wonāt require my intervention (I have to work), and will take him away from the screens of the Phone or Tablet.
Being a Stay-at-Home Working mom is not easy!!!
As always, thank you for reading me, would love to read about your own experience on this, so please leave a comment or better yet, make a post in The Motherhood Community.