Guidelines for parents
During summertime children tend to lose their routines (school, extracurricular activities, schedules …), so parents often do not know how to manage so much free time, especially when parents keep working.
In Espai Tau Kids we know what we call the “summer effect”, children usually return to our center in September having lost habits, routines, forgetting guidelines and having a hard time going back to school. That is why we want to recommend you the following guidelines.
- Schedules: although it seems that summer is a time when schedules are frowned upon. Children need them! The days without structure favor “madness.” The constant changes in plans and the lack of sleep routines mean that children arrive in September exhausted. When summer is your time to rest.
- Organization and planning: we must avoid “free will” that is, children and especially those with ADHD or behavior problems need structure. They need to be busy and expend energy. We can’t wait for them to organize their day to day, planning the day as a family is also a good way to connect with them.
- Prevent loss of control.
- Establish rules and orders through games.
- Make them participate in housework.
- Propose small academic tasks (reading, watching movies, studying languages…) but always in a playful way.
- Try to avoid the abuse of technology or television: it is normal for them to use technology more during the summer, but never with absolute freedom since later it will be more difficult for them to stop using it during the new upcoming academic year.
It is important that if we are already late in complying with these guidelines, we get down to work. From our center, we recommend that at least the last week of August children should return to school hours, in terms of sleep routines above all.
ESPAI TAU KIDS TEAM