{"id":3107,"date":"2016-05-31T00:01:26","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T06:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mops.org\/?p=3107"},"modified":"2016-05-31T00:01:26","modified_gmt":"2016-05-31T06:01:26","slug":"summer-dreaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/summer-dreaming\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Dreaming: 5 Tips for Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a beautiful, warm, spring day, and I\u2019m summer dreaming.\u00a0 <\/em>Imagine it with me, ladies \u2013 relaxing mornings, sleeping in late, long leisurely cups of coffee, afternoons of reading by the pool with a book, maybe an evening dinner with friends and the latest blockbuster hit \u2026<\/p>\n

Oh wait.\u00a0 Who\u2019s going to watch my three kids under age 4?\u00a0 Scratch that plan.<\/p>\n

My summer is much more likely to consist of watching the sunrise while feeding my baby, passing out grilled cheese and fish sticks at lunchtime, afternoons reading Dr. Seuss books by the kiddie pool, and evening \u201cconcerts\u201d by my very own toddler band.\u00a0 It will be a mix of princess dresses and diapers, cuddles and time-outs, giggles and meltdowns.<\/p>\n

So, given the reality of the season of life we\u2019re in, how do we create a summer with little ones that at least gives us pleasant dreams instead of endless nightmares?<\/p>\n

Here, five summer tips for planning a successful summer.<\/p>\n

Dive in with both feet<\/h3>\n

Maybe into the pool, but also into the summer plans.\u00a0 One of the hardest things about summer is that it completely disrupts the usual routine.\u00a0 Don\u2019t wait for the kids to feel bored or you to feel overwhelmed.\u00a0 Create a new daily and weekly routine that will help you and the kids know what\u2019s coming and enjoy what\u2019s there.<\/p>\n

Enjoy the wildflowers<\/h3>\n

As you create your routines and plans, look for simple, natural ways to entertain the family.\u00a0 Don\u2019t feel the pressure to visit every kids play place or come up with new, messy Pinterest crafts every day.\u00a0 Instead, make Wednesday water day and let them paint on the walls with water in the backyard (seriously, minimal prep and no clean up!). Or perhaps take them to the library every Friday for the free library reading program. Find ways to work smart instead of hard.<\/p>\n

Beat the heat<\/h3>\n

I don\u2019t mean the 90+ degree weather. I\u2019m talking about the fact that summer is hot, unpredictable and often over-stimulating for little ones; it\u2019s truly a breeding ground for baby meltdowns and toddler tantrums.\u00a0 Know this, and plan accordingly.\u00a0 Don\u2019t overdo it in an attempt to create the best summer ever.\u00a0 Create breaks.\u00a0 Keep lunch time and nap time in place.\u00a0 And while you\u2019re at it, schedule some down time for yourself to avoid the mommy meltdowns too.<\/p>\n

Plan for rainy days<\/h3>\n

In spite of your best intentions to create a simple, fun summer, there will be rainy days when everyone is tired and moody.\u00a0 There will also be times where you feel inadequate and overwhelmed.\u00a0 Give up that vision of the perfect summer everyone else shows on their Facebook feed and do your best to roll with the rainy days too.<\/p>\n

Turn toward the sunshine<\/h3>\n

As the summer progresses, stop and check in.\u00a0 Where is the sun shining the brightest?\u00a0 In other words, what\u2019s working?\u00a0 Adjust and do it more!\u00a0 Also, as you plan the perfect summer for your little ones, build in some things that make you feel bright and sunny too.<\/p>\n

Bottom line?\u00a0 Summer won\u2019t be perfect, but it can be a time full of treasured memories that you\u2019ll carry forward when this season of little ones is over.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019ll even include some times you dream about in 20 years when you finally get to lounge by the pool and simply read a book again.<\/p>\n

\n

Kristen M. White, Psy.D.<\/em><\/strong> is a licensed, clinical psychologist (<\/em>kristenmwhite.com<\/em><\/a>) who resides in Southern California with her fantastic husband and three, vibrant children.\u00a0 In addition to running a private therapy practice and teaching at the graduate level, she tries to help other moms via her weekly vlog. <\/em>\u201cThe MOM Degree\u201d<\/em><\/a> aims to provide support and tools to women to help them feel less crazy and be more effective as moms; check it out and tell her what you want to hear about today!<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a beautiful, warm, spring day, and I\u2019m summer dreaming.\u00a0 Imagine it with me, ladies \u2013 relaxing mornings, sleeping in late, long leisurely cups of coffee, afternoons of reading by the pool with a book, maybe an evening dinner with friends and the latest blockbuster hit \u2026 Oh wait.\u00a0 Who\u2019s going to watch my three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":3108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,42],"tags":[104,56,111,112],"class_list":["post-3107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fun","category-lifestyle","tag-advice","tag-motherhood","tag-summer","tag-tips"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}