After returning to school and a coffee morning with moms to rehash how everyone’s summer went, I discovered that how I managed my first summer at home with kids might have been a bit unconventional. I didn’t really think I was doing anything different than other moms. But after openly sharing my approach, the look of shock on their faces told me that perhaps my mom management style was a bit out of the ordinary.
I suppose I should have known considering I’m not seasoned at the stay-at-home-mom thing. In fact, I’ve always struggled knowing what summer camps to sign up for and the deadlines required. My kids were always the last ones enrolled (or not at all!) in nearly everything when I was a full time working mom.
On top of my SAHM (Stay-At-Home-Mom) inexperience, my husband’s interrogation at one point should have been the first hint that I was handling summer at home with kids in an unorthodox way.
One morning he asked the kids what the plans were for the day. The kids responded, “We haven’t had our morning meeting yet so we don’t know.” That was the first and last time my husband decided to get involved. 😂
Yes. I managed summer at home with kids by holding daily 9 am meetings.
Summer Scrum With Kids
Call me a control freak or even Type A, but it was the way I knew best to add structure and organization to our summer life. Who wants the summer to be over with nothing to talk about or show for it? Perhaps it’s the focused, work ethic approach instilled in me to lead a team to success or the fact that I haven’t managed a team in a while, but the way I see it, it leads to a pretty successful summer.
I didn’t want the summer to be gone in a flash without crossing things off a summer list. Again, there’s the ambitious, productive side of me coming out. The anything-goes approach with kids for an entire summer would be my worse nightmare. No structure leads to chaos, unhappy kids and ultimately a super frustrated mom.
Sure. I know what you’re thinking…that a daily meeting is way too intense to expect a 6 and 8-year old to understand, participate and even follow guidelines set forth in a daily mom management meeting. But you know what? It worked.
Motivating the kids to happily participate had its intense moments, but the kids knew what to expect, how to be rewarded and that if they didn’t, then we wouldn’t get to the fun bits of summer. Besides, how else do parents manage all the things that they are supposed to do over summer at home with kids? The only way I saw chores, learning, reading, quiet time and fun all happening as they needed to was with a daily management meeting and schedule.
How I Did It
- Met every morning Monday thru Friday at 9 for about 15 minutes
- Both kids had a chair and a whiteboard marker
- Using an Ikea easel, I drew a line down the middle so each child would have their own side of the board to write out their daily to-dos
- Everyone had a chance to talk about what they wanted to do for fun that day while referencing a summer list of ideas
- Everyone had a vote but Mom was the final decision maker
- Activities were written in order of occurrence so that fun things wouldn’t happen before chores
- Each child put a checkbox before the activity so that it could be marked off as the task was completed ✅
A bonus with this approach is that it was the only way to get my daughter to practice writing on a daily basis without a protest. This way she didn’t know that she was actually doing the work.
What A Typical Day Looked Like
Some of these to-dos might seem ridiculous to write down, but let’s face it, some kids don’t like brushing their teeth or combing their hair. If I weren’t on my kids about it, my daughter would probably go for a week without brushing either. Lucky for me, she’s already a list lover and gets total satisfaction using the whiteboard marker to check off each task as she completes them…including the simple task of brushing teeth. My son, on the other hand, doesn’t cross off a thing. He just checks the board and when he forgets, his little sister happily reminds him.
A Typical Day:
- 30 minutes of kids tv
- Breakfast
- Brush teeth, floss
- Comb hair
- Make bed
- Pick up bedroom
- Practice guitar/ math/spelling for 30 min to 1 hour
- Lunch
- Go to the library
- Run errands
- Afternoon snack
- Quiet time (read)
- Playtime/Fun
One thing I stuck pretty hard and firm to was that there’d be no tv or electronics (unless it was a learning app) between 10 and 5. As painful as it was at times, I enforced it and came up with tech-free alternatives that kept them pretty busy even while on vacation abroad.
Is It In The Plan For Next Summer?
Absolutely. My son wasn’t thrilled but it added the structure we needed for everyone to ultimately be happy and to make the most out of summer.
The consensus from the moms who heard about how I managed summer was that they would never be able to enforce a daily meeting. While it sounded intriguing, the fear they shared was how they’d get the kids to abide and stick to it. But with anything, if you keep going and make it a routine, it eventually creates a habit and is no longer a big deal.
So if you’re used to managing a large business or team and not quite sure how to go from a corporate manager to a full-time mom manager, then leverage your corporate strengths at home, too.
Though unconventional and odd as others might say, the daily meeting totally worked. And my first summer at home with kids is one I’ll never forget. 🙌
Looking for more at home resources? Try these.
- 15 Game Changers & Essentials To Traveling – Download the FREE Packing PDF for your next trip.
- Expat Moms: Why You Need A Selfish Girls Trip
- Moving abroad? Download the moving abroad checklist. Created for expats, by an expat who moved abroad in less than 3 months. All the steps in chronological order to get you organized to move from the USA to the UK. Download today!
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