15 Summer Goals for My Kids | Family Focus Friday

15 Summer Goals for My Kids | Family Focus Friday

It’s been a long time since a Family Focus Friday. And today, I have an important one. I’m counting on you. Yes, I need you guys to hold me accountable this summer. I have big plans and high hopes for my two little treasures this season, so much so that I needed a list. So in my attempt to organize, plan and create as much fun as possible this summer, I sat down and wrote these 15 summer goals I have for my kids. Check out to see if I’m awesome or crazy. You can decide.

The Boy

Tie His Shoes – Following a tough year mentally for both of us with kindergarten, this task may seem small, but it’s so important. The usual rush of school mornings leaves very little time or patience for learning to tie shoes. With the slower pace of summer, I’m so excited to teach him something that HE really wants to learn.

Ride His Bike – I may leave the teaching of this task to daddy. Learning to ride a 2-wheeler is no small task. And mommy’s heart attack capability over my son’s injuries can lead down a spiraling path of destruction. But summer is a great time for boys to be boys. This rowdy one wants the independence, the freedom and the accomplishment.

Read 10 Books – This is a mom goal (can you tell?). He’s been doing so awesome in reading, I don’t want that light to burn out. And I’m not talking small 10 page books. I’m talking lots of pages. Just about ready for chapter books, I want to get this little guy reading more for FUN.

Complete 2 Summer Workbooks – Yeah, not exactly the boy’s hopes for the summer. But I was so excited to buy these great workbooks for 1st grade. I want my boy to feel confident and ahead walking through those doors next year, so every opportunity to help him learn at home, I’m going to jump on it.

Learn the States and Their Capitals – I am happy to report this is a goal for both him and me. He is loving his U.S. map and geography lately, especially with his latest travels with daddy. So we will be playing a lot with his puzzle map this summer. The nerdy geography girl in me is high five-ing!

The Girl

ABC’s – As much as I’d love to say that this girl has as much tenacity and determination as my son did at age 2, my girl is more happy playing and being goofy than learning. It will take a little bit more from both of us this summer to get through the alphabet, but this mom isn’t giving up!

Colors – Ditto to the ABC’s, except this baby girl is starting to show more interest in the color of her world. Now to get her to stop saying that everything is purple….

Shapes – Seeing a theme yet?

Potty Training – We’ve tried quite a few methods, but the whole shocking incident that recently occurred has really set me over the edge. I HAVE to get this girl potty trained this summer, if for no other reason than to stop making me a nervous hawk watching her every second. THIS is priority #1 this summer. I’m praying for amazing results.

Prayers – And speaking of prayers, I love how much this child loves to pray. She loves to initiate hand holding at the dinner table. She loves snuggling with brother for bedtime prayers. I want to keep fostering that love and desire to pray and pray often with her.

Both

At least 1 craft project a week – With the focus on AT LEAST. I hope for more. And not just for the blog, folks. Everyone knows the importance of art and creativity. I want to make sure I am providing ample opportunity for them to create. The messy stuff that you don’t get to do in school. The science projects. The baking lessons. The flour fights….I want it all for them. In fact, I have a project to help encourage this one coming soon 🙂

Go to the zoo, A LOT – There’s definitely perks to having an annual zoo pass. With a love for animals, I am taking advantage of every possible free day to get these kids exploring, learning and seeing animals. It also helps to have a giant wading pool area at the zoo too.

Summer Movies – We are a movie family. We love the theater, the popcorn, the audience. Thank you, Regal for creating the $1 summer movie days. Getting those kids out of the house and into new movies that we haven’t even thought about, it will be a great time for all of us. I’m planning on these weekly!

Say hi to the beach often – 1 mom + 2 kids + a lot of beach stuff + a hot summer day can quickly stifle out any notion of going to the beach. It certainly did for me last summer. But as the kids get older and I get more confident in my mom tackling skills, I won’t let a challenge stop us from going to the beach. I recently discovered just how much my kids love being there. It’s their happy place as much as it is mine. So if we’re not at home, you know where to look for us.

A Loving Relationship – 4 years in age difference can prove to be quite a challenge in the brother/sister relationship. She broke the Legos. He was pushing. She licked his juice cup. He told her to go to the corner. Ah yes, the sounds of parenthood. This summer I want to give them as many opportunities as possible to show love, teamwork and ultimately how much these two need each other. Hopefully through the activities and hopes and dreams I have for them this summer, we can create more than just summer memories.

Disclaimer

Now, let me just set the “crazy” mom thing straight and say that NO, I don’t expect my kids to cross off everything off this list. These are goals and aspirations I have. But putting them into writing and sharing them only motivates me more to get going on these summer projects. I like being able to look at them. See what we’ve done. What we haven’t done. What we can work on. What memories we made. And if nothing else, I’m just so excited for a summer with these two kids. Because yes, they are only young for so long. And summer memories are so important for shaping them into amazing people.

What goals do you have for your kids this summer? Are mine too ambitious?

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