Summer Dreams
Summer is here and so are school holidays. My daughter has made it through her first Reception year at school and I couldn’t be more proud of her. I have also hugely missed our time together with her and all the activities we used to do. So I couldn’t be more excited to be off work for a month and to plan to spend this month at home with my two sweet little kittens, I mean children! The girl 5,5 and the boy just turned 3. As I dream of what I’d like to do with them this summer I wanted to share my favourite things here as well.
Intensive Swimming Course
We are lucky to have an outdoor swimming pool very close to our home, so swimming is always hot on our agenda in summer. But this time is different. I am keen for both my kids to feel comfortable in the water and to learn to swim. Our schedule during the year is too hectic to fit in regular swimming classes, and kids get sick way too often to be able to attend the classes as well. So instead we subscribed to an intensive swimming course for two weeks, and I am looking forward to seeing my kids grow in their confidence and level. They are currently non-swimmers and I am not expecting them to swim in two weeks, but I am hoping to have a good progress towards swimming.
To increase our chances of success I have bought kids backpacks to pack their own belongings for swimming classes, and they absolutely love this idea. I have also taken them in advance for a swim in the swimming pool so they get used to the environment, and it won’t be their first time in the pool during the lesson.
Cultivating Love For Reading
I love books and so do my kids. Except… My daughter can read now in two languages at the same level. She is able to read, but it’s still fairly difficult for her and she does not yet enjoy it. So my hope for the summer is to help her find joy in reading. I am mostly focusing on Russian, her second language, but I am confident if she finds pleasure in one language she will love reading in English too. The three things that I hope will help are:
I have a wonderful book in the Russian language that is made of letters for little ones from an elf. The letters are extremely simple. A parent shall put a letter under the pillow of a child every night. The child finds it and reads it. From time to time the elf brings presents to the child and leaves them at the bedside too. We started this a few days ago and my daughter is very captivated by it. She is also keen on writing answers to the elf so she gets writing practice as well.
We have subscribed to the reading challenge at the library and hopefully getting rewards for reading will help to enjoy it too
I have chosen and bought simple reading books with beautiful pictures and I hope the simplicity of them together with fun stories will captivate my daughter’s mind and show her the benefits of being able to read herself
I also have a son, who on the one hand is interested in books and loves them. On the other hand, often gets distracted at night reading time and does not listen. I suspect the books we read may not always have the topics that interest him and sometimes might be too difficult for him since they are also for my daughter. I set on a quest to find books that he loves and to captivate him more. It will be trial and error, but being off work will allow me to spend a bit more time thinking about my son’s interests and researching and finding books he might like.
Singing As a Family
It has long been my dream to be a singing family, to play guitar and sing songs together with kids. I had to wait first for my daughter to grow and not insist that she is the one who will play the guitar. I then had to wait for my son to grow. Meanwhile, I have well forgotten how to play the guitar lol. And now finally as my son turned three and is able to understand more, I am hoping to learn some simple songs with kids during the holidays. All three of us are fairly excited about the idea, I am full of hope to enjoy singing together.
Healthy Eating
The variety of vegetables and fruits my children agree to eat is very limited, and they often say they don’t like a vegetable on their plate before even trying it. I am sure my children are not alone in this, but I want to give food, especially fruits and vegetables, a fun spin by taking children to the shop regularly and allowing them to choose which fruits and vegetables they want to try. We will spend the time studying the choice, talking about it, and I will tempt them to be more adventurous. Wish me luck, please.
Logical Puzzles And Science Experiments
Science, maths, and puzzles can be equally fascinating when things work out, and frustrating when you are feeling stuck and don’t know how to solve the task. Just like everything else problem-solving needs practicing and frustration gives way to patience when the experience of solving logical problems accumulates. I’ve grown up doing a lot of logical and math puzzles and went on to become a software engineer. Yet somehow the time I spend with kids is mostly focused on creative activities and language. I want to use the holidays to give ourselves a kick-start in the direction of science and puzzles. We have a few experiments like making soap and growing crystals planned. I also have in the cupboard logical games that I played growing up, and I want to try to interest my kids in them too.
Listening Skills
With my son’s development leap as he turned three and my daughter’s newfound independence during the reception year in school, our house all of a sudden became a place where everyone simultaneously speaks and hardly anyone listens. Children need to learn to take turns in speaking with each other, and that they need to wait sometimes. Adults need to navigate situations when both children speak at the same time both sharing something very very important to them. And it would be lovely if children actually listen and did what adults tell them to do. As of now the younger one is testing the limits, and the older one is in her own world and simply does not notice that someone is talking to her a lot of the time, when other times she prefers to follow her own wishes.
We are tackling it by slowing down and taking time to work through the situations. It makes an amazing difference to parenting not to be in a rush. All of a sudden things go much more smoothly. I have also introduced rewards for good listening. Every morning I remind children that we aim for good listening skills as a family. They put in their best effort and I keep reminding them during the day. At the end of the day if they manage to listen well they get a reward token. More on reward tokens in a separate post, but I can say I see how children try their best to show good listening and things are improving already.
Just Playing
Children are most themselves when they play. The game allows them to be free, to express how they like to feel, create the world with things they like in it and act as they wish. With our family growing and my son becoming a brilliant play partner for my daughter, playing with children for myself has been almost forgotten. I spend most of my time with cooking, doing chores, and taking care of children but not actually playing with them. I want to step back into the play zone and join my children in their games. Have fun, learn about how my children are and perhaps help them to learn new words, new behaviors, and new things through the game.
Together these are ambitious dreams for a relatively short period of time. I will do my best while trying to set a trend and begin on the journey rather than complete the intention within the holiday time. I am also introducing things gradually one by one into the holiday routine to allow time for adapting, figuring things out, and enjoying the holidays.
Happy summer to you all. What are you doing this summer?