Keeping Your Sanity This Summer with Kids

Hey moms, we get you

Sure, you’re excited to be with the kiddos for the summer. You’d like nothing more than to kiss their sweet little faces 24 hours a day but after one movie, one craft gone bad, a messy playroom in 2.5 minutes, three fights and two snacks by only 10:07am it can be a little exhausting!

Here are some tips to keep your summer fun and still be “happy mommy” with a happy budget.

Say A Prayer

Seriously, like Jesus hears you and He totally understands the struggle. Do you remember the old hymn, “I Need Thee Every Hour?” That was written by a housewife and went viral back in the 1800’s because it’s TRUE! Praying is just talking to God. Be real with Him because, spoiler alert, He already knows your heart anyways and loves you!

Things I pray for…

Patience: James 1:4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Grace: James 4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Wisdom to parent Godly: Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Ideas to have fun (affordable too!), healthy ways to feed kids and myself, keep life organized (as much as you can with 3 kids under 10!) - Jeremiah 33:3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

Get Out of the House

For me…I have to get out of the house. If we stay cooped up all day it won’t be pretty. When my kids were really little, it was a quick drive-thru Starbucks, just anything to get out.

Here are places I love going:

Church: hello, there is a whole Children’s ministry that loves your kids and plans these awesome things for them every service, from games, crafts, to even earning cool little Rock Dollars they can spend at the end of the month for prizes.
Women Rock: We are doing a special Vacation Bible School that does crafts and hands on fun for the kids every week. For you mom, there are special workshops from spiritually building up your soul to one specifically dedicated to the topic of parenting! Women Rock is a lifeline for relationships with the small groups, casual environment and free coffee, too (amen!).
Local Library: it’s cool guys! For reals! They offer free fun events every week, all summer, and a rewards program for kids to read books and earn prizes.
Museums: The California Science Center is my fav! It’s free and has so much fun stuff to do for a whole day! You can touch sea urchins or starfish or play with toys that teach the kids physics. Bring a lunch (or purchase there) and buy a popsicle in the rose garden to cap off the day.
Forest Falls and Thurman Flats: we live so close to refreshing mountain water! Grab a day pass up Highway 38 at the Ranger Station, enjoy a gorgeous day in pools of water, and bask in God’s beauty.
Parks: They are the best! Our favs are Grand Terrace, Brookside Park in Redlands and Yucaipa Community Park.

Playdates Rock!

These, by far, are my kids favorite! So grab a friend, bring them home with you, or head to Chick-Fila or a park, and let the fun begin.

To keep playdates going here are some things I try do:

Switch off between parents. It’s no fun if only one mommy is doing all the work.
Have healthy snacks ready. No need to be fancy.
Organize toys beforehand. When everything is chaos and hard to find—it makes you work harder.
Use this as a reward for your kids to keep up on chores. They are highly motivated to keep house and rooms clean if a friend might come over for a last minute playdate.
Sundays! It is super easy and fun to bring a friend home after church with you, and then bring them right back for The Sunday night Overflow service starting in July.