The Parents YAP About Summer Tips: What THREE Things Keep Our Summers Sane?

We're lucky enough to have the beach, pools, parks, museums and so much more close by. We have a myriad of stuff to do in the summer. But, what about those little things we all do that make our summers work? This week, the Parents YAP about summer tips. 

Tasha Schlake Festel

I love summer. It is my favorite family time of year. I look forward to it starting the first day of school in September, and cling on to each day of it while it lasts. Sadly, it's never long enough. 

The top three things that make our summers successful are as follows:

•   Baby powder

•   Summer School

•   Ice Cream for Dinner 

#1: Baby Powder

Yes. Baby powder. In the #1 spot. Really. 

A trip to the beach (or even a playground) can be ruined by sandy hands, feet, and, well, other parts. Whether the sand rubs you the wrong way or makes its way into your sandwich from your coated hands, it really can turn your fab beach day into a downer.

Enter baby powder.

Just a sprinkle on the affected area and it's like magic. Poof! The sand is gone! Promise me you'll never go to the beach without it. Keep it in your beach bag. Keep it in your car. Keep it with you at all times. You'll be amazed.

#2: Summer School

The second best thing I ever did for us as a family is enroll my kids in Summer School through the Wakefield Public Schools. My kids are performing at the tops of their classes, yet I send them to school in the summer. Why? Well, it's not academic, but rather a fantastic enrichment program that consists of technology, gym, science, and (sometimes) drama. For 3.5 hours a day, 5 days a week, this summer-saving-solution costs just $60 per child. It is the cheapest summer camp going! My kids are meeting students from the other schools and getting time away from each other and from me. They come out happy, sweaty, tired, and somehow energized. I love this program. Check it out.

#3: Ice Cream for Dinner

In the summer, a lot of my "not too much sugar" rules go right out the window. C'mon! It's ice cream weather! And there are few things in this world I love more than ice cream.

Don't tell my husband, but about once a week, the kids and I have ice cream for dinner, and some kind of "dinner-y thing" for dessert. It's fun. It's summer. Why not? The kids get excited and we all feel just a little bit naughty. That's what summer's for.

But wait! There's more...

Regular readers know that I'm a wordy girl. You should have expected that I'd have more than just three tips to share. These last two are things I do just for me. Without them, summer is decidedly less fun.

First, I make time for at least two early morning runs every week. The distance isn't important, but the timing is. I try to hit the streets before sunrise - sometimes as early as 4AM - to get my sweat on and my miles in before the sun beats down on me and the sidewalks get crowded. And on those days when I time is just right, a summer sunrise over the lake leaves me smiling for most of the day.

Second, I need a good book. I read a lot more in the summer now that my kids are older and I don't need to be in the water with them at all times. I plop myself down in my backpack chair (another essential!) and I escape. I use iBooks on my phone so I always have it with me. It's also less to pack, and offers me an endless library should I find myself in need of something else to read.

So, Wakefieldians (Wakefielders?), now it's time to go forth and summer!

Lisa Paglierani

1.  AMC Huts:  The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) has several lodging facilities, or huts, located throughout the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  These are located within a day’s hike of each other and were designed to provide shelter and meals for those hiking the Appalachian Trail.  Eight huts are in the backwoods and accessible only by hiking in, providing the unique opportunity to lodge out in the wilderness.  Accommodations are in a communal bunkroom, and a home-cooked dinner and breakfast are included in the fee.  It’s like camping, with better shelter and no cooking.

This year, in celebration of the AMC’s 125th anniversary, kids stay free with a paying adult at both the Lonesome Lake Hut and Cardigan Lodge.  Motivated by the discount, as well as a glowing report from a friend who recently stayed at the Mizpah Spring Hut in Crawford Notch, we have decided to give the huts a try this summer.  We will begin with the family-friendly Cardigan Lodge in the lakes region, which is not accessed by a long hike.  We’re excited for a new adventure.  For more information on this summer’s deal, visit http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/kids/kids-stay-free-summer.cfm.

2.  Pick Your Own:  I wait all year for summer fruit, so this one is a favorite of mine.  Fortunately, my kids also enjoy picking, so we try to hit as many fruits as we can each summer:  strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and peaches, to be followed by the trusty apple in the fall.  We have little use for jam jars or dessert recipes, since we devour the fruit within days of picking.  Delicious, healthy, and little hands are kept busy.  How can you go wrong?  We enjoy picking all of the above at Connors Farm in Danvers.  Tree Berry Farm, a blueberry farm in Scituate, is a family favorite.  For more information on what to pick and where, see http://www.pickyourown.org/mass.htm. 

3.  Down time:  Admittedly, this one seems like a cop out, but there is value in reminding ourselves that our kids don’t need to be scheduled every minute of the summer.  My friend recently complained that her kids were whining about being bored.  She shot back, “Good! That’s what the summer is for!”  Kids who are busy with homework, activities, and play dates all through the school year do need some time to just, well, be.  Our summer is shaping up to be a busy one, packed with beach trips, camping, museum visits, and more, and I could not be more thrilled about it.  But I do want to ensure that there is a healthy dose of “down days” sprinkled throughout, when the kids don’t have a blessed thing to do and their imaginations can lead the way.

Enjoy the summer while it lasts!

Regina Martine

For all you parents of little kids, let me tell you that the best tip for summer fun is this: Wait a few years. It gets easier. Summers are much more fun when kids are a little more self-sufficient. Whenever I see moms with little kids, I can’t help but be reminded of what a colossal pain in the butt it is to go anywhere with small children. You need to be prepared for every possible crisis. Strollers for kids who can’t walk, or kids who won’t walk, diapers, snacks, wipes, a change of clothes, bags for dirty diapers, and/or dirty clothes, drinks for each kid, and so on and so on … I remember loading up the handles of the stroller with so many bags that if the kid got out (and sometimes even if he didn’t) the stroller would tip right over, wheels in the air. But no more! My kids pack their own lunches, load up the car for the beach, and put on their own sunblock. Hurray for growing up!

As grown up as they are, they are not really all that good at putting on their own sunblock, which is why I am a big fan of the overpriced and environmentally questionable spray sunblock. It is much easier to do a quick spray touch-up at the beach than try to get lotion on wet, sandy, salty kids who just want to get back to boogie boarding.

Along with all that increased independence comes the potential for increased boredom. My kids (well, one kid in particular) always want to be where their friends are, and I don’t relish the notion of constantly tracking down friends. The Wakefield Boys and Girls Club to the rescue! For 25 smackers a kid can play supervised games in Moulton Park every weekday for the whole summer. I probably asked the camp counselor 10 times if this was for real. It is. Now bored kid can go to the park and play capture the flag, soccer, basketball and more with all the friends he wanted to have playdates with anyway. Awesome.

My last suggestion appeals more to me than it does to my kids, mostly because I nostalgically remember an awesome activity book I had as kid, which has apparently gone out of print or fallen off the earth or something, because I can’t find it anywhere. This book is the next best thing. Kids can learn how to make stop-action movies, play pranks on unsuspecting family members, learn how to curse without cursing, do science experiments using ingredients from the fridge and much, MUCH more. Now I just have to get my kids to love this book as much as I do. Happy summer! 

Melissa Schools

Three summertime tips, in no particular order:

Snack dinners (and other food ideas to keep you sane). Since confessing to falling off the Healthy Snack Wagon, two things have happened. The first is that I have sunken even lower, deciding that as long as it’s edible, I’m not going to worry too much. Peanut butter and jelly has dominated the lunch scene since school let out, and I plan to continue in that vein until there is mutiny among the ranks. I mollify my conscience by using peanut butter with no added sugar and “jam” or “preserves” instead of actual-jelly, but let’s be honest: “Peanut butter and preserves” has a pretentious ring to it and should be avoided. Today, though, I cringed just a little when I served PB&J on a hamburger bun to one of my kids, well, because I just can’t bring myself to go to the grocery store. We’re going to probably eat lots of other odd-and-questionably-healthy combinations before I consent to go full scale food shopping.

The second is that when the food-guilt gets too overwhelming, I make a mad dash into any nearby store and buy a bunch of produce. I use these things to prepare a parade of “appetizers” (an admittedly loose use of the term) that add up to a meal by the time I’m tired of chopping things. This is an excellent way to add balance to the junk they might otherwise eat earlier in the day. By the time the kids ask, “What’s for dinner?” I can tell them, “Um, you just had it!” Then, I just wave ice cream at them to distract them. I highly recommend using ice cream cones, because you can get away with giving a much smaller portion than you could if you put the same paltry amount in a dish.

Other good snack dinner ideas include any other fresh vegetable you can think of, a nice little dish of bacon-ranch dressing for dipping the less desirable veggies, stove-top popcorn, apple slices, maybe a little cheese and- our new favorite: avocado spread on wasa-type crackers with salt and a little squeeze of lemon. I recently ramped it up by presenting the kids with a nicely arranged variety platter of fresh stuff. Presentation really does make a difference!

Baby Powder. Buy a big container of it and keep it in your car or bag to combat sand from the beach or any other stuff your child attracts with his sweaty little self in this humid weather. In our house, we call it, “The Breaded Cutlet Effect.”

This makes me think to add that I was dreading the beach this summer- not only because of my lack of rock-hard-abs, but also because our baby is at that stage where he can’t crawl or walk, but he absolutely insists that he’d be happier if I’d just put him down to drag himself where he wants to go. This is bad enough in my house whose floors apparently aren’t very clean (thank you, tell-tale onesie…) but I could not imagine this situation at the beach.

Though I’ve only tested him at Breakheart Reservation’s little beach, I found that setting up right at the water’s edge worked great to keep the baby engaged, me cool and any sand he encountered didn’t stick for long. There is also a decent amount of shade at Breakheart near the sides of the beach, so his sweet, little skin could take refuge if needed. I am actually looking forward to visiting Nahant Beach, where the waves have lots of beach to peter out on, so as not to swallow babies whole at the water’s edge. It’s also a scant half hour from Wakefield.

Stay ON the Beaten Path: This is to let you parents of small children know that you do not have to make things complicated for yourselves for your kids to have a great summer. You do not have to put pressure on yourselves to do the most creative, complicated, Pinterest-inspired things for your kids to make great memories. Stress kills fun and crushes little spirits. And big ones. Don’t forget that kiddie pools, library visits, playground romps, sidewalk chalk, bubbles and other simple stuff count as summer fun. I’ve found that my little ones take their cues of fun from me and my level of carefree smiley-ness, so remembering to keep it simple is key.

Also, getting off the beaten path can lead to this. And you don’t want that, do you?