It’s hard to believe, but the end of the school year is only a couple of months away. The end of the year is always jam-packed for my family – from spring sports to end of the year recitals to weekend tournaments and LOTS of outdoor playtime. It’s a good type of busy, but it’s definitely a change of pace from our slower winter days (with wayyy too much screentime and wayyyy too little time in the sun).
As we all approach this chaos with cautious enthusiasm, I wanted to share my family’s number one tip for surviving the hustle: schedule downtime!
Yep, it’s that simple, but it’s so easy to overlook when calendars are packed and the weather is encouraging us to all do more and beckoning us to get outside. It can be hard to admit on a lovely sunny day that what your kids really need is a bit of rest, especially when you’d love to send them outside for an hour while you frantically clean the house and prep for whatever you have coming up next. Equally, it can be hard to admit to myself that *I* need a break. There’s gardening to do! Lawn pickup! Grass to mow! Flowers to plant! The nice weather is amazing, and of course we all look forward to it after months and months of cold and gray days…but it’s also ok to say, “hey, we’ve had soccer and baseball and piano this week, let’s take tonight to just CHILL”. It’s not my normal mojo, but I’m learning planning those downtime nights/hours/days are critical to preventing burnout, stress and very very cranky kids.
So, as you work your way closer and closer to a longgg summer with your kiddos home, make sure you don’t burn yourselves out before the break. Build rest into your weeks and especially your weekends, and make sure you do whatever it is that regenerates you and your family. Read a book? Take a bath? Watch a family movie? Play a board game? Nap? Whatever it is that works for you and your family, make it a priority, right alongside those sports practices and to-do lists.
Let’s all get through the end-of-the-year hustle in one piece so we can enjoy our amazing Madison summer!