Avoiding Summer Stress: 5 Mistakes Moms Make & How To Fix ‘Em

Before summer starts you have to start thinking about these 5 things so you can actually enjoy family time this summer.

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Summer break is coming soon.

If you don’t wanna be five days into summer wishing your kids would already go back to school, you don’t wanna miss this.

Mistake #1: We look at the summer as a whole, not as a daily thing.

The first mistake is that look at summer as a whole and not as a daily thing.

This means you think, okay, in June they’re gonna go camping. In July, we’re gonna go on vacation and then we’re gonna go to this wedding. And that’s the summer.

If you think of it from a bird’s eye view, then you forget that a huge percentage of the time is just that daily time at home. And this is a big mistake because if you don’t think about going into summer how the days are gonna look, they just can stretch into nothingness.

That initially feels so free and unstructured but then begins to feel chaotic.

This leads us to the next mistake…

Mistake #2: We look at the summer day by day, and not as a whole.

Have you ever had that experience when you feel like there’s plenty of time to do X, Y, Z, I will for sure get to that.

And then all of a sudden time crunches and you barely got to the things on your fun list to do.

If you aren’t careful you might get to the end of the summer and not have done all the things that you wanted to do. Or you might plug in the big things and feel like the day-to-day is so miserable, you’re just wishing the summer away.

Mistake #3: We haven’t made objectives or goals for what we want summer to be.

The direction you set for yourself is the direction that you go. And if you’re wandering around aimlessly, you might be going around in circles.

We wanna think about what we want our summer to look like.

Are there maybe some things that we want to do to learn to, to see, to be together?

You, you wanna actually give some time to this instead of rushing through May like a maniac then arriving at summer with no plans or forethought.

When we don’t plan well for summer we end up with:

• tons of screen time.
• guilt from tons of screen time.
• long days that feel like drudgery vs. adventure.
• days that feel similar to any other time of year, but hotter.

Imagine getting to the end of the summer without having done the most summery thing in your area. You don’t want that to happen.

So you need to actually think about what are some of your goals and some of your objectives for the summer.

Mistake #4: We let the kids run wild and the overwhelm gets too much.

It’s easy to let kids run wild and have unstructured days, but this can actually create a sense of overwhelm for both the moms and the kids.

As adults, we may want to relax and take it easy, but if we lack structure, our kids can become a bit too wild and feral. This can go past a relaxed summer rhythm and into madness, which can cause moms to feel like they need to escape.

To avoid this sense of overwhelm, it’s important to strike a balance between a carefree summer and structure.

Find a routine that works for your family, such as setting aside time for outdoor activities, reading, and household chores.

Read: Summer morning routines (to stop fighting, messes, and boredom)

Mistake #5: We act like summer is the same as any other time of year.

As a working mom, it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that your days during the summer are just going to be the same as they always are throughout the year.

That’s why it’s important to avoid the mistake of letting the summer pass you by without doing anything special.

Even if you’re still working the same hours, you can add some fun and excitement to your family’s summer by doing some of those classic summer activities that you may remember from your own childhood.

• Think popsicles
• ice cream
• the beach
• the lake
• the pool
• sprinklers

Depending on where you live, your summer activities may vary, but the point is to make sure that you’re taking advantage of everything that this season has to offer.

Make a point to plan!

In a few weeks, I’m going to release my uber-popular Summer Rhythms to help you address All Of The Things.

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