“Summertime and the Living is Easy”

By: Sherry Montgomery, LSCSW, LCSW

Summertime and the living is easy, right?  According to Kelly Sanders, an expert contributor to “Child and Adolescent Issues”, not for the more than 66% of women who work full time jobs and are still responsible for making sure their children are cared for, safe and provided with summer activities to enjoy.

Historically, women have been and continue to be the primary caretakers of their children.  During summer the stressors increase, kids out of school, daycare problems, heat, and a tendency to feel overwhelmed.

  We often hear “there’s more sunlight, I feel better so I don’t take my medication.  My kids stay up later so I don’t get as much done at home and I end up staying up later with them”.   Schedules and structure slide, enhancing those feelings of guilt about not being with your kids enough.

Take care of yourself.  You can’t be available to anyone else if you don’t keep yourself healthy.  Set boundaries, assign tasks to other family members, make each child responsible for dinner one night a week, even if it turns out to be peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  WorkingParents.Net suggests a quiet time for children and parents, often following dinner.  Ask for help from grandparents.  Don’t cancel your therapy appointment because the kids are “bored”.   That hour will help you be more in the moment with them and add to the quality of everyone’s time together as a family.  And finally, be open to your spouse or partner about your needs and what help you can expect from them. 

References:

http://www.workingparents.net