{"id":4455,"date":"2017-07-27T08:00:59","date_gmt":"2017-07-27T07:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/?p=4455"},"modified":"2022-03-18T05:35:01","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T05:35:01","slug":"how-to-help-your-kids-combat-summer-boredom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/blog\/how-to-help-your-kids-combat-summer-boredom\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Help Your Kids Combat Summer Boredom (And Preserve Your Sanity)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"fr-fil fr-dib\" style=\"width: 600px;\" src=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/img\/5090A7AA-6916-11E7-B738-F0055ED20002\/Screen%20Time%2007-24-2017_1_600x.jpg\" alt=\"Parental control software\" width=\"600\" height=\"380\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kids shouldn&#8217;t need screens to have fun.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Leave Time Free<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The first impulse for many parents is to book up the kids completely \u2014 and some camps, classes, or other intellectually engaging ideas are a good thing. But they shouldn&#8217;t have a nine-to-five schedule. Kids need unstructured time to learn how to entertain themselves, engage with the world on their own terms, and just have some fun. Kids need a break from schedules too, and a little time to explore the neighborhood, wander the woods, and find out about the world is a great thing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pick Activities Wisely<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That doesn&#8217;t mean structured time is the enemy for happy kids. Kids can get a lot out of structured activities like camp, classes, intramural sports and more. Just don&#8217;t make the mistake of picking activities that fit your schedule, instead of theirs. Talk to your kids about what they want to try, why they want to try it, and what they&#8217;re hoping to get out of it. Ideally, their activities let them pursue their interests or something they want to learn or get more out of. But don&#8217;t hesitate to let them try new things; that&#8217;s what summer is for.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stick To Your Rules<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Summer is classically the time kids goof off. But that doesn&#8217;t mean your rules about TV time, texting, and video games need to go out the window with them. If you&#8217;ve established <a href=\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/\">screen time<\/a> rules during the school year, it might be tempting to loosen them up a little bit, but resist the urge. Kids need consistency in rules, all year round, and just because they have free time and no desire to fill it doesn&#8217;t mean they should spend all their time on screens.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4456\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4456\" class=\"wp-image-4456 size-full lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/parental-control-software-1.jpg\" alt=\"Parental control software\" width=\"600\" height=\"380\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/380;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4456\" class=\"wp-image-4456 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/parental-control-software-1.jpg\" alt=\"Parental control software\" width=\"600\" height=\"380\" \/><\/noscript><p id=\"caption-attachment-4456\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A walk in the woods should be part of any summer.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Plan Activities Yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Of course, there&#8217;s no reason you can&#8217;t plan out your own fun family time, and summer is the ideal time to pull out all those family projects and other ideas you&#8217;ve been meaning to try. Really, what you can do is limitless, and it all depends on what your family would enjoy. Building a treehouse, running a book club, having a family movie night \u2014 there&#8217;s a kaleidoscope of things you can do. And, of course, don&#8217;t hesitate to ask your kids if there are projects they want to try.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Get Help Around The House<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s no more effective way to keep kids from bothering you with how bored they are like giving them a task around the house. Obviously, you shouldn&#8217;t expect them to be a maid service, but if you&#8217;ve got something the kids can do, and they&#8217;re asking for something to do, involve them. It&#8217;s a good way to start teaching adult skills and take a tiny task off your plate. Have them help you cook dinner, take care of laundry, or other tasks.<\/p>\n<p>Kids, every parent quickly learns, are easily bored. But with a little planning, a little flexibility, and some ideas of your own, it&#8217;ll be the best summer ever. Need to get kids off their screens this summer? <a href=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/ce2\/59319\/1679\/35\">Learn more<\/a> about how Screen Time can help.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Begin Media Shower Content Reporting code --><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"fr-fic fr-dii\" style=\"height: 1px; width: 1px; border: 0px;\" src=\"\/\/mediashower.com\/content?Action=tp&amp;cid=59319\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p><!-- End Media Shower Content Reporting code --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s summer, and that means parents are all asking the same question: How can I keep my kids happy and not driving me crazy? The good news is that you don&#8217;t have to ship them off to camp from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Here&#8217;s how to keep kids entertained and busy during the lazy days of summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":4456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[145],"class_list":["post-4455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parenting-hacks","tag-parental-controls"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Help Your Kids Combat Summer Boredom (And Preserve Your Sanity) - Screen Time<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here&#039;s how to keep kids entertained and busy during the lazy days of summer. Click here to read on.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/blog\/how-to-help-your-kids-combat-summer-boredom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Help Your Kids Combat Summer Boredom (And Preserve Your Sanity) - Screen Time\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here&#039;s how to keep kids entertained and busy during the lazy days of summer. Click here to read on.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/blog\/how-to-help-your-kids-combat-summer-boredom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Screen Time\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ScreenTimeLabs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-27T07:00:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-18T05:35:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/parental-control-software-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Screen Time Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@screentimelabs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@screentimelabs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Screen Time Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/blog\/how-to-help-your-kids-combat-summer-boredom\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/blog\/how-to-help-your-kids-combat-summer-boredom\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Screen Time Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5a3963e0665c76342272ddd4b837e72b\"},\"headline\":\"How to Help Your Kids Combat Summer Boredom (And Preserve Your Sanity)\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-27T07:00:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-18T05:35:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/blog\/how-to-help-your-kids-combat-summer-boredom\/\"},\"wordCount\":567,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/blog\/how-to-help-your-kids-combat-summer-boredom\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/parental-control-software-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"parental controls\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Parenting Hacks\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/blog\/how-to-help-your-kids-combat-summer-boredom\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/blog\/how-to-help-your-kids-combat-summer-boredom\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/blog\/how-to-help-your-kids-combat-summer-boredom\/\",\"name\":\"How to Help Your Kids Combat Summer Boredom (And Preserve Your Sanity) - Screen Time\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/blog\/how-to-help-your-kids-combat-summer-boredom\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/blog\/how-to-help-your-kids-combat-summer-boredom\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/screentimelabs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/parental-control-software-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-27T07:00:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-18T05:35:01+00:00\",\"description\":\"Here's how to keep kids entertained and busy during the lazy days of summer. 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