Includes: Downloadable printables to help you work from home with kids this summer!
The Concept of Systems + Summer Systems Specifically
Summer time used to be the source of all Earthly joy when we were kids, right? But sometimes for work from home moms, this once delightful time of year can inspire panic and dread. Sarah dished out a TON of useful information on this topic in her Summer Sanity post, so if you haven’t checked that out yet, you absolutely need to. This post is tactical and practical, using a new concept I’ve recently been introduced to and find myself obsessed with: systems. If you don’t know Chelsi Jo and her “Systemize Your Life” podcast, she is pure magic. In fact, one of the ideas below is literally something she talked about on a recent episode and since I found myself nodding along to every word she said, I decided to implement it for my family too! But more on that later.
For now: what are systems? Systems are simple, repeatable routines that help your family thrive with less stress and more intention. Instead of reinventing the wheel every day—arguing over screens, scrambling for dinner, nagging about chores—systems create clarity. They take the decision-making off your plate and empower your kids to know exactly what’s expected of them, when, and how. Decide once, systemize forever. Summer is the perfect time for systems, in my opinion, because it provides a little structure for kiddos so they don’t go totally off the rails without the confines of a school day to keep them on track.
So, I set out to create several systems for our summer based on the goals our family agreed upon working toward during this season in our lives. The below is what we came up with. I hope some of it is helpful for you and I included some downloadable printables as well, because I’ve had moms in my own life ask if I would share these checklists, routines and more with them for those weeks where they couldn’t snag a spot in camp or finagle childcare.
System 1. Outside Time
As Sarah noted in her post as well, we are BIG on outside time around here. There are so many amazing benefits for kids derived from plenty of outside time, and as I’ve shared before, we are HUGE fans of the 1000 Hours Outside Project, started by Ginny Yurich. She promotes the concept that kids thrive when spending significant time outdoors—ideally matching or exceeding the amount of time most children spend on screens each year. Ginny highlights a plethora of research-backed benefits of outdoor time for kids, including:
1. Improved Mental Health:
Includes reduced anxiety, stress, and symptoms of ADHD, as well as enhanced mood regulation
2. Stronger Physical Health: Increased activity levels support cardiovascular health and motor development as well as boosted immune system function via exposure to fresh air and natural microbes (BONUS: better sleep with regulated circadian rhythms)
3. Enhanced Cognitive Development: Unstructured outside play sparks curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving and increases focus overall
4. Social and Emotional Growth: Outdoor challenges teach resilience, patience and confidence through activities like climbing, building and exploring
5. Fosters Independence and Risk-Taking: By teaching natural consequences in a lower stakes environment with adults close by
A few years ago, after discussing all of these amazing benefits as a family, we decided that we wanted to track the kids’ outside time each summer as a subset of the 1000 hours per year. The math breaks down to a 300 hour goal from late May when the kids get out of school to mid-August when they go back. It means roughly three hours a day outside, which sounds like a lot (which is great!) but if you also think about some of our summer trips that involve camping or going to the beach, those clock in a lot of hours as well and it’s absolutely manageable. The kids have accomplished it every year for the past three years! The “prize” at the end of the challenge is that each kid gets to pick out one new “outdoor toy” within reason. For example, I won’t be buying Linus that dirt bike he keeps asking for, but I did get him a skateboard last August.
My kids love a good tracker, so we created this easy printable to check in each day with the amount of time spent outside. They love setting the timer, clocking in their hours under the sun each day and then writing it down to get credit. We have a creek in our backyard, a flock of backyard chickens to play with and my parents’ pool down the street, so to be honest, I usually don’t really have to do too much prodding to get the kids outside, but it’s nice for them to see this represented so visually and I hope it leads to a lifelong habit of spending as much time outside as possible.
Bonus Pro Mom Tip: Hang the tracker in a central location with a pencil attached to it so no one forgets about filling it out each day!
2. Daily Chores + Must Do’s
It’s no secret that I expect a decent amount of contribution from my kids around our house, as I outlined in my last post about our family chores. We don’t let that slide off just because it’s summer time for them. In fact, I expect a little MORE help, because they don’t have to work and I do! Just kidding, not really, but kind of? Idk. They have a little more free time and I know that if we don’t put the “must do” list together for each day, it would be way too easy to let things slide until the weekend or linger in way too many “easy mornings.” If this is too structured for you, it could totally work three or four days out of the week instead and then you allow Thursdays and Fridays to be “free days” or whatever you want to do! It’s customizable. You can put whatever non-negotiables on your list that you choose as well. I’ll share what’s on ours and you can take whatever works for you and just leave whatever doesn’t.
I will note again that our lists were made via a family discussion WITH the children about what we all felt was reasonable given ages and what we all wanted to come from each day to feel productive and regulated (to the extent you can be over the summer).
Here is our summer checklist for each child – you can take it, make a copy and edit anything within it for your kids!
For my kids, we all agreed that each day, each child must check off these must do tasks:
- Outdoor time (as above)
- Chores (listed out individually for each child)
- 30 minutes of reading, math or writing (I grab workbooks and packets from their teachers before the start of summer to help supplement this, but we also have “tutoring” sessions with my parents where each kid gets specialized attention in various subjects to learn about things that aren’t on the school curriculum)
- Creative play (open to interpretation, but past examples have included: designing a talent show, painting, drawing, building with LEGO, pottery, building an outside fort and teaching the dog a new trick)
- Gratitude journaling (Remember, I mentioned in this routine reset post that this was a new habit I wanted to build with the kids? Seemed like the perfect way to get it going!)
After they finish their checklists, you’ll see in the link above that they have more freedom to engage in more passive or even screen-based activities within limits (ie: we have an old Sega that the kids can play on together cooperatively, but they cannot just watch TV during this time).
This approach doesn’t work for everyone, but it has been wildly successful at giving my kids the right amount of control over their day while (hopefully) building a bit of discipline and responsibility through this autonomy.
3. Kid-Led Meal Planning
If you are the type of person who feels anxious when your kitchen is a mess, this one is PROBABLY not for you. Please see a TikTok video I did of what my kitchen looks like after my children make breakfast. It’s not pretty. We’re still working on the “clean as you go” concept. BUT – Dan and I are huge proponents of our children learning to cook as early on as possible. Each child received a “child safe” knife set as a gift early on, Ella has gotten several cookbooks as gifts (and she always grabs them at the library!) and we even got her a “Top Chef” style game for Christmas this year, which she loves to play. Unfortunately, during the school year, all too often, things get so crazy with activities and homework, that it’s hard for the kids to help with or make dinner. So, enter the beauty of summer!
Each kiddo told me they’d like to try to make one family meal per week over the summer. They want to be responsible for designing the meal, making the grocery list, prep and all cooking. At the ripe old ages of seven and 10, we are pretty nearly there with both of them (of course we still monitor use of sharp knives and fire!).
We created this downloadable printable for each kid to fill out for their dinner to make sure they are planning ahead and stay on top of what needs to be done. They have a deadline of filling it out each Sunday (so fun to watch them flip through cookbooks, magazines and even Pinterest to find inspiration for a recipe to make!) so that I can incorporate it into my meal planning for the week and the groceries I buy.
You can see a recent snack plate Ella designed and put together for a fun Friday afternoon with friends.
4. Summer Reading
Millennials, who remembers the “Book It” program from Pizza Hut you did every summer as a kid? Read a certain number of books and Pizza Hut gave you your OWN PERSONAL PAN PIZZA as a reward at the end of the summer. But, Pizza Hut is not really a thing where we live, so I thought: “Hmmm. I’d better create our own!”
Now, Linus JUST learned to read this year, so he hasn’t done this yet, but last summer, I designed a “Book It”-esque program for Ella and a few of her friends. They all kept track of the books they read (easy downloadable printable HERE) and at the end of the summer, all the moms and daughters gathered for an epic pizza party at our favorite local spot. It was really a huge hit, so we’re doing it again this year and even have some new participants asking to join! I love watching Ella indulge her love of reading alongside her friends – it really takes me back to my childhood, where I spent so many summer hours reading away.
6. Food Systems
When school first closed during COVID, the first thing that got on my nerves was hearing 45 times a day: “I want a snack.” So back then, in 2020? I abolished snacks at our house. They do not exist. Eat more at the next meal if you’re hungry. (BTW, don’t get scared, we do make exceptions when we have other kids at our house, etc.). But my kids know, you get up and eat breakfast until you’re full and then don’t ask for any more food until lunch time. It really cut down on a lot of mental bandwidth for me!
The two other major food rules in our house revolve around treats and fiber.
We really try to get the kids to eat 30grams of fiber per day. Fiber is a boring, often overlooked component of diets, but it really is quite magical. Just a few benefits:
Supports Healthy Digestion
Keeps You Full Longer (ie: no need for snacks!)
Feeds Good Gut Bacteria
Balances Blood Sugar Levels
The list goes on and on, but suffice it to say, it’s a good habit to get in. We have a list on our fridge called “Fiberpalooza” that outlines all the most common fiber-rich foods and how much fiber is in each one so that the kids can easily track their consumption with this easy downloadable printable.
The treats rule is easy (and I think I’ve mentioned it before). Each kid gets a treat budget that is commensurate with their age. They can use these however, whenever, but once they are gone for the month – they are GONE. So over the summer, we don’t get constant requests to go out for ice cream. Only at the end of the month if one or both kids haven’t used up all their treats yet!
7. The Summer Job Board
This is the system I stole directly from Chelsi Jo, because I’m kind of obsessed with it. It’s similar to what I outlined in my chores post under “extra chores beyond allowance,” but just more systemized! Basically, you get a bulletin board, fill it with envelopes that outline a job that needs to be done and the amount it pays. The kids can grab it, complete the task and then rake in the cash! I love this system so much that we’re altering our whole chore/allowance system. I never really liked tying their chores to money – “chores” = contributions that everyone needs to make for the house to run smoothly, which benefits everyone. So here’s the new set up we’re testing – I’ll report back about how it works.
Each kid gets a smaller weekly allowance (haven’t decided on an exact amount yet).
Each kid still has to complete non-negotiable contribution chores (as outlined in the daily checklist).
Once the contribution checklist is complete, the kids are eligible to earn more money from the job board.
I’m pretty psyched about how prepared we are for summer this year. Though my kids are doing a COUPLE of camps and also swimming on our local swim team, I have plenty of time where they won’t have obligations or structure of any kind, so these systems are meant to keep us all moving in the right direction and accomplishing our common goals. I hope some of the downloadable print outs help you and your family – please share any summer systems YOU have in place that we could add to our summer and if you check out Chelsi Jo’s podcast, let me know what you think in the comments!
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