Summer and kids

The heat is on. Summer is very much here and many of you will be getting ready for your kids’ summer vacations; in a way looking forward to it, but mostly dreading the very thought of it. Especially for the stay-at-home moms, it’s perhaps going to be that trying time that turns from ‘I’m going to get some quality time with my kids’ to ‘I’ve had enough of these kids’.

While the fun moments will be captured on your digital cameras to add to your frame wall after the summer runs out, you don’t want those pictures to remind you of how you struggled your way through it all. As you will very well be aware, kids will be kids and there’s only so much we can do to get them to behave well during their summer time off. In fact saying that in itself makes me shudder at what the ladies have in store. Muddy bicycles in and out of home, wet bottoms on the sofas after a day out at the pool, toys, toys and more toys. ‘Mom, what are you making for lunch?’, ‘Mom, can Susie and Jim and Lydia come over?’, ‘Mom, Alan’s throwing booger at me!’ - Are we really relying on ‘Alan, stop that now’?

Guess not, which is why I’d like to share with you a few areas that we could look into, in order to ready the home up for the kids; make it child proof.

Invest in some plastic cups and plates – IKEA is the place to go. Instantly adding the summery tones to your kitchen counters, these unbreakable plates and cups are a must have with kids constantly running around the house with them.

Food calendar – So that you don’t go crazy preparing ten different things based on each one’s requests every time you enter the kitchen, sit the kids down and draw out a quick food calendar. Dedicate days of the week to each child, the kids can pre-decide what they’d like everyone to eat on ‘their’ day, ultimately making your trips to the kitchen more organized.

Snacking shelf in the fridge – Set up a shelf in the fridge within the child’s reach and replenish it with cold cuts, cheeses, spreads, fruit and all. Breads in the bread basket and cookies in a cookie jar, encourage the kids to make their own snacks, to be had in their plastic plates.

Dedicate a wall for scribbles – this may sound funny, but the kids would have a ball of a time knowing their mom just allowed them to paint, scribble and crayon up an entire wall! When summer’s out and the kids are back to school, if you like you could give the wall a good paint wash to cover up the drama.

Open out some flat-woven rugs - Fold up the heavy Afghan rugs and bring out the child-friendly, easy to wash, flat-w

oven dhurries. They’ll cool the floors for the summer and would be easy to clean up or turn over when kids go spilling away.

Out with the crystal, in with the galvanized look – To avoid the kids reaching out for your crystal and china pieces, carefully tuck them away for the summer. Instead, allow the outdoors into your home. Welcome galvanized pails and shrubs on your shelves or you could even dry up the shells your kids collected at the beach and toss them on to a galvanized platter.

Hope the tips were helpful, wishing you a fun-filled and sane summer.