You want sparkling summer memories. What’s the key ingredient to a summer filled with lasting family memories?
Everyone needs to be having fun. Everyone. And that includes you.
Today, we’re talking about how to make your summer memorable. We’ll talk about inexpensive ways to have fun with your kids, and why your happiness is very important when it comes to establishing family traditions.
The Ven Diagram of overlapping good times
Your children (or anyone else) knows when you’re really, really happy. And your happiness fuels their happiness, just like their happiness fuels your happiness.
Consequently, we’re looking for those places where happiness overlaps. Genuine joy.
Today I tell a story about what brought my son summer happiness at age 5 (water!) and age 13 (bike tricks). It was easier for me to find joy in sprinkler fun than it was to find organic joy in jumping bikes.
But! I love photography. While I didn’t love the building of jumps or doing wheelies, I did think it was exciting to lay at the base of the jump, camera in hand, and take photos while my son and his friend flew over my head.
Kids (and people) just want you to watch them
The absolute best way to make memories that last is to find joy watching your children. (If you don’t have children, quick tip: grown ups love to be watched as well.)
Have you heard a kiddo say, “Mom! Watch me?” Of course you have, because every kid is innocent enough to simply ask for what they want: your attention.
Your attention feels like love.
So sometimes the best Ven Diagram of overlap is simply to bring your most enthusiastic self to the activity that your sweetheart (or your kid, your mom, or your BFF) loves.
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Team up to make bigger summer memories
When my kids were little, I lived in student housing. That meant there was almost always another kiddo around to play. The kids would play and I’d get to talk with those kid’s parent.
Win-win. They got a playmate. I got adult conversation.
It doesn’t take a lot to uplevel a moment in the park. If you call your friend, “Do you have a wading pool? I’ve got 2 super-soakers. How about we get the kids together and have them ‘paint’ the brick wall with water?”
Bring a watermelon and a knife along with a couple water balloons and you’ve got a party.
Boredom makes the best summer memories
Do you remember this episode when Faye–a teacher and a parent–advised us all that letting your kids be bored is good for their creative problem solving skills?
My most treasured summer memories were launched out of a little boredom. Mud pies decorated with dandelions, and hide and seek through the museum are two examples of how a little bit of boredom, mixed with a really great environment to make a magical memory.
I think the reason boredom is so magical is that you get to be SLOW. And slow motion (as opposed to the fast pace of smart phones and e-calendars) invites each of us into that magical, memory-making land of imagination.
Try this:
Some of my best summer memories were in the car. We played The Favorites Game.
This game is super simple. Someone names a category, then everyone in the car talks about their favorite. Here’s a couple categories to get you started:
- Your favorite clothes to wear and the season you wear them.
- What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?
- What’s your favorite movie or story?
- What’s your favorite animal?
- What’s your favorite kind of weather?
- What’s your favorite sport or toy?
I love this game because you can learn some super idiosyncratic things about the people you love most.
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