EPISODE 5: HOW TO HAVE A SIMPLE, MEMORABLE SUMMER WITH CHARLOTTE SCHOLL
Live Date: Friday, June 12, 2020
Show Description: Today’s guest is Charlotte Scholl, who serves Franklin-based Battle Ground Academy’s Lower School as Counselor and Dean of Students. As a mom of two boys who typically go to sleep-away camp and baseball tournaments during the summer, Heather has worried about what this summer will look like for her kids. Charlotte has incredible advice for parents as they prepare for a summer like we’ve never experienced. Specifically, Charlotte and Heather talk through how to navigate 2020 summer at home, how kids can stay connected while socially-distant, how to make summer memorable, self-care when you’re emotional exhaustion, summer bucket lists and activities, why you should allow your children to get bored, and keeping things simple and carefree this summer.
Biggest Takeaways:
Charlotte shares her advice on how to prepare well to have a memorable summer. This summer is very different – like none we’ve experienced before. As parents transition from teacher to camp counselor, Charlotte asks us to keep these things in mind:
Take the pressure off. It can be so easy to want to do it all and do it perfectly. We’re coming out of the school year where parents wanted to make sure homeschool was perfect and kids were learning all the right things. That’s on top of the normal day-to-day responsibilities. Take a deep breath this summer and let some of that pressure for perfection go.
Lower the expectations. Charlotte says it’s important to lower our expectations of what is required of us as parents. Yes, we need to keep our kids entertained since they are stuck at home. But, it doesn’t require as much as we think it does. We are taking a step back in time, before kids were scheduled for all kinds of activities. See this as a gift, not a burden, that we may never have again.
Make a simple list for summer. For safety of financial reasons, elaborate vacations likely aren’t an option this year. Instead, Charlotte encourages parents to have their children make a simple list of activities to complete this summer. Allow for adventure and creativity.
Inevitably, kids get bored when they have time on their hands. Charlotte encourages this as an opportunity to day dream and problem solve. She also shares a few activities for kids if they say they are bored this summer, including:
A pre-prepared tub of arts and crafts supplies, like tape, glue, scissors, yarn and construction paper
Ask questions like, “What do you see in the clouds?” or “where do you want to travel?”
Play the What If game, where you ask kids questions like “what if you were a grasshopper?”
Adventure Journal where they can capture their thoughts, dreams, and experiences
Quotables:
“This is the summer where you can literally fall back in time, before there were camps, before there were things for your children to do all summer. That’s really a gift that we are going to have this summer that we may not ever have again.” – Charlotte Scholl 7:20
“I love the magic of childhood. I love the magic of summer. And, I think sometimes grown ups mess that up by making sure it’s a grandiose thing.” – Charlotte Scholl 11:39
“This is the time to teach them life skills. Don’t call them chores. Don’t call them jobs. Teach them how to cook. Teach them how to iron. In a fun way, not a chore way. This is a time when they can become really independent.” – Charlotte Scholl 15:27
“Waiting and patience are virtues that you have to help grow. They don’t just naturally come, especially as a child. So, when a child is bored, they problem-solve. They think. They let their imagination work.” – Charlotte Scholl 18:46
“We have to be really honest with everybody in your family. If you’re done, if you are going at 20%, you need to tell your family, ‘I’m exhausted right now. I just need 15 minutes just to refuel.’” – Charlotte Scholl 43:35
“Parents don’t have to be entertainers. That’s not our role.” – Charlotte Scholl 48:12
Resources and Links from Show:
Raising Body and Girls Podcast – This podcast is hosted by Sarah Bragg with authors Sissy Goff, David Thomas, and Melissa Trevathan. They share wisdom and information relevant for raising children in today’s world. This is appropriate for parents with children all ages.
Brené Brown’s Unlocking Us – The below episodes are relevant to quarantine:
Podcast for children:
Big Life Kids – Big Life Kids podcast helps kids develop a growth mindset through storytelling
Go Zen – Mindful minutes helps kids relieve stress and anxiety with tips supported by cutting-edge research from the fields of positive psychology, neuroscience and mindfulness.
Shares:
