Hey there, Frenzied Fathers and Mothers!

It’s more than understandable that this time of year can often times become a little overwhelming. Your kids go from lying around the house day in and day out for three months to suddenly having schedules as busy as yours! They have school, after school activities, homework, sporting events, sleepovers, and more. And you’re the one in charge of orchestrating all of it!

Well, here are some very helpful tips to managing everybody’s schedule without losing out on the fun of life!

Calendar

First—and probably most important—is the purchase and use of a large family calendar. You’ll want this calendar to go in a place where everyone will see it: on the refrigerator or hanging on a wall in the hallway where everyone walks through. Write in everything that you know is happening that month like birthdays, sporting events, recitals, appointments, and so on. Don’t forget to write in new events as well.

Planning Ahead

Next up is to plan ahead. Make sure that you don’t leave your planning for the future to the present. Handling things in the last minute increases stress and anxiety.

Share Responsibilities

Divvying up responsibilities is another great tactic to prevent busy schedules from bottlenecking through you. If they’re old enough, you can let your kids handle cutting grass or raking. Maybe your parents want to spend more time with your kids—work something out where your kids go to their grandparents a few times a month.

Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize

Prioritizing is very important when it comes to your kid’s life. It’s up to you to know the difference between how much your kids think they can handle and how much they’ll want to handle. You don’t want their lives to become simply going from one appointment to the next!

Have Some Fun

Lastly, fill in a few empty nights with fun things your family can do together. Maybe a game night or watching a movie. Balancing work and fun feels more possible and is more possible if you can stick to these helpful tips.

And thanks for reading, Camp Fans!

- John

Hey, School Kids!

Last week I talked about safety after school. Here’s something you can do to keep yourself safe after school–your homework! While it’s not the only part of school, your homework is one of the more important elements of school.

That’s why I’ve chosen for today’s Everything Summer Camp Blog post to give you some helpful advice on how to go about your homework.

Assignment Notebooks

First of all, you’ll definitely want an assignment notebook. When you have homework from five different classes, it can get pretty cloudy in the old noggin. You have enough to concentrate on with your daily school routine—don’t try to remember what homework you’ve been assigned in each and every class.

Homework After School

My next point of advice—and probably the best that I can give you for your homework—is to get into the habit of doing it immediately after school. Get home and get to your homework! If you don’t Pull out your handy-dandy assignment notebook so you can go over the list of assignments you need to complete for the next day and—as my father always used to say—get crackin’!

Look It Over

Last, but not least, is to ask for a little bit of help. When your work is all done, ask your parents if they would look it over for you. Show them your Assignment Notebook too. If they don’t have time, maybe you have a smart older brother or older sister who would be willing to check over your homework. The point in doing this is to catch any mistakes you may have made before it goes the teacher.

If you stick to these three simple suggestions, you should be getting pretty good grades. You won’t forget about any homework assignments because you’ll have written them all down. You shouldn’t run short on time since you did your homework right after school. And you should get good grades since it’s all been checked over.

Hope this helps, Homeworkers! Now hit the books.

For helpful tips on after school activities check out our Blog post.

- John

Hey, Parents!

I’m sure that most of you would say that you feel confident that their kids know not to get into a stranger’s vehicle—no matter what the circumstances. But no matter how many times you’ve talked to your kids about a topic as important as this, it can’t hurt to have it at least one more time.

Well, here are some tips from us at Everything Summer Camp to make talking to your kids solid and effective!

Be Specific

First of all, get specific with your kids about getting into a stranger’s vehicle. Think of scenarios that might play out and warn your kid about them. For instance, maybe your kid would get into a strangers car if the stranger said that they weren’t going to drive anywhere. Make your child aware that even a vehicle that isn’t going anywhere is off limits.

Resisting Temptations

Unfortunately there are a lot more temptations than just candy that kids have to say no to nowadays. Temptations are getting bigger and better. It’s easy to turn down bubble gum but can your child say no to a free iPad? What if they’re offered a chance to be on TV? Would they give out they’re address and information? Talk to your kids about the lengths that people may go to in order to get their information.

Keep a Short List

What you should tell your kid is that he or she is only to take rides from specific people. Make it a rule. And keep the list short. Only take rides from parents and grandparents—short and sweet. The point in keeping the list a short one is that you don’t want a bunch of names clouding up your kid’s head. The more people, the more complicated the message.

My very own niece, Ally—who I’ve babysat for, knows that she’s not allowed to get into my car unless my brother or sister-in-law have told her otherwise. It just makes things easier this way.

- John

Hello, Summer Lovers!

Welcome to Everything Summer Camp, your home for iron on labels and name labels.

Do you know how important it is to have some kind of organized activity or a place for your kids to go after school? After school activities are proven to help keep kids safe and provide academic support. They inspire kids to learn, socialize, and work on team building skills.

In today’s world, there are a lot of parents who work too much to be home by the time their kids are which just about makes after school activities a necessity.

We should encourage children to see what after school options are available that might interest them whether the activity’s focus applies more to the physical and social aspects of life or something more informational and educational. This is where your child has the choice of pursuing something that they find interesting to them.

Children love this freedom of choice and become much more eager to learn from an after school activity since they chose their specific activity for themselves (unlike school where children often perceive the learning as being more-or-less forced).

Your kids are much more likely to make friends during after school activities as opposed to the actual school day because they are around peers who all share the same interest. This leads to the likelihood of sharing other interests and making friends—peers who actually want to socialize with one another.

Along with friendship, children are much more apt to learn team building skills in after school activities rather than the group projects that kids are assigned in school. It becomes easier for them to trust each other and focus on their own specific role as just one cog in a machine.

Help get your kid interested in staying busy and keeping their brains on after school lets out! Till next time, Readers! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Summer Enthusiasts!

It’s great to be enthusiastic about the fun of summer—in fact, it’s kind of hard not to be. Summer means fun in the sun. Whether your fun will happen at camp, during family visits, or on family vacations your summer is sure to be a good time! Today’s blog post concentrates on how to make sure that your summer stays good once you get back home.

Coming back home to find that your house has been robbed or damaged certainly has a way of killing the mood when you get back from a long vacation. You come home ready to relax and instead you get a big mess that you need to deal with.

What could you have done? It was inevitable! Bad things happen to good people.

 Getting robbed can happen to anybody, it’s true. But there are some measures that can be taken to try and help prevent break-ins and burglaries while you’re away. One of the best ways to help prevent someone in your house while you’re away is to not announce your vacationing to the cyber world.

 We all love to let our family and friends know about what we’re doing and where we’re going for our vacations, but it’s not the wisest decision to post information about vacationing on social media like Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus. You may be talking to your friends and family, but they’re not the only ones reading it.

Unfortunately, there are people in the world who go to such great lengths as checking social media sites to gather information on when people are not occupying their houses. Then they strike.

That’s why, during your time away from your house, it’s a good idea to keep your social media posts focused on what mood you’re in rather than talking about where you are or where you’re planning to go.

That’s all for today, Summer Lovers! Thanks for reading!