Well, how was your summer?
After speaking with a number of parents in the last few week, most parents have had a lovely summer, they spoke about holidays, summer camps and a bit of sunshine. A lot of parents also expressed how they felt it was great for their children to be going back to school and to get back into a routine once again.
At the end of the summer, I like to write a Reflective Journal of what happened over the summer but like all great ideas, I just don’t seem to get the time to fill it in as much as I would like.
It is important to sit down and reflect on how the summer really was. Pull out your phone and look at some of your photos. Start to think about the most significant events and set out a few goals to help you prepare for next summer. Make a list of the places that you went to that were a huge success for you and your family. Places you would like to go again and if your summer holiday worked, don’t be afraid to go back there again. Don’t fix what’s not broken.
Did your child attend a summer camp this year? Was it successful, did your child enjoy it or parts of it? Did it give you time to be with your other children or time on your own? How did you use this time? Would you sign up to the camp again? By reflecting on what we did we may be able to come up with better suggestions for future summers.
Write things in your journal or on a piece of paper. Aim for 4 – 6 items, write a description around these events.
Situation: What actually happened that was great?
Affect: What was its impact on you, your child and your family?
Interpretation: What did you learn from the experience?
Decision: What are you going to do to have an even better summer 2018?
If you found the summer was a challenge and you found it a bit difficult you could ask yourself the following questions?
What changes would I have made?
Did I need better planning?
Did I need to have saved extra money?
Could I have used my time better?
Another question we should all ask is:
Did all our children enjoy their summer?
Sometimes we get so caught up that we forget to centre everything around the whole family and not just on your child with additional needs.
Is there anything that was great during this summer that you can now continue on for the rest of 2017. An example of this is if your child enjoyed swimming in the summer why not bring them to swimming once a month. The same applies for any activity.
Hope this is of some help to you. Happy writing and I do hope you get a lovely feeling of gratitude when reflecting on your summer 2017.