Summer is a much-anticipated season for families—longer days, new adventures, and more time together. But for parents, summer also brings unique challenges, such as disrupted routines, increased demands, and the pressure to juggle it all while keeping your cool. While it’s easy to put your own mental well-being on the back burner, it’s important to prioritize your own needs, too.
Rogers Behavioral Health’s Dr. Amanda Heins, PsyD, supervising psychologist for OCD and Anxiety Center Adolescent Residential Care in Wisconsin, explains why maintaining balance and self-care are key for thriving in the summer months.
What challenges do parents face in the summer months?
While children feel a lot of excitement about having the whole summer away from school, parents can quickly feel overwhelmed without adequate planning and support.
Strain on emotions: Working parents feel the pull of wanting to be in two places at once. They need to be at the office, but they also want to be home with their children. Parents who are at home for any length of time with the children can feel drained tending to everyone’s needs throughout the day.
Strain on time: Parents want their children to be involved in activities. Figuring out how to get everyone where they need to be (while preserving your work hours) is no small task!
Strain on finances: Depending on a child’s interests and a family’s financial resources, costs of keeping kids active and involved can add up fast.
School provides predictability. Everyone knows where they need to be and when. During the summer months, if there’s too much flexibility and not enough predictability, that can add up to stress for parents. Unstructured time is good for kids to engage in creative play, problem-solving, and explore outdoor activities. Not every child is comfortable with that freedom, so it can take a little time and nudging from parents.
What are ways parents can care for themselves over summer?
I have several suggestions for how parents can care for themselves over the summer.
- Consider creating a summer schedule.
Someone might be thinking, “Wait a minute. Don’t we want to take a break from schedules in the summer?” While summer gives everyone time to relax, it’s important to remember that structure plays a key role in supporting everyone’s mental health. That doesn’t mean scheduling every minute of the day all summer long but, rather creating a sense of predictability through simple home routines.
Think about setting clear expectations for things like:
- They give kids a chance to practice life skills, and kids generally feel good about contributing. Plus, it eases some responsibilities for parents.
- Screen time. There are plenty of studies about how too much screen time impacts kids’ mental health.
- Reading and math practice. A little each day can help prevent what’s known as the “summer slide,” where kids lose some of what they learned over the school year.
- Find prosocial activities based on kids’ interests.
Examples include:
- Clubs (art, chess, biking, robotics, scouts, etc.)
- Recreational classes
- Day camps or overnight camps
- Creative arts/music/theater
- Volunteer opportunities through a religious or community organization
These activities help kids develop social skills while encouraging collaboration, problem solving, empathy, and resilience, all of which contributes to their growth and well-being.
Besides providing parents with some structure, they offer opportunities to partner with other parents or close friends. Whether it’s carpooling or splitting up drop-offs and pick-ups for multiple kids at different activities, a little coordination can make life easier.
- Schedule time for self-care
It’s always important to prioritize self-care, especially while we’re caring for others. As parents, we need to ensure we’re filling up our tanks, too. The best way to protect personal time away from parenting is to plan ahead as much as possible. While creating a summer schedule, build in time for yourself to do things you enjoy, like a date night with your partner or dinner with friends.
Everyone deserves time to recharge, and we’re most likely to get that when we proactively plan. I encourage parents to not wait until they really feel like they need a break, because that’s a good indicator that they’ve waited too long and are overwhelmed and stretched too thin.
- Think about what kind of summer you want to have
One of the biggest takeaways for parents as they’re preparing for summer is to think about what kind of summer they’re hoping everyone will have, including themselves. Kids are only young for so long and they grow up quickly. Besides balancing all the responsibilities as a working parent and ensuring kids’ activities, we need to build in family time as well. Not sure what to do? That’s even better. Bring the family together to brainstorm how to spend dedicated time together. Family time does not have to be costly; this could involve dedicated time where parents or caregivers are actively playing Legos, dolls, etc. with their children, a dance party, art time, baking, gardening, movie night, reading, family walk, game night, and so much more. You just might be surprised at what sticks and could turn into a family tradition.
What would you say to a parent who thinks they can manage everything by themselves all summer long?
It’s tempting to juggle all the things all the time and think we’re superheroes. But we’re not. While some people have the skills to successfully manage many things at once, my question to them would be: at what cost?
Chances are they’re feeling exhausted and a little edgy, and I get it. No judgment here. We’re all human. Taking on too many things and burning out isn’t something we want for ourselves, and we don’t want to model that to our kids who learn by watching us. Some days, juggling everything is just part of being a parent—I know that firsthand. But more often than not, we can find ways to share the load, whether it’s with our kids, a partner or spouse, family, friends, neighbors, or childcare providers. Look for those opportunities. You’ll feel more balanced, and in turn, you’ll create a healthier, more balanced environment for everyone.
Rogers offers mental health treatment
Whether it’s OCD, anxiety, depression or other mood disorder, eating disorder, substance use, or trauma/PTSD, Rogers provides proven mental health treatment. You deserve to live a full, connected life.
To get started, call 833-308-5887 for a free, confidential screening.
Part of our summer series, Sunny Days, Healthy Minds
Summer is right around the corner, and there’s never been a better time to prioritize mental health! Rogers is proud to introduce you to eight new offerings designed to fit busy summer schedules and address a variety of mental health concerns – without interfering with vacations and other beloved summer activities. Click here to learn more.
