When August rolls around each year, it seems we can barely catch our breath while trying to get our kids ready for a new school year: Interviewing or visiting their new school, buying school supplies, signing up for activities, buying uniforms, etc.

We wait anxiously for the first break in routine whether it’s a fall break, Christmas break, or spring break.

But as we fly through a school year, your child(ren) are growing up. Suddenly, its graduation day and we wonder, “Where did all the time go?”

I know the feeling because both of my daughters have graduated high school and college and… I want their little selves back here with me.

I also know it’s easy to live in the past, reminiscing about their babyhood or toddlerhood or any day but today. Or, it’s easy to look at the future, either hoping it comes soon or resisting when it will come. But because our children grow up so fast, my suggestion is to give our children all the attention and adoration and time today.

So, as summer vacation begins, enjoy every second and every moment you have with them.

And the best way to do that? Be organized with your time and your schedules.

Action Plan

1. With your calendar in hand, have a meeting with your older children and/or friends and plan activities for the summer. Once these are on the calendar, I promise your kids won’t bug you every day to do something like “Six Flags”. It’s already on the calendar!
2. Keep a schedule. Yes, it’s great to sleep in, but still have bedtimes and wake-up times, eating and playing times scheduled. Children love boundaries and schedules.
3. Eat healthy. Summer is a great time to take your children to a Farmer’s Market and explore all the different types of food as well as a great time to teach them how to cook.
4. Have your children continue doing chores. Chores build more self-confidence in a child than almost any other activity.
5. Plan time with just your family, whether it’s a weekly picnic or swimming time, playing sports together, taking a walk, going on a beach vacation or going to the library. These can become traditions your children will remember the rest of their lives.
6. Continue reading to and with them. I truly believe that nothing bonds an adult and child more than when we read to them. And the summer time is the best time to start this habit because it’s daylight for so long you have no excuse not to read!

Each day of our lives goes by so quickly. Love your babies! Give them your attention, adoration, your respect and your time. This is your greatest ministry!

Manna from Heaven

 This is one of my favorite verses – it shows that God loves you so much that He has engraved/inscribed you on his hands! If God so loves us, we in turn are able to love others, especially our own children.

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget but I will not forget you. Behold I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” Isaiah 49:15-16

I pray you have a wonderful and blessed summer being with your children and grandchildren!