Start Your Child’s Summer Off With One of These Rituals.
Welcome to The Best Summer Ever , your guide to making the most of the sunny season. Whether you’re dreaming of the perfect summer of going on epic adventures or doing as little as possible (preferably somewhere with good air conditioning), we’ve got you covered, because the best summers don’t just happen. You must do this.
The start of summer doesn’t usually mean that much to adults—the seasons change, but you still go to work and pay your credit card bills. It’s easy to forget that the transition between the school year and summer is a big deal for kids. A family celebration, ceremony, or ritual is the perfect way to honor this transition and help your little ones smoothly navigate their mini-life changes. Plus it’s fun.
Celebrate the start of summer with FIRE
My little family started celebrating the end of the school year every year after my child had a tough time in sixth grade. He came home after the last day of school and said, “Hey Dad, can I burn all my school notes?” After a minute of panicky thinking “what if you need them?” I remembered that not once in my life had I consulted my sixth grade biology notes and said, “Yeah, let’s do this.”
So that evening, the family and a few close friends gathered around the fire in the backyard and watched as Dexter solemnly tossed the pages of his notebooks into the fire. Perhaps part of it was because we had allowed him to do something “dangerous,” but from the way my usually carefree child carefully and solemnly shoved those sheets of paper into the fire, it was clear that something important was happening to him. Then, with the symbolic past reduced to ashes, we all shared our hopes and goals for the coming summer.
Since then, every year we have celebrated the end of the school year by burning notebooks. Of course, it doesn’t burn everything—school projects, drawings, and meaningful writing assignments are put away—but the unimportant things do burn up in the fire. It has become my favorite “holiday” because it belongs only to us. (And I’m not the only awesome parent life hacker who agrees .)
What to consider at the beginning of your child’s summer holiday
The specifics of the celebration, of course, depend on the child and your family, the dynamics and style, but here are some things to keep in mind:
Keep it serious (at least for a few minutes): The seriousness with which you take the ceremony is, I think, what separates it from your run-of-the-mill picnic. So don’t make a joke out of it; even the silliest child will appreciate a little solemnity and your acknowledgment that their life is important and their feelings matter.
Don’t make it part of another holiday: Turning an end-of-year celebration into a 4th of July picnic or something like that is convenient, but it reduces the significance of the ceremony needed for success.
Keep it simple and stress-free: You don’t have to do anything super complicated. Limit activities to those that everyone present can enjoy (or at least tolerate) to reduce stress levels. Keep it loose and try to go into it without expectations.
Be consistent : Kids love the stability of consistent family traditions (even if the traditions are only a year old), so celebrate the occasion every year and make sure it doesn’t slip away.
Maintain a positive attitude : While acknowledging the problems of the past is important, make sure your vision for the future is positive.
Let your child plan and choose details : Once your child is old enough to make decisions, let him choose how his end-of-school activities will be and make sure he is involved in the planning as much as possible. their maturity level can handle it. Don’t try to make it perfect or impose your ideas on how it should go: it’s not your show, so if your child wants to go to a steak dinner instead of burning their notebooks, take them to a steakhouse.
Summer Ceremony Kickoff Ideas
While the decision on how best to mark the passage of time should be up to your child, most children need guidance and do not respond well to an open-ended question such as, “How should we ritually mark the beginning of summer?” So give them options instead. Here are some thoughts:
Have a family party . Invite the whole clan, but let your child choose their favorite food, the games you play and the music you listen to. Make sure everyone in attendance understands how important the “ritual” part of the evening is. Ask family or friends to share summer memories or talk about their summer plans if your family enjoys that kind of thing.
Go to a special place . Successful rituals may depend on whether they are performed in a space outside of ordinary life. If you love nature, consider going somewhere beautiful. Or go to the beach at night. Maybe just have dinner in the backyard. Everything that indicates that this day/evening is not like all the others.
Create a time capsule . Many kids (and parents) would be horrified by the idea of burning their school notes and would prefer to commemorate the year by keeping things in a scrapbook or memory box filled with photos, mementos and artwork. and everything else they consider important. Label the time capsule “Do not open until 2034”, seal it, and hide it in the attic until you are ready to dig it up. Over time, you can add opening an old box to your annual ritual.
Ask them to write a letter to their future self. Have your child write a letter to his future self, maybe his end-of-summer self. Seal it, add a stamp, and set a reminder on your phone to mail it at the right time. (Don’t just hand them the letter – the letter is “serious” and a little magical for children.) Reading it will give them (and you) the opportunity to see how much they have grown in just a few months.
Have an evening of relaxation . Even if your child enjoys school, it takes effort. To help your child get into more of the summertime fun, host a relaxing evening, whether it’s a slumber party, a day at the spa, or a video game marathon.
Have a “do nothing” day. If you keep your child on a busy schedule, consider setting aside an entire day to do nothing at all. No requirements. No plans. Nothing. I understand that this may be a big ask for persistent people. , but maybe it will benefit you too?
How will a summer ritual help your child?
I’d like to end this post by talking about how our New Year’s rituals have become a cherished part of my child’s memories, how they helped him grow into a balanced and kind adult, but the dice are still in the game. air. I have no idea whether he will remember these annual ceremonies fondly or tell his therapist about them with regret. But I can say for sure that they helped me.
I started to burn our first notebook, thinking it would be stupid on an early summer night, but something about how serious he looked in the light of the flame stopped me. I had a moment of, “Oh, shit. He’s not a little boy anymore and he never will be again.”
Realizing what this really meant filled me with a huge mixture of love and sadness that only parents watching their children grow up (and away from) can understand. Maybe you’re not a sentimental person like me, but I still highly recommend starting a summer ritual.