Dos and Don’ts of the First Summer Post Pandemic

After last year’s shutdown summer, and after what was one of the wildest school years ever, my girls and I were ready for summer break.

And we have been loving every minute of this post-pandemic summer! I hope you are, too!

However, now that we are in the throes of summer and school is quickly approaching, I realize I have had some wins and some fails.

So, I am taking some time today to share what I have done right (and wrong) so far in hopes it can help you make the most of your post-pandemic summer!

Don’t Overdo It

I realized very quickly into this post-pandemic summer that I was way overdoing it.

I was trying to cram everything fun in that I felt like my family missed last summer.

It started off fun, but it went south very quickly.

Basically, we were all exhausted and couldn’t go from 0-60 like I tried.

Pre-pandemic, it was normal for us to go-go-go, but we just aren’t there yet. And that’s okay.

If you are feeling worn out, slow down. There will be other summers that feel normal again.

Do Have Lowkey Fun

At the same time, fun is a must.

After burning out, I looked for ways to have lowkey fun, such as Sundaes on Sundays.

My goal was little outings that we missed out on last summer but didn’t require an entire day or a ton of energy.

What I discovered was it didn’t matter to my girls if we did something small. They were happy just to be out and feel somewhat normal again.

Don’t Stress About Screen Time

In summers past, I stressed screen time rules.

But the pandemic made all of us through our screen time rules out of the window.

And I quickly realized that trying to get my girls to fall back into old screen time rules was more trouble than it was worth.

The good news is that the pandemic introduced me to a ton of fantastic online programs, such as Tynker and iD Tech.

The quality of programming is so great that I no longer feel guilty if they are glued to their screens.

As long as my girls have spent time moving, creating, and communicating, I’m okay with them having a little extra screen time.

Plus, it means I get some time to myself.

Do Splurge

Earlier I said that my girls are totally fine doing something small, but I have tried to spoil them a bit this summer, too.

The pandemic has been really hard on our kids, and they have acted like champs.

I wanted to reward them for rolling with the punches and having a better attitude than their parents most of the time.

So, we did plan a few getaways to kid-friendly spots like DreamWorks Water Park in New Jersey.

Don’t Wait ‘Til the Last Minute to Shop for School

I remember how difficult it was to shop last year when stores didn’t have usual hours and had capacity limits.

I never want to deal with that again.

So, from here on out (pandemic or no pandemic), I am doing my back-to-school shopping sooner rather than later.

Speaking of back-to-school shopping, the next two weeks are the sweet spot for getting school clothes on sale from major retailers.