A mama with ideas...

1. Get prepared in advance

Do your research now, while the little blighters are still at school! Look up local attractions and events calendars (try your local newspaper's website, local parks, libraries, cinemas etc...) so that you can plan a schedule of things to do in advance! Use a paper diary/calendar, use your calendar on your smartphone, or create one in Microsoft Publisher. Put together a calendar of events for your family, even if it's only a loose schedule. It gives you things to look forward to and to plan around.

Also, consider putting together a 'Ready To Go' bag! See the blog I wrote on this last summer.




2. Set a routine, and stick to it... sometimes at least

The temptation may be to let things slide. Lay-ins in the morning, late nights, mooching around and skipping chores are a wonderful prospect when you and the kids are exhausted getting towards the end of the school semester, but in my experience, too many unstructured days are a recipe for disaster. Try to have a flexible routine. Perhaps a later start in the morning, but still an expectation to be up, dressed and ready for action by a certain time! You could set aside certain times of the day for specific activities... for example, outdoor activities in the morning before it gets too hot, and then maybe, quiet time activities for an hour after lunch. Also, have set days of the week for certain activities, e.g. Monday is library day, Tuesday is for baking (you can incorporate a trip to the grocery store before hand and get the kids to help with the shopping for ingredients), Wednesday is for playdates, Thursday is Movie Day, etc...! Kids and adults benefit from structure and without it, the 100 days of summer hols become a haze!




3. Home school

Yes. You did read that right! Two and a half months off will undo a lot of the progress your child will have made academically if they don't utilise their little brains. Set aside a 30 minute chunk of the day (maybe at a regular time slot ... see point 2 above) to do some school work. It doesn't have to be dull as dishwater and can be fun! Try educational puzzles and games, video games, online resources and activity packs. Just a little bit of educational activity a day (especially if it revises stuff they have been doing at school) and it will keep their brains limber ready for the start of the new academic year. Just make sure you start as you mean to go on. If it's part of a daily routine established at the start of the school holiday there will be fewer complaints!

Check out these great workbooks and video games.


4. Play dates and reciprocal babysitting

Before the last day of school, exchange contact details with some of your child's classmates' parents. Take the initiative and organise a park play date for the first week off school with a few families and then organise a schedule with the other parents for the weeks ahead! You could even take the play date thing one step further. If you have friends with children a similar age you could set up a weekly play date swap. This enables each parent to have some well-deserved child-free time to run errands or just relax. For example, you could arrange for your children to go to a friend's house for a few hours on a Tuesday and then return the favour looking after their kids on a Thursday. The kids have friend's to play with (and so pester you less) and you get a few hours to yourself each week. Everyone's a winner!




5. Themes & projects

You could set a weekly theme and base all your activities around that theme. For example, you could have a farm theme... visit a farm park with another family, plant some vegetable seeds, bake a carrot cake, do some garden themed literacy/numeracy/art activities and etc... You could get each child to keep a summer holiday scrapbook, keeping photos, mementos and artwork from each week together.

6. Bribery

When all else fails and the kids are driving you crazy, don't feel bad about resorting to bribery! Just be sensible about it. Try using charts where the kids have to work towards getting a reward. Set out your expectations clearly first and agree the reward in advance. Think outside the box when it comes to a reward. You could treat the kids to a frozen yoghurt after a trip to the park on a Friday afternoon for good behaviour throughout the week rather than a monetary amount, candy or material object. Stick to your guns though, and only reward the behaviour that has been asked for! For more ideas check out my earlier post which includes a printable LEGO reward chart I created.

7. Camps

Summer camps can be really expensive, especially if you have more than one child. However, they can be a good option, especially for older kids with specific interests.




8. Low-cost options

If you have more than one child, summer camps can become cumulatively and prohibitively expensive. Short of picking your favourite child and only allowing that one to attend a camp, you could limit them to one week each, or just avoid them completely and come up with your own low-cost activities. This can be especially fun if you join up with other families. Suggestions:

- Use your local library - and not just for borrowing books. Many have free story times and activity classes you can sign up for.

- Local businesses sometimes have free kids' activities: Lowes DIY stores have a free build-and-grow scheme where kids can do building projects, Barnes & Noble hold free story times and etc...

- Parks - are a brilliant option. Many have play equipment, even splash pads, suitable for a wide range of ages. They also often have restrooms and picnic facilities... great for a change of scenery when the kids are driving you crazy, and even better when you meet friends for a play date!

- Museums and galleries sometimes have free days. Do your research ahead of time (see point one)!

- Cinemas often run a summer program of matinees for low cost. They won't be new releases, but you can see family favourites for just a few bucks! Treat the kids to some popcorn to make it a special (low-cost) occasion!

- Visit the dollar store and select some art supplies for a project.

- Get an annual pass to a favourite local attraction. For example, you can buy a family pass a local zoo for about $80 and visit as many times as you like throughout the holidays!

- Create a den or pitch a tent in the backyard (or in the house if the weather is bad)!

- Visit the beach, local nature reserve, woodland or river and get closer to nature!

- Try geo-caching to make walks and bike rides more exciting!

- Volunteer - find a local food bank, nursing home, or animal shelter and spend some of your summer holiday doing something worthwhile with your kids!

9. Remember... it's a holiday!

After a full-on academic year, you and the kids will need some time to relax. Don't try to fill every moment with activities or you will end up exhausted and needing to go back to school for a break. It's okay to have days with nothing planned. Let (insist) the kids play on their own sometimes... it's important that children learn to use their own imaginations and initiative. Trot out that really annoying line that your own parents used: "Only boring people get bored"! It's not true of course, but sometimes a little boredom is unavoidable and you should not feel obliged to entertain the troops continually!

10. Drink...

After a particularly stressful day with the kids... treat yourself to a glass of wine once they've gone to bed and remember the holidays won't last forever!

The summer school holidays are in full swing and we are trying to make the most of our time off.  Consequently, we've been planning lots of day trips and play dates to the park, splash pad, pool, and beach.    In our household, we're a naturally slovenly lot who can quite happily mooch about in our PJs all morning unless we have made plans to go out.  So, we've been trying to follow a timetable of summer fun things to do.  Regardless, without the threat of getting a tardy slip from school looming, it can be a struggle to get out and about in a timely manner, especially when you have to pack a bag full of the kids' paraphernalia & snacks, drinks etc...  So, I've taken a leaf out of my pre-potty training days and have created a diaper-less diaper bag, fully loaded and stocked for whatever adventures we are due to head out on.  I am calling it my "Ready-To-Go-Bag"!  In the same way I would check & restock my diaper bag on return from an outing so it was ready for the next time, I have been doing with this "Ready-To-Go-Bag".  It has proved very successful and makes the school holidays seem a lot more spontaneous... a friend wants to meet at the pool?  Okay, we can be there in 5 minutes!  Trip to the splash park?  Sure, see you there in 10 minutes!




For this purpose, I actually re-used my old diaper bag!  After all, as a Mum of twins, I did own a mahoooosive diaper bag made by Skip Hop, and they have so many useful pockets and compartments it made sense!  However, any large bag would work.  If you have a lot of kiddos like me, you may want to go for one like a backpack, or a large shoulder strap so that you can carry it hands-free!






I've added a bullet pointed list below with some suggested contents (and advice for ways to use some of the things I've added), but the following gives you an idea of what goes into mine...

Snacks & drinks.  I put things like straws and napkins in a sandwich sized ziploc bag to keep them clean.  Put drinks bottles and snacks in the easy to reach pockets at the front/side.





First Aid supplies.  Again a small ziploc bag keeps small items together and clean.  These can go into an interior pockets for the (hopefully) rare occasions you may need them.







Changes of clothes.  Put in a plastic grocery bag, squeeze out the excess air and tie with elastic bands to make nice and compact.  These can go in an interior pocket along with wet wipes too.

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Towels & swimming stuff.  Living in Texas, getting wet forms a routine part of our social scene.  I roll the bathing suits up in each persons towel and stow in the main compartment.  I put a few empty plastic grocery bags in one of the inside pockets to stow wet gear when it's home time.







Suggested contents:

• A few easy to store and crush-proof snacks (e.g. Granola bars and/or mini boxes of raisins)
• Bottles of water (or empty sports bottles ready to fill just before you leave)
• Bottle top adapters (like the Gerber ones shown below... click on photo for more info).  Alternatively, a couple of disposable plastic drinking straws can make it easier for young kids to drink from shop bought bottles with wide necks.

• Selection of bandaids/plasters (for the inevitable scraped knee or elbow)
• Small antiseptic spray/cream (you can get travel sized Neosporin sprays called Neo To Go that are great).


• Arnica cream (great for bruises)


• Antihistamine cream/ointment (in case of wasp stings/ant bites/nettle stings/poison ivy etc...). I love Anthisan (a UK brand) but have used Benadryl here and strongly recommend their handy Itch Relief Stick.


• Tweezers (for splinters, ticks or wasp stings)
• Travel sized pack of wet wipes
• Couple of plastic grocery bags folded up small (for storing wet/dirty items)
• Travel sized talcum powder (brilliant for removing sand from feet painlessly before putting socks and shoes on)
• Travel sized hand sanitizer gel
• Several paper napkins (great as impromptu 'plates' on grubby picnic tables)
• Socks for everyone (including adults)... some indoor soft play/bouncy castle venues have policies where you must wear socks to play, which is very frustrating when you turn up in flip flops!
• Small change (for parking/icecreams etc...)
• Spare clothes for younger kids/toddlers (even if it's just a long t-shirt and underwear for emergencies).

Depending on your local climate, all or some of the following may be necessary items too!

• Sunscreen
• Bug repellent - I use and recommend Avon's Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard.  This is DEET free but uses Picardin (a safer chemical and the only other active ingredient recommended by the WHO for effective prevention of malaria etc...).  I prefer their lotion that has SPF 30 sunscreen included.  They also do handy travel towelette versions. (Click on images below for more info).


• Towel (use thin microfiber travel ones if space is at a premium, or just cut and hem large thin beach towel in half for child sized version).


• Bathing suit & goggles
• Sun hats (or bandanas to be used as impromptu hats)
• A compact umbrella
• Emergency rain ponchos

HAPPY SUMMER HOLIDAYS!!!

Anything you would put in yours that I've not included?

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net



1. Photograph your child on your digital camera or smartphone as you are leaving the house to go to the airport. This is a brilliant tip that could save valuable time in the horrible circumstances that you get separated from your child en route. Airports are busy, crowded places and you will have a lot of things (and little people) to keep track of. As much as we'd all love to have eyes in the backs of our heads, there are occasionally those heartstopping moments when you & your child lose each other in a crowd. Having a (very) recent photo of your child in the clothes they are actually wearing would be immensely helpful to airport staff and people helping to track down your missing child! It is worth talking through what to do in that sort of situation with older children... tell them who to seek out, where to go, etc... I've also made good use of Travel ID wristbands too. Just for peace of mind it's worth it!





2. Make sure you verify all your special requirements at check-in BEFORE going through to airside. For example, if you have requested children's meals or bassinets, it's a good idea to double check these have been noted. If you are planning to gate check any items (like your pushchair/stroller) make sure that it, or the bag you plan to pack it in, is also given a label to go in the hold.





3. Look for a 'family' lane in the airport security. In larger airports, there are often lanes dedicated to families travelling with small children. This means shorter queuing time for impatient toddlers which is a boon, but also staff used to dealing with families and all their paraphernalia. If you are using the Gogo Babyz Travelmate with your car seat, you may need to remove this from your car seat before putting it through the xray machine, however, some airports do have the odd machine wide enough. As mentioned previously, you may need to justify travelling with some liquids/foodstuffs for your baby or young toddler. See my previous section for more advice about what you can and cannot put in your carry on hand baggage.





4. Ask about priority boarding. Some airlines allow families with children to board the plane first (although this may involve an additional cost with some airlines). This can be very useful if you are using your child's car seat on the flight, as this will give you time to sort out the car seat and get your child settled (with a snack or activity) before all the other passengers start crowding on.





5.Remember my tip about packing an in-flight-bag-within-a-bag (explained in part 2 of this series). Once you have boarded and taken your seats, remove this bag and make sure you have all your essentials for the flight in that bag... snacks & drinks, kids' headphones, any electronic devices you plan to use, a few activities/books, enough diapers for the flight plus a pack of wipes. Put this bag on the floor under the seat in front or in the seat back pocket if possible. Other items like changes of clothes etc... you can leave in your main hand luggage bag and stow this safely out of the way.

6. If you have to install your child's car seat (or restraint system) on the plane, remember to recline the seat. You will find it much easier to thread the airplane seatbelt through the back of your car seat this way and you can return the seat to upright in time for take off. If you are travelling with another adult, it can sometimes be easier to board seperately. Send one adult onto the plane with the car seat and allow them 5 minutes to get it sorted out before the other adult boards with the child.


See more in this series of posts:

• Section 1: Planning Ahead
• Section 2: Packing
• Section 4: On Board - Eating, Using the Bathrooms & Ideas for Managing Behaviour (coming soon)

We recently spent two glorious weeks in the Spanish Canary Islands staying in an idyllic, family-friendly villa on the edge of Old Town Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote. Our large 5 bedroom holiday home (Villa del Vista @ www.lushvillas.com) was luxurious inside but also had a beautiful outside area complete with outdoor pool table, barbeque, hot tub & swimming pool... complete bliss! In fact, I can't recommend the villa enough, especially for families... the owners had thought of everything to make a stay with children perfect - they provided 2 travel cots, 2 highchairs, potties, a box of toys, kids' tableware and cups, kids' picnic table/chairs, goggles and pool floats, plus a full TV package including all the children's TV & movie channels. The kitchen was unbelievably well equipped allowing us to cater at 'home' easily... another bonus when travelling with children. All-in-all a fabulous venue made a brilliant backdrop to a wonderful (extended) family holiday!

As you would imagine, the swimming pool was frequently the focus of our activity over the fortnight we stayed there.  Our boys, aged 7, 3 & 3 are never happier than when splashing about in water and I was keen to record some of this for posterity... both photos & video.  However, being the proud owner of my first 'proper' camera - a Canon T3i EOS DSLR - I was reluctant to risk it getting wet!  I investigated getting a waterproof housing for it but was put off by the $1000+ price tags... you'd have to be a serious diver to warrant getting one of those bad boys!  So I looked into getting one for my old compact digital camera (a still serviceable, but not very pretty Canon Ixus 860 IS).  Again, the price tag was prohibitive at $150!  However, it was while investigating this that I stumbled upon the DiCAPac cases.

DiCAPac cases are flexible and made from super transparent vinyl.  They have a polycarbonate lens with UV, water & scratch resistant coating.  A Korean company, DiCAPac have been manufacturing flexible waterproof cases for electronic devices since 2005 and their patented designs have been awarded the highest rating from the rigorous Japanese Industrial Standards awards (JIS IPX8).  They now do cases for cameras from compacts up to DSLRS, smartphones, and even MP3 players (complete with waterproof earphones!).  They also do larger packs useful for storing all your gear (wallet, phone, keys etc...) whilst you participate in watersports!

With recommended retail prices starting from only $35 I was highly sceptical, and so did not take the plunge (excuse the pun) and buy one for my DSLR.  However, I did buy one to use with my old digital camera (scruffy and beaten up with a cracked screen as it is ... I figured that if it didn't work, I wasn't really losing much!).  And boy, was it worth the bet!  The results were FANTASTIC!  We had so much fun using the camera in the pool and in the sea and we were able to take fabulous quality photographs and even video clips!




PROS

• It's a lot of fun to use! 
• Super cheap - we bought ours for a mere $23 from www.amazon.com it was over $100 cheaper than any other waterproof option.


• The instructions are clear and easy to follow.  You are taken through how to check the case prior to use and how to use it carefully to prevent moisture getting inside.
• It really is very waterproof.  Not a spec of moisture (not even steam) in my case despite frequent use. It has a series of ziplock and velcro closures that ensure the maximum level of waterproof-ness (if that's a word even?!!!).  I also used a sachet of silicon in my case, just as an extra precaution, but it possibly wasn't necessary.  This is due to the rigorous underwater testing these cases are put through.

• I was able to use all the functionality of my camera, including the zoom lens and video features.  I was also able to change between modes/settings while the camera was still in the case!  My camera, despite being a bit beaten up on the outside, still takes great quality pictures and video... so I had all the benefits of this, unlike if I had used a cheap underwater camera.




• The bag floated when you let go of it in water!
• It is rated for use in water up to 10 metres (33 feet) deep so we were able to confidently use it to photograph from the bottom of our pool and even when snorkelling/diving in the sea!




• The website has a very clear fitting guide enabling the selection of the correct case for your specific camera.  I have the WP-ONE (this is the one that fits the majority of small compact cameras including those with external zooms).
• Did I mention it was a lot of fun?!

• Finally, one of the nicest things about it was being able to capture very special moments such as Shouty One's first swim without his floaty on... such a precious moment!

CONS

• The biggest disadvantage is that the case isn't form fitting like the underwater housings built for a specific camera... the camera can, and does move about slightly in the case.  This doesn't pose much of a problem, except that occasionally the outer ring of the lens can be seen in photos (albeit, just in the corner)!  However, this was such a small issue that I don't really see it as a problem... it's nothing a bit of cropping can't fix anyway!

• Also, despite having it work flawlessly for me this time, I'm not sure that I would trust my $800 DSLR to it.  Not because I don't think that it's a fabulous design that is worthy of the JIS IXP8 rating it has earned during all the rigorous testing... it's just you can't rule out user error in these things!  But I guess that would be the same with a $1000+ housing too!  Maybe I'm just being overprotective of my new 'baby'!

Overall, a fabulous purchase that really made our watery adventures that extra bit special!  Well done, DiCAPac for an awesome product!