Summer Days Out: Put the Kids in Charge!

Sometimes when we are busy we can over schedule our child’s school holidays with clubs, activities, play dates and days out. So why not counteract this by taking a step back and putting the kids in charge?

Children love independence so let each child in your family set the agenda for one day. Give them a budget and encourage them to start planning!

Parent coach Susi Ramroop (www.susieramroop.com) says it’s important to give our kids more independence. “In an attempt to please our kids and keep them busy, we fill their schedules with activities, and run the risk of overwhelming them. Teaching them from a young age to choose a day out based on what brings the most joy exercises their decision-making muscles, and sets them up for a better future – making choices is the foundation for managing time and money effectively.”

Put One Of Your Children in Charge

Set the agenda. Let your child know that he or she has to plan an activity that is out of the house for the day, as well as how to get there and back and where and what the family is going to eat for each meal.

Set a Budget

Give your child a set cash allocation for the day. They then need to decide what to spend the budget on. The budget needs to cover the day out or activity as well as food. They might decide to buy food for a picnic, treats or eat out. Assist them to actually buy any food required.

Get Them Researching

Get them to research the activity or day out they want as a starting point. Give them some tips on researching travel costs. You can assist them with this if they ask for help but try not to take over. Advise them to pre-buy the tickets or train fares online. Depending on their age they may be able to enter credit or debit card information and manage booking systems. If not, give them some help with this. If they can stretch the budget or find free things to do, they get extra brownie points!

Let Them Navigate

It May Be Mayhem!

Remember things may not all go to plan but you can have fun, relax and enjoy not being in charge. Sometimes kids need to learn from experience that sweets for every meal is not a good idea!

Keep It Up

If the experiment went well, why not introduce it as a regular feature in family life? You could have a fun day out ideas jar that everyone contributes to. The whole family can throw their ideas into a hat or jar and you pull one out every weekend.

Susi says, “My kids love having a Mexican, Indian or Pizza night. They plan the menu and ingredients required, then we do the shopping and cooking together. When the food is ready, we watch a film. An activity doesn’t have to be expensive or complicate. We often forget that what children actually really want is to be spending time with us, not expensive days our or material things.”

Helping our children develop independence is vital. We need to give them the tools to become responsible, emotionally-intelligent adults who are capable of making their own decisions. It’s not always easy to let go but when you do it’s great to see their smiles of satisfaction when they are allowed to do things their way!

Please share your kids in charge days out with us on Twitter and Facebook we would love to know how you get on! Use the hashtag #familieskidsincharge.