Childhood is short. Summer is even shorter.

God willing, we only get 18 summers with our kids, so how can we bring significance to this summer despite whatever our circumstances may be?

1. Strengthen your family values and purpose

Have you taken the time to claim your core values and purpose for raising your kids? It will be nearly impossible to live out a summer of significance if you haven’t taken the time to define what ‘significant’ even means to you.

Start by defining your core values and what it is you want to instill in your children while they are growing up under your care. 

What do you want your son or daughter armored with when they leave your home one day headed into adulthood?

Claim it. Name it and strive to live it out this summer.

2. Prioritize play

Let’s take a deep breath and think about how you can bring more fun to your simple summer days.

How about planning a themed family dinner night? We still talk about the backward dinners we did when our kids were younger, where we all came to dinner wearing backward clothing and started our meal with dessert and ended with salad.

What is it that brings your family joy when you do it together? Plan more of THAT to create significant summer moments and memories for your family.

Click HERE for FREE ideas for being more playful this summer! (Be sure to look for my Boredom Bucket idea for helping kids to be playful on their own!)

3. Cultivate an atmosphere of growth

What’s something that didn’t go so well for your child during this school year? Focus on strengthening that area this summer.

While it’s important to play and relax, it’s also crucial to keep learning and growing through the summer months.

For instance, I’m so tired of online learning and am looking for ways to help my youngest keep up with his math skills. This summer we’re using Learning Math Wrap-Ups to strengthen his multiplication and division facts.

4. Teach life skills

Having the kids at home provides a perfect opportunity to teach them what it is we want them to know before they leave our homes for adulthood one day.

This summer we can take the opportunity to teach our children how to do their own laundry, cook, clean, or change a tire. Perhaps you can finally open that bank account or help your child start a business. Or simply teach them to tie their shoes or handwrite, address, and mail a thank you note.

What life skills will you purposely teach your child this summer?

GET MY SUMMER LIFE SKILLS- FOR TODDLERS THROUGH TEENS- PRINTABLES

5. Make mindful entertainment choices

Binge-watching random television shows, scrolling social media constantly, or playing video games non-stop isn’t a good use of our child’s time. Sure, there may be space for mindless entertainment choices this summer, but we must purposely set boundaries on them, so they don’t consume our days.

Why not purposely choose documentaries to educate yourself as well as create conversation in your family this summer?

• Here’s a resource from Screenagers listing 10 documentaries to watch with your family.
• Two of our favorite DVD sets we watched when traveling around the USA on our RV trip were: How the States Got Their Shapes and History Channel’s America- The Story of Us

What healthy entertainment choices will you choose for your family this summer?

4 Ways to Save Your Sanity with a Summer Screentime Strategy

6. Go on local adventures

Unfortunately, our epic trips, along with many other things are still on hold for this summer. As disappointing as not going on that cruise or European vacation may be, we have to pivot and plan for simpler adventures this summer.

Where can you plan to go explore, get out in nature, and enjoy the outdoors where you live?

Most likely, you don’t have to venture further than your home state for family fun. Many times we take for granted the beautiful places that surround us locally that we’ve never taken the time to visit… yet.

What adventures will you create this summer that will add to your family narrative and strengthen your relationships?

7. Celebrate life, and loved ones, in simple ways

What can you do to celebrate Dad on Father’s Day so that he feels special and loved?

When my kids were younger, they loved it when I planned a special day for each of them. My sons and daughter got to pick what they wanted to eat for breakfast in bed and what our family would do (within reason) that day.

In my Create a Summer of Significance Printable Pack, you will get monthly celebration calendars for you to plan your June, July, and August, as well as a fun fill-in-the-blank All About Dad printable for Father’s Day.

Questions to Ask Yourself-

• What does each family member need this summer to strengthen them physically, mentally, emotionally, and relationally?
• What frustrated you the most this school year? Work on improving that area this summer so that when school rolls around again you may have established better habits.
• What summer family tradition can you repeat again this year? Summer wouldn’t be summer without this…. bike rides to the bagel shop or boating on the lake. What are the simple things your family does together that can happen this summer?

What is a way that you strive to create a Summer of Significance?

In our fast-paced world, finding meaningful ways to connect with our children can sometimes be challenging. However, the dialogue journal is a simple yet powerful tool that has stood the test of time. 

Creating a dialogue journal with your child helps them:

• Improve their penmanship.
• Get more comfortable expressing their thoughts, feelings, and ideas through the written word.
• Think about the thoughts and feelings of another in this interactive form of communication.
• Create a keepsake from their childhood to be cherished later.

What you need to start a Dialogue Journal

You only need a simple notebook and a writing instrument to start your dialogue journal. Nothing fancy is required. I even like to recycle the kids’ old school notebooks with plenty of unused pages. (Rip out the used pages!)

As the parent, you begin the journal by writing ‘Dear Son or Daughter’ and the date. Then, tell your child something about your day and ask them a question. Leave the notebook on their bed, or somewhere they will naturally find it. Then, your child is to write you back in the same format, asking you a question as well. The journal gets casually passed back and forth, creating improved penmanship, communication, and a keepsake to cherish.

The beauty lies in the simplicity of the process. Placing the journal on your child’s bed or a familiar spot becomes a silent cue for them to discover your words.

Tips for Elevating Your Dialogue Journal Experience:

1. Creative Covers: Infuse life into the journal by decorating the cover with memorable photos or inspiring quotes. Let it reflect the essence of your unique relationship.
2.  Beyond Parent-Child: Extend the practice to friends or loved ones who live locally. A simple drop-off and pick-up can turn your journal into a relationship-building tool. I used this practice to build a relationship with the foster teen I mentored for years. 

Strengthen your family communication by starting dialogue journals with your children. Not only will your son or daughter learn pertinent skills doing so, but you will also intentionally create a keepsake to be cherished tomorrow along the way.

Have you done a dialogue journal with your child before?

My Mom was rarely confused about her role as a parental authority figure when raising my sister and me. She knew that her “job” was to raise adults who could capably move out of her home at the age of majority. She didn’t worry about my grades in school or my performance on my softball or tennis teams.

Yet, how we tend to raise children today bears little resemblance. How can we better parent on purpose today to send capable, confident, and compassionate adults into the world tomorrow?

5 Ways to Parent on Purpose This Year and Beyond

1. Be the parent, not the pal

My Mom didn’t feel the need to make sure I was happy and be my friend while growing up. Yet somehow, I struggle to create boundaries and say no to things that will make my child unhappy with me, even though I know it’s for their benefit.

When I remember that my goal should not be to make my child happy but to train and help my sons and daughter understand how the world works so that they can move into it one day as capable people, it is much easier to lead them. When we strive for friendship with our children during adolescence, we miss out on the opportunity to provide the parental guidance that our kids desperately need in this chaotic culture they are growing up in.

Remember to surround yourself with friends your age and be confident in being the adult role model that your son or daughter needs.

2. Claim your destination

Where are you headed when raising your child today?

Too often, we spend our days of full-time parenthood reacting to what comes our way. Instead, we need to parent today, remembering that our goal is to launch our son or daughter into adulthood one day. What do you want your child armored with as they walk out the door of your home into the real world? Begin to teach them those skills and strengthen those values today.

When adulthood is our end goal for raising our kids, we will better remember to teach them relevant life skills as they grow. We will allow them to make mistakes and problem-solve independently because we understand they will need critical thinking skills when they leave our home as adults one day.

3. Redefine success

Childhood was meant to be something other than a season for building a resume to get into college.

Stop today and define what success looks like to you. Who do you want your child to be as a young adult walking out the door of your home? What character traits do you want them to be armored with as you send them off to college, the armed forces, the workplace, or wherever they may go upon leaving your home?

It’s great that this son of mine performed well in school and on his travel hockey team, but when I stop and define success for him as a man, it is not his high achievement or performance that matters. His loving heart, soul, and character will sustain him and develop him into a caring and loyal husband, father, and neighbor.

The problem arises when we become so focused on our kids’ achievement and performance that we forget to create opportunities to help our children become the type of people we want to launch into the world.

4. Teach your children what you want them to know

No matter what age or stage your child might be at, they can and should be learning life skills.

Toddlers and busy teenagers can do chores. We’ve just got to slow down and let them. We want to send capable adults into the world who know how to get themselves up on time in the mornings and who don’t always rely on Siri or Mom to solve their problems.

Expect your child to help out around the house. Yes, it is easier for you to do everything yourself, but that’s not teaching your son or daughter any skills but to sit and be served.

5. Let another’s hindsight be your insight

Learn from those who go before you.

In my book, I discuss the strategy of parenting six years ahead by looking at what parents are facing six years ahead of where you are currently parenting. Watch how others around you lead their children regarding technology, schooling, social boundaries, and more. Learn from their successes and mistakes. Become confident in making decisions for your children based on family values.

Join a parent group in your area and learn from those who go before you. We were not meant to raise children alone, so learn from your community. Read, learn, watch, and grow from the insight of others, and then have the confidence to raise your child with your parental instincts.

Parenting on purpose takes effort. But I guarantee the efforts you put in now will pay off later as you watch your children grow into capable, confident, and compassionate people this year and beyond.

What are other ways that help you parent your children on purpose?