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In This Issue
Remember as a kid when summertime meant no more school worries and ample time to relax? As a parent, summertime means something completely different. “Today, summertime for parents is often dreaded due to having to schedule a three-month hiatus from school for the kids,” says Dr. Andrea "Andie" Weiner, a child therapist and author of The Best Investment: Unlocking the Secrets of Social Success for Your Child. Especially if you are a working parent, the dilemma is trying to find appropriate activities for the children to keep them busy. Read on for solutions from Dr. Weiner.
Summertime can also be an opportunity for parents to use this “time out” from school for children as a way to include activities that address a child’s social and emotional well-being, a crucial element in helping children become successful individuals in life. So how can we address the emotional and social well-being of kids this season? Here are some tips that parents can use to plan their children’s summer vacation:
- The normal school year is often power packed with a schedule of activities that has kids busy from morning until night. It’s important to give children time to practice “nothingness” where there is no agenda and to be free to just relax. Give them time to daydream, observe nature, and watch the clouds roll by. This is important for their own emotional well-being to learn balance in life.
- Come up with a list of two or three summer activities that children can choose from. This teaches them responsibility and ownership as well as learning to tune into what activities “nurture” them.
- It’s important to balance all the summer activities for the “whole child” approach. Consider a sports activity, a creative outlet (art, drama, dance), and an activity that teaches empathy and social connectedness to others (a service project working with others less fortunate than them, raising funds for a social cause, or volunteering at a nursing home or animal shelter).
Summertime is a time to be low key and it’s okay to be on a less frenetic schedule. Come up with at least one intention that you want your child to accomplish over the summer that is realistic. Regardless if it’s improving their sports ability or having them feel that they have contributed something by helping others, it’s still creating a sense of accomplishment for them.
For more information on Weiner, go to http://drandie.com/.
National PTA launched its “Summer of Learning” online toolkit on June 1. The PTA.org resource includes a calendar of activities as well as fun, extended learning activities every week. Read on for more information.
Parents, camp counselors, day care providers, don’t let the summer pass by without keeping your kids on track for learning. You are an important factor in continuing to support your student’s development over the summer.
As a part of National PTA’s Urban Family Engagement Initiative, the toolkit was produced for parents and other caregivers to maintain and even grow the skills and knowledge that students gained in the academic year. The toolkit, which made its debut June 1, aims to ensure students eat healthy, get plenty of exercise, read every day, and continue their writing and math skills. A calendar of activities can help keep your students engaged in fun learning activities throughout the summer. The toolkit features activities for everyone, no matter what grade your student is in or what their interests are.
A new calendar will be posted each month through August. At the end of the summer, users are invited to take a survey to earn a chance to win up to $50 in books chosen just for your student and $100 in school supplies delivered in a new backpack straight to your doorstep.
National PTA has partnered with Consumer Reports to form the School Safety Alert Program to give parents, schools and educators the most up-to-date information to keep kids safe at home and at school. Each month a safety tip will be featured in this newsletter and even more information about product recalls and other important information can be found online at PTA.org/safetyalert.
Summer is around the corner, so be sure to check for recalls and be mindful of hidden and not so hidden hazards.
- Did you know that most garden hoses are made with lead that can leach into the water? Lead is used as a stabilizer for PVC (vinyl) hoses and is also used in the brass fittings on the ends of hoses.
- Unless you know that your garden hose is labeled “drinking water safe”, don’t let anyone drink from it.
- Hands should be washed thoroughly after handling the hose.
- If your children want run through the sprinkler, make sure to flush the hose out first before they get wet. This reduces their exposure to lead.
Additionally as the summer approaches, be sure to learn about the dangers in and around water. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently kicked-off the Pool Safely campaign (www.poolsafely.gov/), a first-of-its-kind national public education effort to reduce child drownings, non-fatal submersions, and entrapments in swimming pools and spas.
For more safety and recall information go to www.clickcheckandprotect.org/. Post this link in your newsletters and on your State PTA home pages to keep kids safe everyday and to continually update parents and teachers about safety hazards as they happen.
| PTA Radio: Chantay Carter, coordinator of arts in education programs for National PTA, gives an inside view of the Reflections program. | “Beauty is…” artistic expression by our nation’s students. PTA encourages students to explore their artistic talents through its annual PTA Reflections Program. There are six arts areas in which students may submit entries: dance choreography, film production, literature, musical composition, photography, and the visual arts. Last month, National PTA announced the national award recipients for the 2009–2010 PTA Reflections year, the program’s 40th anniversary year. The awards recognize creativity, artistic merit, mastery of medium, and interpretation of the year’s theme: “Beauty is…”. Read the press announcement, with links to the top entries and the full list of national award recipients.
Learn more about this arts recognition program at PTAreflections.org, and talk to your PTA about how your child can participate next year. Next year’s theme is “Together We Can…”
If you are a parent who wants to get involved in your child’s school but is not quite sure how to start, National PTA offers the PTA Great Idea Bank as a resource for idea-sharing and communicating with active PTA members.
The PTA Great Idea Bank serves as a forum to ask questions, get answers, find ideas and share strategies that have worked. A sample of the discussions going on right now:
Sign up and check it out today: http://www.ptagreatideabank.org.
You can take action by encouraging your congressman to support H.R. 5211, the Family Engagement Act, which incentivizes schools and districts to meaningfully engage families to close the achievement gap.
You can encourage Congress to support the act by clicking on this Action Alert that automatically generates an e-mail to your U.S. senator and representative. A few seconds of your time lends support to this important bill for families and children’s education.
For more information, go to the Family Engagement in Education Act page on PTA.org.
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