The Summer break is a great opportunity to recenter ourselves, reflect on the past school year, and determine the areas we’d like our children to grow in. Here are some Summer break tips from The Hangout Spot, Connecticut’s premiere social skills development center located in Norwalk and Stamford.
The Summer season holds many exciting opportunities for social learning, from sleep-away camp to pool parties galore, but for children who are still learning the art of making and keeping friends, maintaining relationships with peers during time away from school can be challenging. Fear not, as summer also presents new and different ways for children to meet new people with whom they might discover friendship potential that may blossom into meaningful relationships in the future.
To be successful, you’ll need to do the following:
Create a Plan
Identify one routine you would like your child to master? Ask yourself what current roadblocks exist to learning this routine? What needs to change? What skills does your child need to learn to be successful with this new routine. What changes do you need to make in order to teach, model, support, and reinforce this?
Develop New Routines
For an example, revamp your child’s morning routine to align with Summer’s slower pace. In order for this to be successful, you need to set the expectation with your child that the routine will be changing. You could say, “starting tomorrow if we want to do x in the morning, we have to work together to complete y. The faster we do this, the faster we can do x.”
Commit
Commit to learning, adjusting, and getting back up when you feel like you’ve hit a roadblock, or had a less than desirable outcome. Commit to continuing to expose your child to new and different experiences and to not allowing past lack of success decrease their exposure to social interactions and new experiences in the future. Not every experience, routine, and social exposure will be a positive one, but there is something to learn from each one, nonetheless.
Here are some examples of Summer-based social opportunities for you to try:
Attend Community Events
Many towns host summer concert series, special festivals, and other local events where families with young children are likely to gather.
Explore Clubs and Activities at Your Local Library
Many libraries have fun and unique club experiences free to all members. Some will even start a new club based on a particular interest if enough individuals request it. This is a great way to meet others who share common interests.
Sign Up for Daytime Play Camps
Many towns have play-based camps during the summer. In Norwalk CT, these camps are called Play and Learn. They are an excellent way to keep your child connected and around other children while playing and learning through play. There are opportunities for free play, sports, field trips, crafts, and much more.
Take the Local Playground Challenge
Visit a different playground every week, or every day if you can! There are so many incredible playgrounds in the community and doing so will create lots of social opportunities to interact with other kids. Whatever you do this summer, make sure to keep it social!
Final Thoughts
Regardless of what new strategy you choose to adopt or what new routine you try to teach, remember that it will likely not be an easy change. It will require patience, persistence, and a willingness to get back up when you fall off the wagon. Be patient and kind to yourself, and always remember, you do not have to wait for a new school year to make a change. Every day is a new day.
ABOUT THE HANGOUT SPOT:
The Hangout Spot is a behavior analytic social skills development center for children of all ages and abilities. Located in Norwalk and Stamford, we can help you achieve your vision of social success for your child!
Call (203) 354-9257 to get information about the Summer season, which begins on June 23.
