How Your Babysitter Can Help Develop Your Kids' Summer Routine

While you rely on a babysitter for childcare, they also become instrumental in aiding your kids’ development as they become a part of their daily lives. You and your babysitter may have had your kids’ routine down to the finer details during the school year, but summer may bring completely new territory, especially if your babysitter has not spent a summer with your family or there have been some changes in your household since last summer.

Creating a summer routine for your kids can help them make the most of their time and also give some structure to a seemingly endless sea of free days. Keep reading for tips on how your babysitter can help develop your kids’ summer routine.

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Establish a morning routine

A morning routine is essential in starting off a child’s day, especially if they have been used to a morning routine during the school year. They’ve already gotten used to waking up at a certain time, getting ready and eating breakfast, and leaving home within a certain timeframe. Leaving mornings unstructured can leave them feeling restless, and can lead to long-term changes to their sleeping routines if they are free to sleep in as long as they want.

While they won’t be leaving the house every day necessarily, creating a routine that gets them out of bed and getting ready around the same time each day can give them structure. Depending on when your babysitter begins their day, you may aim to have this all done before they arrive at the house, or may have them come and help your child get ready for the day as you prepare for your own work day.

Prepare structured activities

Depending on how old your kids are, they are used to a certain level of structure throughout their day. Some families enroll their kids in a summer camp or school or sorts where lessons and activities are structured for the day. However, this may not be an option for your family due to financial or scheduling concerns.

Consider your kids’ current interests and create some structured activities that your babysitter can do while on the job. Make sure your house is properly equipped for the activities, from ingredients for cooking to art supplies for crafts. This doesn’t mean that your child’s daily routine needs to be planned down to the minute, but having your babysitter incorporate a couple of structured activities for the day can help guide them along the day similar to how their school schedule.

Incorporate learning opportunities into your child’s routine, but be sure to take your babysitter into consideration. Your babysitter was likely not hired to be an educator, so you shouldn’t rely on them as such. Discuss ideas with your babysitter to gauge their comfort level. This can be as simple as planning for thirty minutes of reading time each day or setting aside time to work on a math workbook. Depending on your child’s age, you may also consider educational video lessons or enrolling them in online courses they can complete while with the babysitter.

Make plans for excursions

Your child probably isn’t used to spending days cooped in your home. Plan outside time with your babysitter, and it can look different depending on your situation.

Take advantage of summer weather and spend time in the backyard. While you may not feel comfortable with your babysitter watching your child swim, you can still have them play in sprinklers, a water balloon fight, and so on.

Take planned activities outdoors, especially if you expect certain arts and crafts to become messy.

Establish some expectations with your babysitter on leaving the house. Walking to the local park for a couple of hours, or walking around the neighborhood may be ok, but you may feel uncomfortable with longer excursions. If you are okay with longer excursions, you will want to clarify expectations around communicating and planning outings, car seat requirements, and so on.

Clear up expectations around downtime and screen time 

Depending on how structured you are planning to have your kids’ summer routine, they may have a little more free time than they are used to.  If you plan to leave your babysitter and kid to fill out their day on their own, you will want to consider your own expectations for how that free time is treated.

For example, they may be taking more naps than they are used to and ultimately, may end up impacting their sleep routines. Similarly, they may want to spend their new free time watching TV or playing video games or on their tablets. If you want to limit how much time they spend with screens, make sure to communicate that to your babysitter so they can keep it in mind.

Communicate with your babysitter

As much time and effort you and your babysitter may put into establishing your kids’ summer routine, you may find it’s just not working out. A child can quickly become disinterested in an activity or hobby, or they can express the need for a nap at an irregular time.

Make sure you are actively communicating with your babysitter for any feedback on how your kids are responding to the routine so you can adjust routines as needed.