I was talking to a friend at a baseball game this evening, and she mentioned how she was conflicted, between working for a living and giving her kids a fun summer.   I think that is a common struggle for families, striking a balance between the things that we have to do and the things we want to do, especially during the summer.
     So, it occurred to me as I drove home from the baseball game that a tool I use for Holiday Planning could help answer this question, too.  Seeing the Big Picture is so important.  We can get a lot of work done, when we know we have a fun adventure at the end.  
     Perhaps you are familiar with the time management tool, imagining your time or schedule as a jar, and the components of your schedule as different sized stones, from large rocks down to sand.  This starts with the jar, with a little twist. 
     Using this exercise, you can create a calendar for your summer, with at least one fun thing to look forward to every day, whether it is an all-day adventure or catching fire flies after dark.  This allows the space for necessary work and vitally important play, just not at the same time!
     Remember, we don’t have to entertain or be entertained all day every day, that is the beauty of unstructured summer time, too. 
Make your list with your family.

1. What they want to do – fun stuff, goals and projects (Activity Camp, Scout Camp, Day trips to the Aquarium, Field Museum and Lincoln Park Zoo, a couple of hiking trips downstate)
2. What you want to do – Fun, goals and projects (the same as them, though my goals of starting a running program and re-organizing a few space around the house are surely not on my kids’ list but they are on mine).
3. Take out your calendar, and block out the big rocks.  That would be the travel plans and vacations, events that require planning and tickets.    For us, that is little league championships, major family events, our vacation in July, a Sox game in a couple of weeks.
4. Now for the smaller rocks.  This would be the activity camps like band camp or soccer camp, stuff we can choose to attend or not
5. Pebbles:  Museum and zoo dates, train trips downtown, movies at the theatre, etc.  We try for one of these per week when the kids aren’t in camp.  I like to pick a day a week as adventure day, so every Tuesday will find us going somewhere to do something fun.  We opt for indoor activities if Tuesday is rainy. 
6. Sand:  Sleeping in, play dates with friends, movie nights at home with popcorn, trips for ice cream, bike rides.  We try for a couple of special things a week, too, typically in the evening.

     We need to remember, for ourselves and remind our kids, that the work is good and necessary, and the $$ from it often enables the other fun things! 
     When we work through this execise, we can rest easy, knowing that our work is equally matched by fun, even if that fun is not right now this instant.  We can tell ourselves and our families that the work comes first, and then we play, and give solid examples of this. Enjoy your Summer and your families.  I know I will!

Some Big Rocks, memories from last summer