School’s Out: Celebrate!

School’s out! What are you going to do with your ankle-biters this summer? One way to kick off the summer vacation is to put them to work. One idea is to clear a day for a family picnic and put the kids in charge of organizing it.

This may sound like a frightening proposition. Your mind may flood with images of your children ransacking the kitchen, caked in chocolate and flour; your counter tops buried under broken eggs, honey and milk. But it needn’t be that scary. Giving your children the responsibility of organizing a family picnic is a great way to keep them occupied-plus it keeps their brain working even after school is out. (Maybe hold off on pointing this out to them; chances are they will resist the idea of using their smarts at home!)

For starters, invite your kids to brainstorm:

• Where should we have the picnic? Will we be walking there or will Mom or Dad be driving us there?
• Will we be eating at a picnic table or on a blanket on the ground?
• What kind of food will we have?
• What do we have to do to prepare the food?
• What will we have to drink?
• What kind of shopping do we need to do first? What is the budget and how much will the food cost?
• What do we need in terms of plates, cutlery, napkins and cups?
• What else will we do? Play ball? Go swimming? Go for a hike?

Try to hand over as much control as possible to older kids (however, it’s probably a good idea to go over the list before they go ahead and prepare the picnic, to ensure you don’t end up with peanut-butter and pickle sandwiches). Younger kids will need more help and guidance. In both cases, they will likely need some ideas and suggestions to round out their picnic. In other words, you may need to remind them to include vegetables in the meal.

Organizing and preparing a family picnic can be trying at the best of times. But leaving the kids in charge could build some lasting memories for the entire family. The best thing you can do is to encourage them to make some decisions, even if they are not the same choices that you would make. Remember that this is just one meal and the goal is to hand your child the reigns for a day by allowing them to realize that they, too, are an important component of planning your family’s fun.