It’s been a long time since I updated everyone about my family. I used to update every once in awhile to get feedback on how to motivate my teenagers to make positive life choices.
Anyway, I wasn’t posting because things took a turn for the worse. There were some hospitalizations for mental health reasons. But, I’m happy to say everyone is doing better!
My kids are all prone to depression/anxiety and need my support to structure their summers. In collaboration with their therapists, here’s everyone’s routines:
My 20 year old is working about 30 hours a week and that’s going really well. Being an adult, I mostly let my eldest have a lot of independence. So not much to update there!
My 16 year old is also working about 30 hours a week over the summer in addition to household chores. She bikes to work everyday. She takes care of herself pretty well, so also has a lot of independence. The main rule for her is that she gets no more screentime after 11pm because otherwise she stays up all night. She doesn’t need a lot of other rules because she just takes care of herself independently.
My 15 year old is currently the hardest. Her therapist told me I had to impose structure, can’t let her have too much screentime (especially social media), and can’t let her isolate herself. So she and I collaborated on a daily routine. Everyday she has to wake herself up before 9am, eat breakfast, do 2 chores, go to the gym (she wanted to!), get ready for the day, and eat lunch. Then after all that, she can have screen-time until 6pm (except that social media is limited to 1 hour.) At 6 we eat a family dinner. After dinner we do a family activity. We read books starting at 8:30, and then she usually does something quiet in her room and goes to bed around 10.
That’s been going really well, and actually I adapted that schedule for my 7 year old son as well. Except that he doesn’t go to the gym, so I just tell him he has to chose something to do with me everyday.
For food, 2 out of the 4 developed disordered eating. I worked with their therapists to create a plan. I gave the older kids access to my Instacart account. I just tell them they have to meal plan for themselves for the week for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Dinner is something I make for them. I set everything out buffet style so that they can pick and chose what they’re eating.
All in all I’m super happy with our summer routines. I wish I was this flexible with them starting at a younger age. I used to be a lot more strict about all of these things. But I realized that controlling them made matter worse. What I should be doing is teaching THEM how to control themselves.
I always like hearing how other parents structure their days during the summer. So feel free to comment below on what you’re doing. Thanks for reading!
Family Update!
Hello!
It’s been a long time since I updated everyone about my family. I used to update every once in awhile to get feedback on how to motivate my teenagers to make positive life choices.
Anyway, I wasn’t posting because things took a turn for the worse. There were some hospitalizations for mental health reasons. But, I’m happy to say everyone is doing better!
My kids are all prone to depression/anxiety and need my support to structure their summers. In collaboration with their therapists, here’s everyone’s routines:
My 20 year old is working about 30 hours a week and that’s going really well. Being an adult, I mostly let my eldest have a lot of independence. So not much to update there!
My 16 year old is also working about 30 hours a week over the summer in addition to household chores. She bikes to work everyday. She takes care of herself pretty well, so also has a lot of independence. The main rule for her is that she gets no more screentime after 11pm because otherwise she stays up all night. She doesn’t need a lot of other rules because she just takes care of herself independently.
My 15 year old is currently the hardest. Her therapist told me I had to impose structure, can’t let her have too much screentime (especially social media), and can’t let her isolate herself. So she and I collaborated on a daily routine. Everyday she has to wake herself up before 9am, eat breakfast, do 2 chores, go to the gym (she wanted to!), get ready for the day, and eat lunch. Then after all that, she can have screen-time until 6pm (except that social media is limited to 1 hour.) At 6 we eat a family dinner. After dinner we do a family activity. We read books starting at 8:30, and then she usually does something quiet in her room and goes to bed around 10.
That’s been going really well, and actually I adapted that schedule for my 7 year old son as well. Except that he doesn’t go to the gym, so I just tell him he has to chose something to do with me everyday.
For food, 2 out of the 4 developed disordered eating. I worked with their therapists to create a plan. I gave the older kids access to my Instacart account. I just tell them they have to meal plan for themselves for the week for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Dinner is something I make for them. I set everything out buffet style so that they can pick and chose what they’re eating.
All in all I’m super happy with our summer routines. I wish I was this flexible with them starting at a younger age. I used to be a lot more strict about all of these things. But I realized that controlling them made matter worse. What I should be doing is teaching THEM how to control themselves.
I always like hearing how other parents structure their days during the summer. So feel free to comment below on what you’re doing. Thanks for reading!