Smoothing Summer Transitions

Dear My Toy Garden friend,
     Every mom feels their breath quicken a bit at the idea of major changes coming up for their family?  Summer is full of transitions for families to roll through. From a break in school to vacations things may be a bit different.  My Toy Garden is here to help with some proven ideas to help!  Glance at these ideas below, choose one or two that will fit your family and then forward this newsletter along to another friend you can help.  (Next week, we'll talk about transitions in a day.  Have great tips on this?  Email or post on Facebook and you could be a star next week!)

1.  Bend a bit more - As a teacher for many years, it never failed that my very best students were normally quite challanging the last few weeks of school. After the first few years of this, I came to realize it was their subconscious way to make saying goodbye easier.  It's easier to say goodbye when you are at odds with each other a bit than if you are big fans of each other.  Once I understood this, a few extra hugs, sincere eye contact, kind words and a bit of extra patience helped smooth this transition.  If your normally wonderful child gets a bit testy at the end of the school year, bend a bit with them, and help them say goodbye.

2.  Chains - Paper chains are great time trackers to answer those, "How many days until...?" questions.  Make a paper chain for the summer.  Mark appropriate ones with what days are vacation days, camp days, etc.  Sprinkle in a few surprises along the way on some random links and it'll make the changes easier for your child to see coming and fun to anticipate.  Hint - write the day on them so you'll know if you're on the right link.

3.  Photos are your friends - Are you planning to see friends or family your child has never or seldom seen?  Pull together some photos of the soon to be visited special ones and share them with your child.  Tell them names and a little about them.   This will make them more like friends and less like strangers when they arrive to visit.

4.  YouTube Sneak Peeks - Is an airplane ride coming up a new experience? You Tube has videos that can help your child prepare.  Here is a tour of the Indy airport.   Take off can be scary for first timers especially if they have no idea what to expect.  Fly along on this You Tube video  to get a sneak peek of what it's like.  

5.  Drive Bys - Will you child be going to camp this summer in a new place?  Drive by and pop in to visit a few days before to make the new space more familiar.  This will ease jitters on the first day when chaos is most likely.  Talk about what the experience will be like for several days ahead of time to help them visualize it.

Playfully,
Toylady Janet