When many people think of spring break, they think of vacations and time away with their families. While some may still be going on vacation this year, there are many who are not comfortable traveling yet. If this is the case, what does this mean you can do with your children this year? This year has been hard so you may feel like you need to make it special and are wondering how to do make this happen. This is not a necessity, but may be what some want to do.

What does your spring break look like and what do you need to plan around? Are you still working and what does this schedule look like? How much of this do you need to manage and what expectations exist for your work? This will help to determine what you need to find. Are you comfortable sending your child to camp for spring break if one is available? Is there someone in your family or your friends that you feel comfortable coming to help with your children or that they can go to someone’s home? If these are not options for you or you do not feel comfortable with them, then you will need to figure out how to entertain your children will you work. This will differ on the ages of your children and how independent they can be. If you can’t step away, are they able to get snacks on their own as they need or want them? If not, how can you have these set up in a way that they can get them independently?

If you need to work during spring break, what are some of your child’s favorite activities? What are they passionate about? Can you make this an activity? I know my son loves playing with Magnatiles and creating tracks and ramps for his cars. This will be a great activity for him over spring break. On the other hand, my daughter loves arts and crafts so she will do some of this over break. The other factor to consider is how active does your child need to be during the day. You want to try to provide a balance of both relaxing/calm activities and more active ones that is right for your child.

Another factor to consider is trying to keep the kids on some kind of routine and schedule. This does not need to be a strict schedule, but having at least some routine to the day will help. This will help children know what they should be doing next and what to expect. Talk to your children about this routine and what they would like to have as part of it. This will be especially helpful if you need to get work done if your children know what is expected of them and what they should be doing during the day.

Screen time is another activity that is often considered and talked about for spring break if your family is not going on vacation. How much is too much? Should I be allowing screen time? This is something that is impacted by both the age of the child and their personality. The younger the child is, the less screen time that is recommended. If you are concerned that your child will overdo it and get sucked into it, then limiting it is also a good idea. During spring break, it may be possible to allow for more time on a screen than during the school year, but making sure to pay attention to your child’s response and how difficult it can be to get your child off of the device.

There are ways to still create special memories over spring break without travel, even if you have to work. You could plan a movie night with popcorn and sleeping bags. You could have them help make a special dinner or dessert. Could you make a special art project with them?

As you are trying to determine what your plans look like for spring break, feel free to reach out if you have questions. If you need help trying to figure out activities that would be beneficial, feel free to reach out.