Summer Family Fun /TITLE><META-NAME="ROBOTS" content="index, follow"> <link rel="meta" href="http://familiesonlinemagazine.com/labels.rdf" type="application/rdf+xml" title="ICRA labels" /> <meta http-equiv="pics-Label" content='(pics-1.1 "http://www.icra.org/pics/vocabularyv03/" l gen true for "http://familiesonlinemagazine.com" r (n 0 s 0 v 0 l 0 oa 0 ob 0 oc 0 od 0 oe 0 of 0 og 0 oh 0 c 1) gen true for "http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com" r (n 0 s 0 v 0 l 0 oa 0 ob 0 oc 0 od 0 oe 0 of 0 og 0 oh 0 c 1))' /> <META name="description" content="Parenting: Summer Family Fun from Families OnLine."> <META name="keywords" content="Summer,vacation, boredom, mom, sick,ill, travel with kids, family vacations, holiday travel, multi tasking, super mominternet, family internet, family resources on the net,grandparents, poems,school,Beating Summer Boredom, school supplies,kids, Internet, computer, buy, use, resources, safety,sleep, sleepy summertime,parenting, children, child, teens, teenager, infants, newborns, adoption, community, family, health, moms, mothers,women, men, boys, girls, dads, fathers, children, babies, toddlers, teens, teenagers, parenthood, toddler, baby, ages and stages, magazine, publishing, family finances, budget, school, what's for dinner, child disability, single parents, single parent, step parents, grandparents."> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/p7exp.js"></script>  <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="../default.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="handheld" href="handheld.css" /> <meta http-equiv="pragma" content="no-cache" /> <script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-347890-1']); _gaq.push(['_setDomainName', '.familiesonlinemagazine.com']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); _gaq.push(['_setSessionCookieTimeout', 450000]); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); </script> </header> <BODY onLoad="P7_ExpMenu()"> <img src="../spacer.gif" alt=" Intenet kids parenting" width="1" height="1" border="0" /><img src="../spacer.gif" alt="Summer Fun for Busy Parents" width="1" height= "1" border=" 0 "> <php header('Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate');> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/default.css" /> <script type="text/javascript"> // Horizonal css manu // horizonal css menu/ var cssmenuids=["cssmenu1"] //Enter id(s) of CSS Horizontal UL menus, separated by commas var csssubmenuoffset=-1 //Offset of submenus from main menu. Default is 0 pixels. function createcssmenu2(){ for (var i=0; i<cssmenuids.length; i++){ var ultags=document.getElementById(cssmenuids[i]).getElementsByTagName("ul") for (var t=0; t<ultags.length; t++){ ultags[t].style.top=ultags[t].parentNode.offsetHeight+csssubmenuoffset+"px" var spanref=document.createElement("span") spanref.className="arrowdiv" spanref.innerHTML=" " ultags[t].parentNode.getElementsByTagName("a")[0].appendChild(spanref) ultags[t].parentNode.onmouseover=function(){ this.style.zIndex=100 this.getElementsByTagName("ul")[0].style.visibility="visible" this.getElementsByTagName("ul")[0].style.zIndex=0 } ultags[t].parentNode.onmouseout=function(){ this.style.zIndex=0 this.getElementsByTagName("ul")[0].style.visibility="hidden" this.getElementsByTagName("ul")[0].style.zIndex=100 } } } } if (window.addEventListener) window.addEventListener("load", createcssmenu2, false) else if (window.attachEvent) window.attachEvent("onload", createcssmenu2) </script> <div class="mobile"> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script></div>  <div class="mobilehide"> <div align="center"> <script type="text/javascript"> var CasaleArgs = new Object(); CasaleArgs.version = 2; CasaleArgs.adUnits = "2"; CasaleArgs.casaleID = 133760; </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://js.casalemedia.com/casaleJTag.js"></script> </div> <a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/families/"> <a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com"><img src="http://images.familiesonlinemagazine.com/FAMLOGO1.jpg" border="0"></a></span> <table width="90%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" ><tr><td rowspan="8" valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <div class="horizontalcssmenu" style="width:100%;max-width:100%;"> <ul id="cssmenu1"> <li style="background:#666666";color:white;"><strong><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/families/">Home</a></strong></li> <li> <a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/kid_fun/index.html"> Family Fun</a> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/children-books/index.html">Children's Books</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/crafts.html">Crafts</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/free-games.html">Games</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/parenting-humor/">Humor</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/kid_fun/index.html">Kid Fun</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/party.html">Party</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/sports/index.htm">Sports</a></li> </ul> </li> <li> <a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/psychologist_archive.html"> Parenting</a> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/pregnancy/index.html">Pregnancy</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/child-development/index.html">Ages and Stages</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/baby_names_and_announcements.html">Baby Names</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/christian-parenting/index.html">Christian Parenting</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/peerpressure/index.html">Counselor's Corner - Peer Pressure</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/dad-sense/index.html">Dad Sense</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/grandparenting/index.html">Grandparenting</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/nanny/index.html">Nanny Advice</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/parenting/index.html">Parent to Parent</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/parenting-advice/index.html">Parenting Advice Archive</a></li> </ul> <li> <a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/health/index.html"> Health</a> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/doctor/index.html">Dr. Ackerman</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/healthapril.html">Natural Health</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/nutrition/index.html">Nutrition Tidbits</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/health/index.html">You and Your Family</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/self-help/index.html">Self Help</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/articles.html">Weight Loss</a></li> </ul> </li> <li> <a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/interior-design/index.html"> Life & Style</a> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/fashion/index.html">Fashion and Beauty</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/cooking/">Apron Strings</a> </li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/free-recipes/index.html">What's for Dinner?</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/shopguide.html">Shop</a> </li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/couples/index.html">Couples - Relationships</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/smile-notes/index.html">Smile Notes</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/empty-nest/">50+</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/teens/index.html">Teens</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/gardening/index.html">Garden</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/positively-green/index.html"> Positively Green</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/pets/dogs-puppies/dog-breed.html">Pets</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/home-improvement/index.php">Home Improvement</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/interior-design/index.html">Interior Decorating</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/legal-forms/general.html">Legal Matters</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/askcomputergeek/index.html">Ask the Geek</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/wedding/index.htm">Wedding</a></li> </a></li> </ul> </li> <li> <a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/travel/index.html"> Travel</a> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/travel/index.html">Are we there yet? <br> </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/travel/family-vacation-activities.html">Travel Tips</a></li> </ul> </li> <li> <a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/family-budget/index.html"> Finance</a> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/family-budget/index.html">Family Finance</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/auction/index.php">Auctions</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/child-support/index.html">Child Support</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/credit_repair/index.html">Credit Repair</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/life-insurance.html">Life Insurance</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/work-at-home/index.html">Work At Home Moms</a></li> </ul> </li> <li> <a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/school/index.html"> School</a> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/school/index.html">A Note from the Teacher</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/homeschooling/index.html">Homeschooling</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/career-education.html">Online Education</a></li> </ul> </li> <li> <a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/todaysfamilyforum/index.php"> Community</a> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/todaysfamilyforum/index.php">Discussion Boards</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/Community.html">Organizations/ Resources</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/plog/index.php">Editorial</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/blogs.html">Opinion/Blogs</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div></div> </td></tr> </table> <div style="clear:both"> </div> <table width="90%"> <tr><td valign="top" width="100%"> <table><tr><td valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><table cellpadding="10" width="100%"><tr> <td width="35%" valign="top"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/MPBackLinks.js"></script></td> <td width="45%"> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </div> </td> <td valign="top" width="15%:> <div align="center"> <div><script type="text/javascript" src="http://cdn.socialtwist.com/200901258160/script.js"></script><img alt="SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend" style="border:0;padding:0;margin:0;" src="http://images.socialtwist.com/200901258160/button.png" onmouseout="hideHoverMap(this)" onmouseover="showHoverMap(this, '200901258160', window.location, document.title)" onclick="cw(this, {id:'200901258160',link: window.location, title: document.title })"/ /> </td></div> </div></div> </td> </tr></table> </TD> <td rowspan="6" valign="top" bgcolor="#F4F4F4" align="center"> <div align="center"><a href="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/families/index.php/hot-topic/105-sign-up.html">Free Gift with Newsletter Sign-up</a></div> <table width="100%"><tr><td> <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom"> <input type="text" name="q" size="15" maxlength="255"> <input type="submit" name="sa" VALUE="Search"> <input type="hidden" name="q" value="site:familiesonlinemagazine.com"> <input type="hidden" name="client" value="pub-0477863759886893"></input> <input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"></input> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en"></input> </form> <div align="center">  </div> <div id="grabDiv1806315"><object id="GrabPlayer1806315" width="300"height="250" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" align="middle"data="http://player.grabnetworks.com/swf/GrabOSMFPlayer.swf?id=1806315"><param name="quality" value="high"/><param name="allowScriptAccess"value="always"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><paramname="menu" value="false"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"/><paramname="movie" value="http://player.grabnetworks.com/swf/GrabOSMFPlayer.swf?id=1806315"/></object><div id="overlay-adzone" style="overflow:hidden;position:relative"></div></div> <br> <br> <div align="center"> <script type="text/javascript"> var CasaleArgs = new Object(); CasaleArgs.version = 2; CasaleArgs.adUnits = "6,4"; CasaleArgs.casaleID = 133760; </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://js.casalemedia.com/casaleJTag.js"></script> </div> <br> <div align="center"> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script>  <script type="text/javascript"> window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en'}; (function() {var po = document.createElement("script"); po.type = "text/javascript"; po.async = true;po.src = "https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();</script>  <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js"></script> <g:plus href="https://plus.google.com/108473432736827655292"></g:plus> </td></tr></table> </div></td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="100%" style="max-width="100%"> <a name="content"></a> </div> <div>  <table summary="parenting magazine advice" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" height="100%" style="border-collapse: collapse" bordercolor="#111111">  <TR> <TD colspan="7" bgcolor="#FFBF00" valign="top" height="17"> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD rowspan="3" bgcolor="#FFBF00" valign="top" height="323"> </TD> <TD valign="top" height="10"> </TD> <TD colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top" height="10" alt="parenting kids summer activites"> </TD> <TD valign="top" height="10"> </TD> <TD rowspan="3" bgcolor="#FFBF00" valign="top" height="323"> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top" height="302"> </TD> <TD colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top" height="302"> <table summary="parenting magazine advice" border="1" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="10" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-width: 0" bordercolor="#111111" width="100%" id="AutoNumber1" alt="teach kids computer"> <TR> </TD> <TD width="300" style="border-style: none; border-width: medium" valign="top" bgcolor="#B0FC5E"> <p><a href="http://twitter.com/pattihermes"><img src="http://twitterbuttons.com/images/ex/nt4.png" title="parenting advice" width="159" height="58" /><br /> Follow Me On Twitter</a> </p><br /> <p align="center"> <p><a href="http://www.d-skin.com"><img src="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/125x125bannerbuynow.gif" width="125" height="125" alt="" /></a></p> Check out Patti Hermes' <A HREF="http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/shopguide.html"><strong>Hot Holiday Gifts Guide</strong></a> <br /><br /><br /><p> </p> <p>Parents Help Your Kids <a href="abc.html">Learn ABC's and Spelling</a><br /> Premier learning tools help kids excel. </p> <h3><a href="../parenting-advice/index.html">Parenting Advice</font></a></h3> <h3><a href="../parenting-humor.html">Parenting Humor</font></h3> <h3><a href="../psychologist_archive.html">More Parenting Articles </font></a></h3> <p> <h3><a href="http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features_parenting_blog/ ">Parenting Blog</h3> <p align="center"></p> <p><div align="center"></p> </TD> <TD width="100%" style="border-style: none; border-width: medium" valign="top"> <div align="center"><h1>Parent to Parent</h1></div> <H2> <DIV align="center"> Summer Fun for Busy Parents<br /><br /><FONT size="3"> by Patti Hermes</FONT></H2><font face="verdana"></div> <p><img src="images/MOM-SON1.jpg" alt="mom's summer fun" width="200" height="200" hspace="3" border="0" align="left"> I saw the first of the Back To School sale flyers July 15th, and my initial reaction was "Aaaaahhh!" But don't let them scare you, summer is not over yet! You still have time to savor the last days of summer. </p> <p>As parents, we tend to think of summertime as the kids' vacation. We think we have to entertain them, signing them up for summer camp, swim lessons, planning special family fun into as many days as possible. It's as if summertime is the only fun time, and fun is only for kids. Well, before those last sunny days and balmy nights slip away for another year, take some time for yourself and do what you want, without the children.</p> <p>Let's face it. Yes, a day at the beach with the whole family is lots of fun. But who does all the packing, making sure there are adequate snacks, drinks, toys, towels, sunscreen and beach chairs? And who carries all that stuff? And how many of you parents actually get to read that book you brought with you?</p> <p>So instead of dreaming about a truly relaxing day at the beach, go ahead and schedule one for yourself. Or, if you prefer, enjoy a quiet stroll through a local museum, go wild at the water park or rock out at an outdoor concert. Whatever you do for fun, don't forget to make time for yourself to actually have some fun this summer! Just because you know your kids would enjoy that baseball game too, doesn't mean you have to bring them every time.</p> <p>Sneak in some adult time by sending the kids off with a neighbor or friend's family for a day (and don't forget to reciprocate!). Grandparents may be able to keep them over a weekend, or even an entire week. If a lack of child care options is keeping you at home, then throw a party! For me summer is all about being outside, so my children will be entertaining themselves in air-conditioned splendor with a couple of DVD's and ample snacks, while my friends join me in eating, drinking and merriment outside under the stars. </p> <p>Part of good parenting is taking care of yourself so that you can take care of the rest of the family. So remember to squeeze in some summer fun just for you. Summer is not just for kids! </p> <br /> <?xml version="1.0"?> <!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <title>Comment Script

Comments


Name

E-mail (Will not appear online)

Homepage

Title

Comment


To prevent automated Bots form spamming, please enter the text you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.

This comment form is powered by GentleSource Comment Script. It can be included in PHP or HTML files and allows visitors to leave comments on the website.

parenting advice
Follow Me On Twitter

Parenting Kids and Computers

Parental Control Software
Monitors everything your child does online!

Dell Family Computers Sale

Buying Home Computers Parents Guide

Child Development

Child Support

Patti Hermes is a freelance writer and columnist, specializing in family and parenting subjects and works for children, as well as essays and a blog, Writes For Chocolate. She works at home where she referees two spirited little boys and occasionally their father. Originally from Massachusetts, she and her husband of eighteen years are now raising their happy family in the Midwest. To read more visit her on the web at http://writesforchocolate.blogspot.com

Nominate A Site
Families Online Award

Contact Us Advertise with us Sitemap English Sitemap Español Sitemap Français Recommended Sites Classified's

- eSingleParenting.com - Great Family Vacation Destinations - Families Online Magazine

Copyright © 2003 - 2012, Families Online Magazine a division of Smarter Changes, LLC