Here we are again, at the beginning of a high expectation season.  For me, expectations equal stress, which is why this is so ironic.  Summer time is supposed to be a casual, easy time.  No stress.   But let’s be real.  We only get a handful of summers with our kids before they are grown up.  And if you are like me, we want to help them make some great memories of summer time.  Plus, summer is a great time of growth for kids, both physically and otherwise.   The real cause for the stress from expectations?  The comparison game.  It’s strong come summer time.  For me, it starts with all the summer time movies of awesome camps, cookouts, time spent at the lake, amazing Fourth of July scenes where there doesn’t seem to be a lot of crowds and everyone is having a good time.  It creates a false expectation of the laid back, fun in the sun summer.  Then we can add a second layer of comparison with social media. Seeing people talk about their travel plans, fun things they are going to do, their kids dressed up in cute summertime outfits and mini sunglasses.  It can stress you out.  Well, it stresses me out. But, what if it didn’t have to be that way?  What if you could be intentional about your summer and design it...almost like a work project? Let’s do it! Alright, so let’s start with a goal.  What is your desired outcome for the summer? Let’s go a bit deeper here than “just have fun”.  Think about coming into September and looking back on the summer and answer these questions. What do you want your kids to learn this summer? How do you want them to describe the summer? How do you want to describe the summer? Now that you have a goal and a direction to go in, let’s lay out the realities of the situation. Let’s talk timeline and budget. First, timeline. Pull out a calendar with your kids and count the days of summer.  How many days do they have? Next, write out all the activities that they already have planned.  Summer camp, VBS, going to grandmas….. Then, and without your kids knowing what you are doing, look at your work calendar and their activity calendar and count how many full days you have with them. Chances are, it’s not a lot.  Now there are a lot of things that you can do in the evenings and even before work.  Things you can set them up with for while you are working.  We can still make an impact toward the goals for them while we are working, but knowing how many full days we have will give us a reality to base activities off of to reach our overall objective.   So, how many days do you have with them? Now that we have a clear goal and timeline, let’s look at the budget.  How much money do you have to spend on summer this year?  Obviously, some of your already allocated budgets can go to having an awesome summer.  Things like food can make a big impact. This is where stress can start to come in.  Some of the expectations that we have for summer require a lot of time and/or money.  If we don’t have the time and money to create that expectation, that is where we can have the adult version of a temper tantrum.  We don’t call it that, we call it stress and guilt.   However, by being intentional about it ahead of time we can take an objective look at the situation, and choose something different. Look at your budget and talk to your husband.  How much money can you put toward summer activities and fun?  Whatever the number is, you can work with it.  Just like you do every day.  You are creative and resourceful.   Now that we have laid the groundwork, it’s time to start planning the fun stuff! Next up, brainstorming session.  Make a family summer bucket list.  This has been a tradition of our family for a while.  I ask the kids what they want to do this summer.  Actually, I ask them, “if we do nothing else this summer, what are the 2-3 things that you want to be sure we do?  What are you must do’s?” They give me their top 2-3 things and we write it down.  Now, just for fun, we write it down on a big sheet of paper.  You know t