To Combat Summer Boredom, Try Some ‘Ordinary’ Family Activities

Come mid-July, even enthusiastic and committed parents can struggle to find constructive things to do with their children on vacation from school—especially activities that do not involve screens. This is, of course, part of a larger challenge of so many forces that are pulling us away from really being together at home.

Often a good approach is turning to the ordinary, the tried and true activities that perhaps we’ve gotten away from.

One of these is reading aloud together. And summer can be an especially good time to try. There is something about entering a story together at the same time. The very fact that others are listening as you listen—or read—adds a whole new layer to the story. Their experience is part of your experience of the story, and somehow it becomes our experience.

There are many contexts for people to read aloud together. It is worth thinking more about how to encourage teenagers and young adults to read aloud among themselves. It is a sobering sign of our times that such a thing might seem a bridge too far.

But we can focus on what is in our power. If you have younger children, seize the time! Often, children will be happy to do whatever parents are happy to do. There are great books suited to every age group: perhaps a Robert Louis Stevenson story, King Arthur legends, or a classic fairy tale.

For newlyweds and empty nesters, what a rich experience lies in wait: perhaps a Shakespeare play, a Walter Macken short story, a novel by Jane Austen, or Wendell Berry. The possibilities are almost endless. Families with older children will require more effort to get everyone together, but the effort will be well rewarded.

It takes practice, and patience. (“Are y’all going to quiet down and listen or not…?”) But summer is precisely the time to give it a try: perhaps once a week? Sunday afternoon or evening? Who knows, the family may enjoy it so much that they ask to do it again each evening.

Another tried and true practice is simply sitting on the porch together—for most of us probably well after the sun has gone down! This might sound daunting, even far-fetched. But it really is worth a try. We can break through unfounded fears about whether it will ‘work.’ How wrong can it go? To get younger children interested, it might be enough just for parents to sit down and start talking, even singing, or sharing a simple story of Mom and Dad’s courtship.

There are also living room and lawn games. Again, this once was ordinary for families, and it can be again. It’s not rocket science, but it may well require parental patience and perseverance. Inside, maybe it’s a family board game (we enjoy Wits & Wagers and Scattergories). Outside there’s bocce ball, spike ball, or cornhole, as well as good old games like Ghost in the Graveyard, and just plain running around.

Let’s be honest. Good times together tend to take more energy—energy we can feel like we don’t have. Lower quality activities are easier, like putting on a movie or allowing a video game. This is not about beating ourselves up or running ourselves into the ground. It’s about doing what we reasonably can do to engage our children in richer activities, and, if possible, joining in with them—while we still have the opportunity. 

With so many centrifugal forces at work in our home, pulling us away from the center and from one another, these ‘ordinary’ things are centripetal forces we can unleash, pulling us toward the center and toward one another.

John Cuddeback writes at LifeCraft, offering principles and encouragement for renewing life in the home. You can find his podcast, “The Intentional Household,” HERE. This article is an expanded version of one of his earlier blog posts.