Experts recommend keeping the same habits during the summer

The school year is over and now what?

With the end of the school year and the arrival of the vacations, children undergo a change of routines and activities that affects them directly. The change from strict habits to a more flexible schedule, the increase of time at home and with the family or the reduction of educational activities, cause physical and emotional instability in the little ones. Is it necessary to maintain exactly the same routines? Should they continue with their educational and formative activities? How do we synchronize the schedules of young and old so that all members of the family can enjoy the holiday period? Top Doctors® experts explain the basic needs of children, what educational activities to encourage, as well as the keys to a healthy summer coexistence.

It is important to maintain routines for the little ones.

Habits, routines and customs are patterns of behavior that involve learning. “Although they may not be exactly the same, it is very important to maintain the routines of the little ones during the vacations,” explains Dr. Ignacio Manrique Martínez, Director of the Valencian Institute of Pediatrics and Child Care and member of Top Doctors. “The summer schedule has to be as similar as possible to the winter schedule in terms of lunch, snack and dinner times or outdoor activities. An abrupt change in learned activities can lead to uneasiness and confusion. It is also a way of showing them that their obligations remain the same. This need to maintain habits is more important the younger the child is, especially in children under two years of age.

The problem lies in reconciling these schedules with the summer working hours or the parents’ vacations, who are looking to change their own routines and enjoy more leisure time. “This is where the concepts of responsibility, respect and awareness that all parenthood requires come into play,” explains Dr. Javier Molina Garicano, head of the Pediatrics and Oncohematology care section of the Navarra Hospital Complex and member of Top Doctors. “There are always solutions that help everyone to benefit. Measures that allow children and parents to have fun together as well as independently. What is really important is to keep in mind that vacations are ‘from’ and ‘with’ the little ones,” he adds.

Solutions for enjoying the summer as a family

The education of children during the vacations also generates concern among parents, and there is a wide gap between those in favor and those against maintaining the educational activities of the youngest children during the summer. “The concept of leisure, understood as time dedicated to doing what we like and that we usually can not do during the rest of the year, does not mean that we should put aside learning,” explains Dr. Núria Curell Águila, head of the PAIDO-DEX Adolescent Unit at the Quirón Dexeus University Hospital and member of Top Doctors.

However, they don’t have to be the same educational activities. “It may be the time to transmit other types of teachings and values that are also important, such as those related to the family and personal sphere, those to which day-to-day life does not allow attention to be paid. For example, collaboration in housework and home maintenance, conversations about the future or planning activities, goals and illusions. Even simply going to the movies or to another type of show and discussing the script together”.

In any case, experts warn not to lose focus of the fact that vacations are just that, vacations. “It is, for everyone, a time of parenthesis, rest, closure, reflection or physical and emotional recovery… And this also applies to children, because throughout the school year they battle with emotions, overcome challenges, achieve successes and face failures, just like us. So why shouldn’t we allow them to switch off,” she adds. Sharing time and activities with the family, what is really essential.

What’s really important is that children’s time and activities during their vacation are of quality. “Children have a lack of ‘affection’ from their parents because they see little of them. Sharing time with their parents and family is really important for them and these are the moments they remember,” explains Dr. Ignacio Manrique Martínez, Pediatrics Director of the Instituto Valenciano de Pediatría y Puericultura and member of Top Doctors. “It is something to take into account because it can happen that children understand the situation the other way around and understand that they only count in their lives with their acquaintances or school friends because they are the ones they see most often and that their parents are only there occasionally.

Experts recommend that children take advantage of the vacations to practice team sports, artistic or outdoor activities, such as hiking or mountaineering. They should also soak up the love or the popular and historical wisdom offered by grandparents. Going to the village is an opportunity to get to know new places and routines in a natural environment different from the usual. “It is a non-regulated learning that builds identities, and the entities provide professionalism, which is usually very solvent.”

Experts do not rule out video games or television-as long as they are not violent games or programs, with time limits and always under adult supervision-, nor summer camps or children’s and youth leisure schools. “These camps are not only a very good solution for making family and work life compatible during the three months of children’s vacations, but they also help them develop social and communication skills,” says Dr. Andrés Cánovas, an expert in Child Neurology and member of Top Doctors.

For children, as for adults, vacations are an important period of physical and emotional regeneration and, although they must maintain their routines and obligations, it is the ideal time to enjoy everyday life from a more familiar and flexible point of view, more relaxed and enjoyable, and in different environments with different learning possibilities.

The following experts from the Top Doctors TOP team have collaborated in the writing of this communication: