Summer Bucket Lists

I like to make lists.  Things to do, stuff I need, or maybe something like 101 goals I have.  I guess it makes me feel good to accomplish something and then check it off the list.  “Look what I did world!”, I can say….and then everyone thinks I’m awesome….or so I want to believe.

Lists work for me.  I accomplish things with them, and I feel good when I get things done.  It goes without saying then, that I think my three girlies should make lists too.  You know, have some goals…..get them done…..feel good about themselves.  So, we tried……

This is how you do it:

-Buy some nice, big, white, poster board.  A plain old piece of paper won’t do.  These bucket lists are a BIG DEAL.  Remember, this will be a, “Look what I did world!” moment for them.  It needs to be written on something nice and big.

-Buy the kids some new markers or crayons.  There is something about a new palette of markers that makes kids want to do their best.  What kid wants scummy old peely crayons that they have been using all year at school, when they can open a brand new box of shiny new markers?  It’s inspiring!

-Give them a lecture.  Tell your kids WHAT a bucket list is, WHY people want to make them, and HOW you are going to help them accomplish what they want to do this summer.  Help them make their goals reachable.  For example, you son may have one of his goals as, “I want to go to the moon this summer.”  Okay…..probably not going to happen.  But, you can visit a planetarium, stick glow in the dark planet stickers on his bedroom ceiling, go camping with a telescope…..ANYTHING.

-When their posters are finished stick them up in a visible area so you can look at them all the time.  A list doesn’t help much when you don’t look at it and remember, these are a BIG DEAL.  The kiddos will be happy to know that you think of their goals as important!

-Lastly, make a list for yourself.  Stay-at-home-mom……working mom…….whatever.  Can you come up with 10 things to accomplish by the time school starts?  I bet you can.

Here’s a little re-cap of our summer bucket list adventure!  I am so excited these turned out as well as they did.

Abbey is my artist and set her goals pretty high.  My favorites include, learning how to play a song on the guitar, making a fabulous new dessert (YUM), and taking a new picture every day and making a collage.

Allie’s goals were full of energy.  A few of them were things like, do 50 sit-ups a day, watch every single episode of MLP (My Little Pony), and pull an all-nighter. (Not sure what I think about that.)

Amber wrote hers all in cursive very carefully.  She wants to draw a cool picture and make a robot.  But my two favorite goals of hers were to be nice and have fun!

I hope my girlies really do have fun trying to check off goals from their summer bucket lists.  I think they just might!