The Reluctant Cowgirl

Practical Advice for a Vibrant Life

PRINTABLES! Create an emotionally vibrant home for you and your teens!

  • Home
  • About me!
  • Personal Growth
    • Survive
  • Parenting Teens
    • Grow and Thrive
  • Healthy Relationships
  • Country Life
  • Disclosures

Create a Summer Contract for Teens

May 23, 2018 By: Miranda9 Comments

Summer Contract for TeensSummer is almost here!  That means school is out and a break from the typical routine.  Which can be great.  It can also spell varied expectations, household tension, and extra work for parents.  So get ahead of the game and create a summer contract for teens.

Create a Summer Contract for Teens

Note: This post contains affiliate links.  If you purchase through a link The Reluctant Cowgirl will receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, used toward keeping this blog going.  I only recommend products I appreciate and trust. Read all my disclosure here

As a homeschool mom, I really love summer!  I get to focus more on just being mom.  But even I get that when teens are out of their routine they don’t always use their time wisely.  What we imagine teens will do and what they envision for summer can be widely different!

4 Reasons to Create a Summer Contract for Teens

Yes! I Want a Great Summer with My Teen! Send the Printable "Summer Contract for Teens."

Clarify Expectations for Summer Schedule with Teenagers

So in order to get all the expectations out in the open it’s great to spend some time talking through and creating a plan for the summer.  Expectations are neither right nor wrong.  It is just what someone thinks or believes is going to happen.

As a mom, I may expect that my children will jump out of bed by 9 am.  My teen may imagine sleeping in til 11 am everyday since they plan to stay up til 3 am.  So a great place to start it just discussing expectations.  One beneficial reason to creating a summer teen contract, is that it pushes us to talk and hash out those expectations.

Create a Summer Contract for Teens

Set Summer Goals with Your Teenager

By creating a summer teen contract, we are afforded the opportunity to discuss summer goals.  You all know I love goals!  Read more about creating summer goals here!

Are you hoping your teen will get a job?  Does you teen envision learning to drive this summer?

Brainstorm all the different ways your teen could use their summer.  Think about summer camps, jobs, vacation plans plus any personal goals.  Then pick a few for them to focus their attention.  Read here for ways to help your teen develop their interests for more ideas!

If you have older teens, make it more fun by discussing how much money they might save toward a car or a new computer if they work x amount of hours each week and save 70- 80% of their money!

Also look for ways to take a hobby or activity that your teen enjoys and learn more from it.  One of our sons reminded me of this as we were discussing this post.

College Boy enjoys gaming.  He is also studying electronic media at college.  So last summer he challenged himself to create a You Tube channel where he compiled gaming fails (sometimes games have glitches or suddenly do something they are not supposed to do).

Summer Contract for teens

This endeavor pushed him to try something he had always wanted to do (start a You Tube channel) plus he learned more about editing, posting online and audio.  He could also add this on his resume as another social media platform he knew. Win!

If you have gamers in the house check out all his gaming fails here!  Your kids will love them.  Moms will love them because there is no bad language (unlike most gaming fail videos)!

Assign Chores for Your Teenagers during Summer Break

Life still goes on!  Just because the kids are out of school doesn’t mean that teens will not still be required to help at home.

Write down what your teen is responsible for each day or each week depending on the size of the jobs.  This will allow the household to run more smoothly.  This can also be an opportunity to encourage your older teens to learn to manage their time.  If they know that they have to mow the lawn and they have to work Tuesday-Saturday, well they may need to mow the lawn on Monday or Sunday.

WATCH my Facebook Video here on Why a Summer Contract will Save Your Sanity

We have discovered, in the long run, it is wise to allow teens to stumble through learning to plan out their week.  However, it does help teens though to ask for a verbal confirmation on when they think they will get to the chore.

Anticipate Summer Fun by Creating a Summer Bucket List with Your Teens

Summer break is after all a break.  So plan a few fun things that teens would enjoy doing this summer.  This cuts down on whining that they “never” get to do anything fun and increases anticipation!

Summer Contract for Teens

Create a “Summer Bucket List” with small things like making banana splits or root beer floats one evening to day trips to the fair or amusement park.

One thing we enjoy putting on either our goals or summer fun is reading.  Sometimes it can be hard to keep your book worms in plenty of supply.  So I thought I would share what are some recent books our kids have loved.

Michael Vey by Richard Paul Evans is a great series.  Don’t you love when you find a book you love and it is a series?  The book is about a fourteen year old boy with Tourette Syndrome who discovers he has special electric powers.  Good storyline and character development.

Little Red is currently loving Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland.  It is a fantasy series about a group of dragons!  The dragons have typical tween and teen characteristics.  And again this series is well written and has many books!  Win!

Create a Summer Contract for Teens

Yes! I Want a Great Summer with My Teen! Send the Printable "Summer Contract for Teens."

Ready to create a summer contract for teens?  Great!  I made one for you because I know you are busy!:)

Also as I mentioned, I discussed this post with College Boy.  He suggested NOT using the word Contract on the Free Printable Teen Contract as that sounded like something one is being forced to do.  So I switched up the title on the free printable.  And the focus of the contract truly is on learning, sharing responsibilities and growing as a person.  So just a tip to keep in mind when you talk about it with your tween and teens!:)

Pin and Share! Thank You!

Summer Contract for Teens

Have you ever made a contract with your teen?  What is one thing you are hoping your tween or teen will learn this summer? Comment and Share below!

Would you love more support as you raise your tweens and teens? You deserve it and don’t have to go it alone! That is why I created The Reluctant Cowgirl. Join our community here at The Reluctant Cowgirl. Follow along on your favorite social media platform. We are on Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram! 

Yes! I Want a Great Summer with My Teen! Send the Printable "Summer Contract for Teens."

 

 

More from my site

  • 3 Needs of the Introvert Teen3 Needs of the Introvert Teen
  • 6 Activities to Help Teens Discover Their Passion and Purpose6 Activities to Help Teens Discover Their Passion and Purpose
  • Home Milling Wheat Flour From Field to TableHome Milling Wheat Flour From Field to Table
  • 6 Life Areas to Balance for Real Personal Growth6 Life Areas to Balance for Real Personal Growth
  • Dear Friend, You are the Perfect Mom For Your ChildDear Friend, You are the Perfect Mom For Your Child
  • Surviving the Emotional Toll of Family CourtSurviving the Emotional Toll of Family Court

Comments

  1. 1

    Heather BeE says

    May 26, 2018 at 12:34 am

    What a great post, Miranda! I’ve never thought of having a contract with my kids, but we’re really big into the summer bucket lists. I have found it helpful to discuss expectations for summer when it approaches to make sure we both don’t regret wasting our precious free time once school resumes again. We also love reading all those extra books that we can’t seem to squeeze in during the school year!

    Reply
    • 2

      Miranda says

      May 27, 2018 at 1:17 am

      Heather,
      I am hoping to squeeze in some more reading this summer too! Yes, I love the idea of a summer bucket list that you do and I made sure to incorporate that into the printable!!

      Reply
  2. 3

    Kiley says

    June 6, 2018 at 11:01 pm

    This is a great post! I love the point of setting clear expectations with your children. Communication is so important!

    Reply
    • 4

      Miranda says

      June 7, 2018 at 1:19 am

      Kiley, Yes, clear communication does make for a more stress free home:)

      Reply
  3. 5

    Kim says

    June 19, 2018 at 11:34 am

    Miranda, I just wanted to take a moment and thank you for creating this contract! My daughter and I filled it out yesterday and not only did it make our expectations clear, it started some great conversations. I would have never guessed that a 13-year-old girl wouldn’t be interested in going to an amusement park! The contract also made the dreaded screen time issue easier to deal with. Here’s to a smooth summer!

    Reply
    • 6

      Miranda says

      June 19, 2018 at 8:21 pm

      Kim, Thank you so much for letting me know how the summer contract for teens went for you and your daughter! That was so nice to read. It is funny how tweens/ teens change so quickly what they like and don’t like. It’s hard to keep up:)

      Reply
  4. 7

    Karen says

    March 27, 2019 at 8:34 pm

    This is wonderful! What a great idea! I will definitely do it.

    Reply
    • 8

      Miranda says

      April 3, 2019 at 10:38 am

      Karen, It is so helpful to sit down and talk about schedules and goals before summer. Makes summer so much more fun!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Don't Wear Skinny Jeans and Other Lessons From the ER - The Reluctant Cowgirl says:
    June 11, 2019 at 8:06 pm

    […] Want to discover how to have a great summer with your tweens and teens with the summer contract? Lea…! […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hey Friend!

I'm Miranda. Educator, Speaker and Vibrant Life Mentor. A city girl married to a country boy! At The Reluctant Cowgirl, I share personal growth and parenting advice for busy moms of tweens and teens! Learn ways to care for yourself and cultivate an amazing family life! Welcome to Your Vibrant Life! Read More…

Self-Care Calendar for Teens

Self-Care Calendar for Teens

Back to School Success! Free Printable Contract!

Back to School Success! Free Printable Contract!

Member Access to The Resource Library

Member Access to The Resource Library

Want Access to The Resource Library and TRC News? Click Here

Want Access to The Resource Library and TRC News? Click Here

Easily Create Your Own Capsule Wardrobe

Easily Create Your Own Capsule Wardrobe

5 Day FREE Mini Personal Growth Course for Moms!

5 Day Mini Personal Growth Course for Moms!

Follow The Reluctant Cowgirl on Instagram @thereluctantcowgirl

Instagram requires authorization to view a user profile. Use autorized account in widget settings

Featured Post

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals 2019

Here are some more great Black Friday Deals to check out for your teens and tweens and the rest of the family! Note: This post contains affiliate links.  If you purchase through a link The Reluctant Cowgirl will receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, used toward keeping this blog going.  I […]

Catch Up

Archives

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Looking for something?

FREE Mini Personal Growth Course for Moms!

FREE Mini Personal Growth Course for Moms!

Categories

Copyright © 2019 · Modern Blogger Pro Theme By, Pretty Darn Cute Design