Summer break is upon us and if you’re like me – a nurse, a parent and an RN to MSN student – it’s easy to begrudge your workdays when your kids are out of school. Then, on your days off, you’re so exhausted that you don’t have much time or energy to dedicate toward planning a big day trip or weekend vacation. These things added together can make the whole “fear of missing out” feeling very real.
But even with how busy you are, you don’t have to miss out! There are easy, fun activities you and your entire family can do without much planning or cost. They also don’t involve crowds, which means you can continue to stay cautious and responsibly distance yourself from others. Here are a few activities, approved by my own kids, you can do to turn FOMO into FONO – Fun on Nurse’s Off-days!
- Do a quick Google search to find a park or walking path that you haven’t yet been to and take the family for a hike.
- Grab your bikes and hit the trail you or your friends keep talking about.
- Pick up a sprinkler and a pack of water balloons. Nothing says summer like water fights and the great outdoors.
- Plant a vegetable garden and have your kids be the ones in charge of cultivating it. Teach them about watering and taking care of the plants. Then be sure to celebrate and make something tasty from what you harvest later!
- Refurbish or re-purpose some old furniture. This can help you cross off a lingering home improvement item on your to-do list and make for a fun project the kids can help you with.
- Go inline skating or scootering in your neighborhood.
- Train for a virtual 5K race. Yep, that’s definitely a thing now! A quick Google search will give you a long list of ones that may be happening in your area.
On those precious days off, I know it can be tempting to immediately turn to your long list of things that need to get done around the house. But before you launch into the chores, take a moment to realize that the laundry isn’t going anywhere and nothing terrible is going to happen if you wait just a bit longer to do the dishes. What will go somewhere is summer. Fall will be here before you know it, school will resume in whatever form that might take, and suddenly everyone will be head-down-in-work busy again.
Spend the next couple months putting fun higher on your to-do list so that when fall does roll around, you can look back fondly and gratefully at the little things you did over summer that created big memories for both you and your family.
For an accelerated, fully online program that includes both a bachelor’s and master’s degree, explore American College of Education’s RN to MSN program.
