Normally, I fork over hundreds of dollars during the summer months to put each of my three kids into a full-time summer day camp program. Ideally, I prefer to work from home without the distraction of my kids, so sending them off each morning makes perfect sense…at least a few days a week. That was until I crunched the numbers and discovered that I hadn’t been spending hundreds of dollars for summer camp fees, I was spending thousands!
So, this year we’re doing things a bit differently and I’m launched Mommy Summer Camp 2008 today. Translation: All three kids are staying home with me for the summer.
Initially, the idea of this seemed as ridiculous as paying thousands of dollars to send them to camp. How in the world was I going to get my work done and offer my children a fun, educational summer experience? I was stumped for weeks. Then I got wise. I pulled on my professional HR/Training & OD Manager hat (my profession for the past 11+ years) and approached the dilemma like I would if a client called me to design and implement a leadership development program, while improving worker productivity and morale.
The result? I have a fully planned summer program that start tomorrow. Here was my process, as mirrored by a classic organization development (OD) process called “action research:”
- Preliminary Diagnosis: In this step, I asked myself some key questions that included: Why do I want to do this? What outcomes do I want to see? How might this plan be implemented? Basically, I want to have a “big picture” view of the summer in this initial step.
- Data Gathering & Feedback: First, I went to my kids and asked them what they thought about staying at home with me for the summer. They all shrieked with joy over the idea (gotta admit, that was kind of nice). I asked them to each provide me with ideas for activities they’d like to do and also threw in some of my own. I also asked them to give me one or two things they wanted to accomplish by the end of summer (i.e. learn how to tie shoes, get potty trained, learn to read, etc.).Of course, I did this for myself as well. I certain goals I want to attain both personally and professionally this summer too.
- Action Planning: Armed with fliers, catalogs, books and ideas scribbled on notebook paper, I fired up my laptop and began planning out our summer calendar using Google Calendar. First, I entered in the general, broader activities, i.e. swim lessons each morning for two weeks, library visits every Monday, movies every Friday, etc. Later, I entered in the daily activities hour-by-hour for each day. I only went as far are the first few week. I’ll continue to update the calendar as the weeks progress.
- Take Action: Well, that started today…we’ll see how it goes!
- Evaluation: Despite my attention to detail, I can’t always account for everything. So throughout the summer, I’ll evaluate the program to see how things are going — Is mommy still sane and happy? Are the kids having fun, and learning? Are we sticking to our budget? Are we too busy? Or bored stiff?
I started this planning process a couple months ago, so the kids have been giddy with anticipation about today. For the last several days they asked, “When is Mommy Summer Camp starting? We’re going to have so much fun!” Admittedly, I’m confident and nervous at the same time (similar to when I work with clients who anticipate big results from my consulting work). My kids expect so much, will I be able to follow-through? I love my kids, but experience has taught me that I’m a much better working mom than I am a stay-at-home mom, so this Mommy Summer Camp will be an interesting blend of the two — stay tuned!
p.s. See my post Resources for Summer for ideas on how to enjoy time with your kids this summer.
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