New Years Resolutions Anyone?

Planning for the next year has always been a crucial part of our surf camps growth over the past six years. Needless to say we take our new years resolutions serious over here at WSMS CAMP! Do you guys sit down and plan for the New Year with your family?

Here are some of WSMS Camp’s New year Resolutions (Goals):

• Be less wasteful with our painting supplies

• Supply clean painting shirts for kiddos to avoid getting paint on their bathing suits.

• Incorporate more art actives for kids on art day.

• Bring more instruments for kids to play such as bongos.

• Supply a birthday party service for those who want to celebrate their special day at the beach with surfing, art, and music.

• Expand our services to homeschool families who are in need of enriching activities for their children during the school year.

• Expand our services online for people to learn our curriculum from home.

• Host more events for the kids, such as movie nights and game nights.

  

Cleaning out the Closet

The dreaded closet full of different colors, seasons, and stains! This happens to be where we begin our new year planning in our house.

As we all know kiddos grow what feels like an inch a day and clothes are impossible to keep clean and fitting right.

Here’s our approach:

Step 1: Go through our kiddos closet with them and tell them to pick out their favorite 7 outfits (Shirt, short/pants, underwear, and socks), and remove them from the closet and dresser. (Most of the time there are SO MANY shirts, shorts/pants, socks and underwear left over.)

Step 2: Go back through and have them pick out their least favorite outfits they have or clothes they don’t like anymore. Outfits we like for our kiddos are NOT alway what they like.. (As we all know styles change!)

Step 3: Put the clothes our kiddos don’t like in a box for donation, take out all of the clothes that’s left, and put back the favorites.

Step 4: Find a number of outfits you as the person washing, hanging, or folding them is comfortable with keeping up with. For us we have a maximum of 10 outfits in the closet! Use this outfit number to talk about the remaining clothes with your kiddo.

Step 5. Find what your kiddo will need for this new year and head to the thrift store to drop off last years clothes. While you’re at the thrift store dropping off clothes, go look for the items they need for the new year! We almost always find multiple things we are looking for and save a lot of money this way.

The Resolutions/Goals: Big Small and In between

Our second step in planning the new year with our kiddos involves our GOALS. This is very important to us as it is an opportunity to hear what our kiddos are most passionate about while incorporating things we need them to work towards. Letting our kiddos plan their aspirations while mixing in our new chore lists and “To-Do’s” is always more fun than just breaking the bad news of all the new responsibilities they have to take on this year and how they have to live.

Here is how we look at planning goals for the new year:

BIG SMALL and IN BETWEEN

The Big: The ONE big goal your kiddo has that may not even be realistic but is a dream or big aspiration for the new year. Maybe it’s getting barreled in Costa Rica or learning a back flip or to speak Spanish. These goals aren’t necessarily designed to be achieved as much as it is designed to shed light on our kiddos deep creative passion for accomplishments in which we can build off of and up to.

The Small: These goals are the realistic short term achievements your kiddo is soon to accomplish. This goal is where we start to collaborate a bit more in terms of direction with their current activities and education. Sports, grades, personal hygiene and side jobs are all places we start with these goals. We always wrap up this section with “Allowance goals” as it helps us transition into our input of new chores and routines in between everything else.

The In between: This is where we come in as parents to add routines or chores that our kiddos are going to start keeping up with in the house. Our goal is to merge the small goals with these new routines in a way that builds up to THE BIG goal for the new year.

The Steps in our process:

Step 1: Explain we are going to plan an Awesome filled year ahead of time so we make sure we get to do everything we dreamed of while being 10 (your kids age). Explain we are going to separate it into three categories: The Big, The Small, and The Inbetween.

Step 2: Grab a piece of paper per kiddo and write; The Big on the first line, skip one or two spaces, then write The Small. Then, skip down 5-10 spaces before writing The Inbetween.

Step 3: Explain to them what the three categories (The Big, The Small, The Inbetween) mean and have them tell you their BIG goal for the year. We try not to question this big goal much at all aside from encouraging something that is somewhat in the realm of accomplishment.

Step 4: Tell your kids we can come back to the big at the end to see if we want to adjust it, and move onto The Small. This is where you will allow your kiddo to lead to list with your guidance and collaboration. We like our kiddos to feel in charge of their year, so if that means putting a couple unrealistic or silly goals on this section, we allow it! End this section with talking about allowance, if you are a family or parent who beleives in paying your kiddos for contributing to the house needs. We have non paid chores and paid chores in our house, some chores are just required while others are extra and really appreciated!

Step 5: Now The Inbetween. This is our opportunity to take the lead. Based on your kiddos schedule for the year and goals that you have already come up with, write down new routines and or chores that you want to incorporate every single day.

Step 6: Go back and add or remove anything with your kiddos. Store this somewhere safe and accessible so you can go back to it frequently to edit or check on your kiddos goal completion!

If you’re like us you LOVE to travel with your family!!

Our List of Travel needs for our kids when we all travel together:

• Composition notebook with a pen and pencil

• BEEF JERKY

• Activity books

  • Wordsearch

  • Find the missing objects

  • Color your own stickers.

• Downloaded Ebooks matching the time of all the flights.

  • We like to avoid screen time but use our devices as attention tools still and this is a great way!

• Reward candies or sweets for milestones in the process, ie once we get to the terminal, or once we land.

• Rolling suitcases

  • We use to pack backpacks but realized after a trip to Puerto Rico that rolling suitcases are a must for our kiddos.

Check out this ‘Ride On’ suitcase for the littles:

Recently, on a 2 week trip our family took to Europe, we saw a family of 5 pulling their two young kiddos along on these suitcases!! Although we have never used them we were blown away by the idea and wished we had one while traveling with ours while they were younger. Even at 7 years old walking all through the airport gets tiring for our youngest and when he saw those kids cruising on their suitcase he instantly wanted one!

Need a few additional presents??

Check out this SALE at THE SURF STOP. (Our Favorite is the $100 OFF Surfboards!!!)

WE HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING HOLIDAY BREAK!!