Keeping chores going through summer and school breaks

What happens to routines when school stops

During the school year, the day has a shape: wake up, get ready, go, come home, homework, dinner, bed. Take the school day away and the shape goes with it, along with every chore that depended on it.

Many parents respond by dropping the chart for the summer and trying to restart it in September. That can work, but it can make the restart harder, because the habit has gone. A lighter routine that continues through the break is usually easier to keep.

Why a routine helps in the break

Brown University Health notes that children do well with structure, and that when school ends the loss of routine can bring stress and anxiety and affect mood, motivation and focus. It suggests a summer schedule that includes hygiene, mealtimes, household chores, learning, exercise, outdoor time and family relaxation.

You do not need a timetable that looks like school. You need a few fixed points that give the day a shape, with a lot of room around them.

A simple summer shape

Try anchoring the day with three or four things that always happen, in the same order:

1. 1Morning basics: get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, make the bed.
2. 2A short chore block, ten to twenty minutes, before the day gets going.
3. 3One quiet or learning time, such as reading, a project or a puzzle.
4. 4Outside or active time, then free play.

Let your child help build it

The same advice is to involve children in creating the routine, since it increases their motivation to follow it. In practice, that might mean an hour with a pad of paper at the start of the break, asking:

• What do you want to do this summer?
• Which chores would you like to take on while school is out?
• What time of day suits you best for jobs?

Summer is a good time to try something new. A child who has a few extra hours may be ready to try a bigger job, such as cooking one meal a week or looking after a garden bed. Our chores by age pages have ideas for every stage.

Make it visible

Brown University Health says visual schedules may help many children, particularly those who find change hard, and suggests pictures, checklists or a “first, then” layout. A printable chart on the fridge, with a row for chores and a row for fun, does the job.

For children with ADHD or autism, a clear, predictable routine can matter even more through the break. See our guide to chores for kids with ADHD or autism.

Holidays, travel and busy weeks

Short breaks are different from a long summer. Over a holiday week or a trip, one approach that works for many families is to keep a minimum and pause the rest.

• Choose one or two jobs that travel well, such as making the bed or packing a bag.
• Pause the points or streaks, rather than letting them break. “The chart is on vacation” is better than a streak that ends on day three.
• Give children a real job in the trip itself: packing their own bag, reading the map, setting the table at a rental.
• Keep sleep times as steady as you reasonably can. Brown University Health says flexibility is fine, but consistency matters.

Restarting in the fall

If the routine has run through the break, the restart is easy. If it has not, do not try to bring everything back at once. Start with the two or three jobs that matter most, add the rest over a few weeks, and use a family check-in to agree what changes with the new school schedule. Our guide to why chore charts stop working has a short plan for restarting after a break.

Sources and further reading

• Brown University Health: Summer schedules and why children need them