The saying, “It takes a village to raise a child,” is as true in summer as it is during the school year. Kids are 98% go-go-go! They want to do it all and they don’t want to miss a moment. The hard part is, life goes on for the parents and guardians.

There is as much, if not more, laundry to attend to in the summer as there is during the school year. Lunch isn’t packed and out the door with the kid. There are more meals to plan and execute. Errands, shopping, banking, oh, yes…and some of us have to work! How can we offer our kids that perfect summer they crave?

The village of parents, whom we too call our friends, is how we offer our kids that summer of memories we can’t make for ourselves.

When you’ve planned that perfect day, you know the one where you’re going to picnic at the park, run for hours, play on the swings—relax. Is it that hard to take one or two more kids so their parents can attend to the tasks that need attending to? If you have the right villagers, they will reciprocate. You’ll be the first one they think of when they’re heading out the door to go for a swim. I’ll be they could use some time to get some work done.

This works when you choose your village wisely. The give and take becomes routine for all villagers.

It’s not always easy to find the right people for your village, but with some work it’ll come. Just don’t forget, sometimes the best reward is when the entire village celebrates together and becomes stronger by having a great time together.

Bernadette Soehner, TODAY #ParentingTeam Contributor
author of This House of Boys Blog