Design your summer

“Every man makes his own summer. The season has no character of its own, unless one is a farmer with a professional concern for the weather.”

Robertson Davies (“Three Worlds, Three Summers”)

One of my favorite authors, Gretchen Rubin, is all for "designing your summer". The idea is to plan something special so the weeks (or, in some countries, months) when your teen girl is home don't just float by and aren't spent only on devices and social media…

Here are 10 ideas and suggestions for your TCK teen girl:

1. Make it “a summer of…”  "Reading," for example. She could focus on a special topic, on a special author, or a specific book cover color (maybe yellow???) she wants to dedicate some time to. Maybe she'd prefer to explore a new genre, learn all about sharks, or reread some books...

   
   

2. Learn something new This may involve drawing mandalas on her iPad, designing a cactae garden, or making the world's best tomato sauce. In-person courses would be great, as they offer a social aspect, but online courses are second best.

   
   

3. Plan family and friend visits If you’re an expat family traveling “home” or to a place where she has friends, plan these visits in advance. Spontaneous meetups can lead to frustration if, in the end, dates don’t work out. Encourage her to call or message her family and friends with your dates and ask for theirs in return. Do you already have an itinerary? Then, you as the mom may suggest some days and times from the beginning. Can she group some of the people she wants to see together? This would free up your mom's calendar. Pro tip: don’t schedule anything for the last two days so she'll have some wriggle room.
   

4. Some things that only you can plan for her Your daughter's summer courses, camps, and get-togethers are where you need to be involved. Talk to her early about what she needs/wants to do, and try to fit that in together with her.  

5. Get your teen daughter involved  As a teen, she might be reluctant to travel with you, and you might get eyerolls for that... If she gets to plan something special, she might be much more excited about it. My daughter's always in charge of restaurants, matcha teas, and excursions. And if she doesn't want to go on yet another walking tour that her mom organized (me!), then she'll happily search the best ice-cream discovery tour in our holiday place.
   

6. Let her plan bigger special family activities Your daughter could be the one in charge of finding a special event, like a fun fair, a water park festival, or a local fair. Check if these will only happen on a certain weekend and encourage her to block that weekend for the whole family ahead of time.  

7. Explore your city/place if you’re not traveling Encourage her to be a tourist in the area where you live. Check out ideas for visitors and see if there is something new nearby or something you want to repeat. let her think about what is easily reachable. What is your ideal maximum traveling time? 1 hour or 1 ½?

   
   

8. Do a typical summer activity

For some reason, picnics and camping are often on summer lists. These activities don’t have to be in the woods. They can happen in your garden or balcony and will be equally memorable. Even your teen daughter will love these, especially if she can organize them.

9. Watch a show together over the summer

   Let her choose a Netflix show for the family to watch together, or maybe a podcast you’ll all listen to when you’re in the car. She could also make a list of movies or ask all family members to suggest 1-2 movies to add to her list.

   
   

10. Choose a summer color

She could wear this color, decorate a room/desk, or try foods in this color (without going

overboard cost-wise, of course). Creating a special colour photo album could be another

great idea for the "pink summer of 2026"!

11. Try out “…............” this summer

This is about exploring. You could try all the ice cream flavors at your favorite ice cream parlor one after the other, day by day. You might want to check out all the castles in your area, or visit all the shoe stores in the nearby town.

Robertson Davies says that “adventures make a good summer," and I would agree. And we can make our adventures as small as we want to.

The idea is that the summer of 2026 will be memorable. In a few years, your daughter might remember this summer as “2026, that was the summer I wore my summer color, pink, we camped on our balcony 3 times, and we tried out 15 different Boba teas.” 

Enjoy your summer,

Kindly,

Andrea

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