We're counting down the last days of school and wondering how we're going to handle the transition to summer vacation. Typically, summer invites a lapse in household rules. For some that means staying up late, sleeping all morning and spending the rest of the day playing video games, watching cartoons or surfing the internet. That's a recipe for brain drain if I ever saw one.

While most parents would like to encourage their kids to just go out and do something, it's more helpful to have a list of suggestions handy, or, better yet, a schedule of events. First of all, my favorite little couch potato has been warned he will have to earn TV and computer time with outdoor play and reading books (an idea that came via one of his friends!). I'll then plan a loose schedule of activities that leaves room for down time, but not enough to actually waste the day in front of the TV, as he sometimes prefers. And I'll throw in the occasional day trip to his favorite museum or zoo to spice things up.

With no need to get up early, and sunset falling ever later in the evening, it's tempting to let bedtimes slide into the realm of homework for the summer. But it's still important to keep some semblance of a schedule when it comes to our children's sleep habits. They still need just as much sleep as when they were in school. Hiking all day in the mountains of their imagination takes just as much energy. Having them go to bed and wake up at the same time every day not only insures they will get enough sleep, but that they will get quality sleep. And children that wake from a restful sleep will have more energy and better moods throughout the day. And that all adds up to happy families.

Sleep routines can be interrupted by drive-in movies, late-night star gazing and early-morning family road trips. But while an occasional break in routine shouldn't cause problems, the total lack of a routine most surely will. It helps to keep mealtimes as close to routine as possible, as well. Of course, if you still have a little one who resists any kind of a sleep schedule, as I do, well then just hang in there. As with diapers, they eventually grow out of it.

So don't dread their summer vacation, make it a happy one with a little creative scheduling. And before you know it, they'll be back in school and bragging about what a great summer they had!