Parents are making summer vacation productive for their kids by teaching them 'how to be a person' skills

Sometimes kids not only need to learn about subjects like science and languages, but they also need to learn about crucial life skills. During summer, parents now want to teach their kids such activities, helping them navigate life better. According to Insider, summer camps come with a high price tag for a lot of parents. Many of them claim it can even cost $4,000 a month per child.

Parents are now opting to fill their children's summertime while teaching them essential skills in the comfort of home. One mom-of-four from Utah decided to make such a list for her own kids and sure enough, it soon went viral as it resonated with a lot of people. Kaitlyn Rowe came up with the "How To Be A Person Camp" list on her Instagram page, Our Mama Guide. All the activities were meant to teach her 6-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son key life skills. 

"I've always thought it was such a good idea. So, I started making a list on my phone of ideas for my kids or what they could work on," Rowe told Good Morning America. "This summer, I didn't sign them up for camps, I didn't do anything like that and they're not in school, obviously, so I thought it would be a good time to try it out."

Rowe was inspired by Emily Ley, a mom of three in Florida, who has been running her version of "How To Be A Person Camp" for the last three years. "We started doing this when COVID was happening and we were all quarantined and just trying to find things to do here at home," Ley, author and founder of the planner company Simplified, told the outlet.

"I was really overwhelmed with all I was doing as a mom and working and homeschooling kids all of a sudden, and so, I knew if I could help them with some age-appropriate independence, it would also help me as well -- and they just love the idea of being more grown up and knowing how to do things that I used to do just for them, and so they jumped right in."

Ley's list includes everything from "How to brush and floss your teeth well" to "How to write a thank you note" Rowe's list includes "How to put away clothes" as well as groceries. Others on the list are "How to ask help from an Adult" and "How to Scramble an Egg." Rowe advised, "I think making it child-led, as long as they're interested and open to learning and making it fun. Because then if it turns into like this big homework checklist, I don't think that would be fun for them."

Ley feels it's essential to see where your child is at and then figure things out from there. "I would say just look around at all the things you're doing for them that they might be able to take on age appropriately," she explained. "And it may be different for different kids. I mean, my oldest has done a lot of these things. My youngest two have not done all of them. But I think that's a really good place to start, just looking around at the things that you're doing that they might be able to help with."