What Does Routine Mean for Kids?

With Summer just around the corner, what does routine mean for kids?

Today we are taking a look at the importance of Summer routines for children, focusing not only around the transition back into school but how these routines impact long term. We sought insight from Shannon Gilds, the Director of Programs for Boys & Girls Club of Manhattan. Together we explore not only the offerings of Boys & Girls Club, but also the reasoning behind their programming and what you can implement it at home. 

Have questions, thoughts, or stories you want to share? We would love to hear from you! Shoot us an email at brightminds@pawnee.org

Your mental health matters. While this podcast is meant to foster connection, understanding, and hope, we know that some conversations may bring up difficult or emotional moments. If you need support, help is available and you don’t have to navigate it alone.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or experiencing emotional distress, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Free, confidential support is available at any time.

To learn more about Pawnee Mental Health, visit us at https://www.pawnee.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome back. I'm Jonathan Saypal.

SPEAKER_02 0:05

And I'm Michelle Malieu, and this is Bright Minds and Brighter Days Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Where every episode, our goal is to bring you real conversations that meet real care. All right, welcome back. Today we have Shannon Gilds from the Boys and Girls Club. The Boys and Girls Club sets to inspire and enable all young people to reach their full potential as productive, caring, and responsible citizens. They do this by providing a safe place for youth to learn and grow where hope and opportunity is provided through life-enhancing programs and character development experiences. Welcome to Bright Minds Brighter Days.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Thanks for having me today. I think today what we want to talk about is summer programs and routines in youth. So obviously we know as adults routines is key. I think we a lot of us would be lost if we didn't have a routine. Routine and structure, yeah. The routine and structure for kids is good during the school year. I mean, set you wake up at a certain time, you eat breakfast, you go to school, and then you come home and you have chores and whatever. How do we try and keep kids on track with that during the summer?

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Our summer starts way before actual summer starts, you know, with the prepping and getting prepared for our kids for eight to um ten weeks in the summertime. So just keeping them on a s you know, day-to-day schedule by starting their day off, you know, uh getting up in the mornings, you know, doing all the things to get ready to come to Boys and Girls Club. So once they come to Boys and Girls Club, we make sure they have a breakfast, if a breakfast hasn't already been had at home. Um then we kind of go over the day with an assembly, kind of give the kids an idea of what happens throughout the day, what their day would look like, and then we have different structured programs. Um we do run our BGCA programs, boys what that says was Boys and Girls Cup of America programs that we um run throughout the morning um session, and then the afternoon is kind of pretty much um after lunch, well, after lunch. Um the afternoon is pretty much it's like social rec time. We have pool day for them and we have field trips planned for them. Yes, we um try to at least have a field trip planned each week. Um, like I say, summer gets started before actually actual summer starts. Um, so we have a theme typically every summer. So our field trips are centered around those things, that the theme that we offer for the summer. And so um go to field trips, we come back, we give them a snack, we kind of let them cool off a little bit, and then you know, we have after afternoon clubs, you know, whether that is from Lego Club, that is from uh Argurmy Club, all types of clubs, uh bike club, uh all types of different clubs that we run throughout the afternoon. Great kids. And then, you know, we started seeing our kids as early as about 4 30 getting picked up because parents probably, you know, they come at 7 30, parents will pick up around 4, 4 30 and out to 6 p.m. Okay. Yeah. Wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

I mean that that sounds that sounds pretty fun. I know a lot of the the things that you hear about, you know, when kids go out for summer break and then they come back to school, they talk about, you know, oh well, you know, they kind of regressed over the summer. Is there anything in particular that y'all do to ensure that, you know, they're still having all that fun, but they're not they're not regressing educationally?

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Yes, we do uh offer some art, STEM, um, some math. Um, through our summer, one of our summer uh programs in particular, um, we run a summer bank brain game. Um, and that one is consists of different different components of reading. They learn how to do math through measuring because some of our activities um include like making items like food and different things like that. So they still get that educational piece in the especially in the mornings. And then with our unit directors, which all of them are so great, and they are planning things in the afternoon to keep that educational piece um going. So the kids are, you know, still getting some reading time. And then we also partnership with the library, because the library um opens for the month of June, and our kids can still go there, get books, take home to read and everything and such. So they are still getting a lot of reading going on and um some like math and STEM and everything in the mornings typically with our program.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

So I think youth we often see pushback with some youth. So what are some important strategies that you guys implement to keep them engaged?

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Uh just make it fun. We ask the staff, you know, that's working with our kids, whatever you can to make it engaging and fun. Get up and be interactive with these kids, find out what their what their needs are, see what they're interested in, um, get down to their level, you know, um to just to see, like, hey, you know, this person may want it this way, this person may like it this way. Let's just come together, have those conversations with the kids because hey, believe it or not, they're little people, but they actually is very impactful, you know. And they uh converg a lot to the table um and just telling you what they like and not simply don't like, you know. So I always encourage the staff to um base their programming um around the members' interests and needs. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Can you can you share any specific story uh about a child that might have been impacted by your program?

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Yeah, um I have so many stories because I've been doing this a while. Um I like to see and I have seen like some kids have graduated, um, many of this program graduated and now work for us. So uh I can think of about least four or five kids, you know, I've seen go through um go through this program, um, and actually now they are employed by us and has worked for us like one or two years. We had a uh we what we do is for our junior youth, um, we have a junior pro uh junior staff program. And they can start it when they're in the age of 15. Um they can't be with the kids by themselves. They are super totally, you know, supervised and everything like that. Um, with a of age program leader, 18 and older. Um they cannot be with the kids by themselves, but um we start that program probably probably since I've worked at Boys and Girls Club. Um, and um we encourage them to stay with us and um invited them to things that they need as they're growing into successes of after graduation and going into college, you know. Um so that's one of my most impactful stories that just see kids come back and work for us after they have gone through the program and yeah, seen all the things that this program offers and how it actually works.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

So it's like a shadow mentor program. Wow, yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. So what kind of training do your staff get? Because I I've been there before and I know a lot of staff are young. Like, is it just college-age kids looking for a job? Is it just I don't know what I want to do with my summer, so I guess I can apply here?

SPEAKER_00 7:29

So typically our s uh uh staff, some of them have started with us, they obviously start with us during the school year, and then they will continue their time, you know, sometimes in the summer if their schedules allow them to. You know, a lot of our kids, uh uh college students, they are in his dorms and some of them just have to go home and you know, they don't have anywhere to stay. And but um mostly um they will uh stay sometimes and work through the summers and continue to go on, and trainings that we provide for them is uh typically our programs through BGCA. And then now we are doing a really good job is doing community partnerships such as with you guys, Fonnie and um KDHE, and we're getting those trainings, um K-State Research. Um, we have all of those different um programs and community partners that we're working with to come in and train our kids, our staff. I look at them as kids too because I'm so much older than all of them, but um they um yeah, we have all of those different trainings coming in. Uh we have offer online trainings through our BGCA.net as well. Okay. Um everybody has when you first start at Boys and Girls Club, you go through your hiring process, and that is one of the first accounts you need to make with BGCA um.net, so you can go in there and we have a we make a playlist for them of all the safety uh trainings that they will be able to take to ensure they know that hey, these are the things that we have to do to keep these kids safe, these are ways to engage with these kids, ways of not to engage with our kids, making sure you know we're putting their safety first. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

What are some of the challenges that um that y'all tend to face and yeah, like how do you overcome them?

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Sometimes one of our biggest challenges is you know, staffing, you know, because you know, our staffing is basically off of uh, you know, K-State, and you know, but what we do, we keep recruiting, we keep putting the word out there, we um uh has uh different times where we are invited to go to K-State and do tabling um to put our information out there about our program. Um we just putting the word out there, and you know, sometimes we go out and hand out flyers and just let people know in the community, working with our schools and USD 383 um has been amazing for us and helping us uh get the word out there and the principals across USD 383 putting the word out there to their parents. Boys and Girls Club is here at my school, and we are at every school at Boys and we have a Boys and Girls Club at every school in USD 83. Um, our high school and our middle schools, um which is AMS and EMS and uh Manhattan High, we offer services for those students at our teen center down at our main office uh located at 220 South 5th Street.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

So how can a community support the Boys and Girls Club, the summer program at least?

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Just, you know, if you know families that need our services in this community and need a safe place for their kids to go, um, just go ahead and just like we just if you know about the program, just go ahead and put the the name out there. Um if you have kids that come into a boys and girls club, you know, encourage your fam uh people that you know um in your community and your neighborhood and say, Hey, my kids go to Boys and Girls Club. We think it's a great place, and you know, send them our way. Okay. Is there a cap on so many you guys can take? Like yes, sometimes we have to have a wait list. Okay. And what we do with that wait list, we monitor it every week. So every week we have a meeting on Wednesdays, and that's our meeting day. Um if that that schedule allows us, nothing comes up. We meet every Wednesday from 9 30 to 10 30, and we look at the wait list and we try to pull as many as click kids off. But sometimes there is an issue where we have to make sure we have staff to meet the number of kids that we accept in that within that week. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

So do y'all do y'all do anything to support the youth um uh to provide them any emotional support?

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Absolutely. Um these last year, I would say we have gotten better with um making sure we have people that can come in and help our kids. Like we have partnered with uh, and I hope I get this word right, at Astra. We have partnered with them to come in um to work with our kids, especially our children who have special needs and needs that extra support. We all they have to do is just come in, do their training with us. We make sure we do the background checks so just that just in case, you know, we can have people in there working with our kids and around our kids. We have to have everything safe. Then um we have worked with uh Ponny as well to um like if our kids who we know that has IEPs or um uh different services that we have been communicated with through their parents' permission, we um try to, you know, invite those services in our building to work with those kids. And then on our side, we have had uh youth we have youth support specialists, those uh people who come in and help our kids with those, help regulate those emotions, help them calm down, help them stay on task and different things as such.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

So kind of circling all the way back to the beginning when we talked about routines, and then circling back just a little bit ago of what we talked about. If you guys have a wait list, what do you suggest parents do? Like if I can't get my kid in for a summer program, do I just let him sleep all day while I go to work? Like, are there things that I can do outside of your club that, you know, maybe you could kind of steer me in the right direction of okay, maybe you should have a, you know, a routine for them at home. What does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Yes, and we always do the best we can to help support families. And if and then if there's a time and a point in time that we cannot, you know, get them in and parents need urgent care, you know, and they don't have family members or have that family support in town or anything. We do see if there's other uh programs in the community like Cool Care Club and such as things like that. If like uh I I know that one off the top of my head because I've seen it, you know, in the community. If there's other programmings, we do make that suggestion. Even though we want to take every single kid, we can. Because we will if we can. But sometimes we just don't have the bodies to make sure we have people all our kids taken care of and safe. So I'd rather see m see that kid safe and have what they need than uh saying, oh, we can do it and we can't actually do it, and something happens, and that would not be I like that you guys have the resources for people if you can't get them in.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

So what does routine look like?

SPEAKER_00 14:08

So so routine, well, I would encourage parents to always try to, you know, if you can stay at home with your kid, you know, or if you have a older child there, you know, and safely can be in the home with the kid um to make sure, just start a day off with maybe getting up, having a breakfast, you know, um, maybe uh have some things like activities for them to do. Um, you know, I don't know if some parents maybe can and can't afford uh, you know, to buy things, but I always encourage people like check in Pinterest, just plan things, take them to the library, um, get a book. Um, you know, if they uh get them a book and read, um maybe, you know, go on the internet and look for like math sheets, keep that kind of thing going for the kids throughout the day, you know, and find things for them to get into if you can afford to pay for extra curriculum activities for your kids. So sleeping all day is out of the question. That's not the same. Video games out of the question. I have three nieces and my sister keeps them busy. Uh even during the summertime, she keeps them engaged with going out in the community, finding little things, look around town, see um what is out there for your kids to um get involved in.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

And I think it makes it a lot easier when school rolls around once you have that routine in place.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

Well, Shannon, you seem like a really passionate person. I love what I can do. I can tell, I can I can tell. I can tell.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

I love this. I've uh I always have to give my, you know, no matter where I'm at um in life, I always have to point my starting point to Lee Elementary School. Those people got me to where I'm at. A lot of those teachers, the principals from the past, you know, um got me to where I'm at. So now you're doing the same thing for the community. And I do the same thing for the community. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

So given everything that you've um that you've seen in your day in and day out of your your profession, um, you know, what what gives you hope for the future?

SPEAKER_00 16:07

My hope for the future is if I can reach one child, you know, to be successful, to go um have a better life um for themselves, go to college, you know, because I I I hate to go to my background, but I didn't have like the best environment growing up. Um, but I had great parents, you know. My mom and my father um both um was very involved and my step parents involved in my life. Um, and I just can reach one child to just go and make some of themselves and then go and do that work for somebody else.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Well, thank you for being here with us and thank you for sharing.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

I appreciate this so much. And I just would love to continue. I know my to speak on the behalf of our CEO, Mr. Brady Armstrong, he's our interim um CEO right now, and um my COO, Miss Alyssa, uh just um they would like for us to just continue to outreach in this community and be a part of this community and help as many families as we can possibly help. Love it. Thank you. Alrighty. Well, thank y'all so much for having me today.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

A new day at Pawnee is here. It's about building a mental health system that's easier to access, more flexible, and supportive of our communities. For more than 70 years, Pawnee has been standing with people through challenges and change. Now, therapy, recovery, crisis, and medication services are even more connected, accessible, and ready to meet people where they are. Find out more at Pawnee.org.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Michelle and I would like you to know pain is temporary, but giving up is permanent, and you don't have to face it alone.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

If you or someone you know is in need of care, hope is available. For local listeners, you can call Pawnee's Crisis Hotline at 1-800-609-2002.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

For our national listeners, you can call or text the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Other mental health resources can also be located on our website, Pawnee.org.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

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