Summer Activities: Promoting Healthy Relationships

Summer is more than just sunshine, the outdoors, kids out of school, or family vacations. Summer is also lots of open, relaxed, free time spent with your family and friends. With such an influx of ‘more free time’ to go out and do activities, it can be tricky to navigate relationships that are often difficult, strenuous, or abusive. Split parents sharing custody may experience tensions in planning time with children away. Families may place expectations for visitations. Or plans going awry may create stressful and tense situations with a partner. While these factors may contribute to abuse, they are not causes of family violence and should not shift blame away from harmful and toxic behaviours from perpetrators.

It is important to be mindful about the impacts that changes in the season can have on those experiencing family violence. For many, abuse doesn’t stop just because everyone has more time to spend together or the weather improves. Further, many believe that victims-survivors can leave or put distance between them and the abuser at any time. However, leaving, like seasonal changes, doesn’t put an end to abuse. This is why seasonal changes bring extra considerations for maintaining safety, especially when children are around more often, supports may be away travelling, the abuser may have more time off, and other summer-related tensions arise. Below are some resources for help over the summer holidays.

resources for help over the summer holidays

HELPLINES

24/7 Help- Alberta online help chat:

  • Enter information and click ‘start’

  • Only available in English

  • Set browser to private mode for a more secure chat

  • After finished click ‘end chat’ before closing browser

24/7 Abuse Helpline: 1-855-443-5722

  • Help is available in multiple languages

Kids Helpline: 1-800-387-KIDS (5437)

  • Help is available in multiple languages

Sexual Violence One Line: Call or text 1-866-403-8000

  • 9 AM to 9 PM daily

  • Confidential support

24/7 Mental Health Helpline: 1-877-303-2642

Children’s Services Crisis: (780) 422-2001

ANIMAL PROTECTION

Pet safekeeping program offered through Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals available online here or call the animal protection line at 1-800-455-9003

SENIORS ABUSE

Edmonton Seniors Abuse help Line: 780-454-8888

Protection for Persons in Care Reporting Line: 1-888-357-9339

  • Report the abuse of an adult receiving care or support services from publicly funded service providers such as hospitals, seniors' lodges, nursing homes, mental health facilities, shelters, group homes, addictions treatment centres and other supportive living settings.

Edmonton Seniors Protection Partnership: 780-477-2929

SHELTERS

Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters map & directory

  • 24/7 Shelter Hotline to speak to someone at a shelter near you:1-866-331-3933

Emergency Shelters List online here

Edmonton Women’s Emergency Shelters:

Supporting healthy relationships & mitigating stress

There are many ways to keep safe over the summer holidays beyond extra safety planning considerations and finding available supports. Indulging in promoting the healthy relationships you do have can also help mitigate your own stress, as well as support a healthier relationship with your current support system. Finding activities to do together with your current support system may help strengthen the bond you have with healthy, beneficial relationships, and create lasting memories in the process.

Letting go of summer expectations

Though having fun, enjoying the weather, and making memories together are all parts of summer, these moments are not always free of conflict. It is important to be mindful about how summer expectations can cause stress on relationships (of any kind). Visitations, plans for trips, affording excursions, the ‘summer bucketlist’, and more, are all ways that yourself or others, may be holding summer expectations. Letting go of these expectations can help mitigate the stress that many may experience over the holidays and in turn, provide a bit of extra safety in relieving tensions that may escalate. Here are some ways of letting go of summer expectations:

  • Listen to Your Needs - Take time to rejuvenate yourself, yourself, and your body by knowing what your limits are and when you need rest to recover.

  • Avoid Comparison - Every person has a different budget, availability, or structure to summer holidays. It is inevitable that you will see others living ‘newer, louder’ lives. It is critical to remember that you do not see other people’s circumstances, their fear or anxiety, or their budgets.

  • Determine What You Want - Having a helpful list of things that you can realistically do and see over the summer may help avoid the jammed packed ‘bucketlist’ that may cause disappointment if not fulfilled. Assess your budget, time, and travelling.

    • Start With Small Goals - Get a group of friends together for a BBQ, before working yourself to doing ‘the big things’. Your summer may feel fuller faster with smaller get togethers or spontaneous afternoon adventures (or staycations).

  • Communicate - Making plans with other people? Be sure everyone is on the same page about what’s going on before you move forward.

  • Compromise - Your boundaries are important and need to respected. However, a bit of compromise in places may relieve tensions that could escalate to something bigger, especially when triggers for behaviours are present. (ex. Offer to be the DD for the event so you have access to the keys).

Summer activities to promote healthy relationships

  • Go Bird Watching- Track your sightings with photos or use an app or guidebook to help identify!

  • Make A Bird Feeder- The act of crafting something together brings the whole family in on bringing something useful and beneficial to your yard. You can even watch the birds visit and add them to your sightings.

  • Plant A Butterfly or Hummingbird Garden- Create a beautiful floral garden and a wildlife habitat at the same time!

  • Have A Movie Marathon- Break out your movie collection or use a streaming service of your choice.

  • Camp In- Put your sleeping bags and pillows on the floor and have a slumber party. Bonus points if you eat camp-themed meals like s’mores!

  • Build A Fort- Feel like a kid again and put pillows and blankets together into a fort made for kings and queens.

  • Build A Lego Creation- Clear off a table and make this a family project that can last all summer! (This works for doing a puzzle together too!)

  • Make A Time Capsule- Have each family member write down something they are grateful for, a favourite memory from the past year, or bring a special item and place it in a cardboard box. Then, store it away until a designated date. You can open it as early as Thanksgiving or even as far off as a few years.

  • Make Paper Airplanes and Host Races- See whose airplane goes the furthest!

  • Play a Card Game (or Learn a New Game)- Find your new favourite game by playing a simple card or board game.

  • Have Breakfast in Bed- Take turns being the server and the served. This may be an opportunity to experiment with new breakfast options.

  • Set a Goal and Complete A Home Project- Whether it’s cleaning or organizing, spend a small afternoon together getting a project around the house done and then celebrate with a treat together once it’s completed!

  • Visit the Farmer’s Markets- Take a trip to your local markets for an afternoon of strolling, looking, tasting, or feeling. Better yet, get a good selection of fruits, vegetables, and treats that are grown or made in the area!

  • Learn the History- Visit a local museum or historic site to learn about the history of your area and how things have changed.

  • Experiment With Science- There are some easy kid-friendly science experiments you can find on youtube or science channels. Explore the order of the world together!

  • Practice Gratitude/Mindfulness- Write in a journal every day! It could be a line from the day, a favourite moment, something that made you laugh, what you learned, what you’re grateful for, or anything else!

  • Interview An Older Relative/Friend- Write out their history! Who knows, you may learn something about them in the process.

  • Read a Chapter Book Aloud- Plan to a read a chapter or more a night. You could even find a whole series to do together.

  • Master A New Skill- Learn to juggle, play the harmonica, make bracelets, sew, garden, paint, or more. You may find a new hobby you enjoy doing together!

Safety Planning, Stories, Events, EducationCommunications SpecialistSummer, Summer Activities, Summer Fun, Summer Sun, Sunny Days, YEG Summer, Healthy Relationships, Family Violence Prevention, Find Help