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The (Not So) Wild Summer is a 12-week limited series podcast for Christian moms who are done simply surviving summer break and are ready to actually enjoy it — shenanigans and all.
The Not So Wild Summer is a 12-week limited series podcast for Christian moms who are done simply surviving summer break and are ready to actually enjoy it — shenanigans and all.
If you are craving an intentional summer routine but feel overwhelmed by the chaos — you just found your tribe! Host Latasha Kennedy — wife, mom of two, business strategist, and multifaceted entrepreneur — knows firsthand what it's like to juggle it all. She's been there: staring into an empty refrigerator at noon, negotiating with kids who suddenly forgot how to read, and trying to hold onto a vision of a summer that feels fun, enjoyable, and dare we say — peaceful.
Think less rigid lecture and more like a text message from your smartest girlfriend who has actually been in the trenches.
What We're Covering This Summer:
Every Tuesday from June through August, Latasha drops a quick 15-minute episode packed with honest, faith-rooted, and highly practical conversation. We are diving into the exact mom life hacks and family systems you need to thrive:
*Summer Routines & Kids' Schedules — How to build a flexible daily rhythm that keeps the peace without killing the fun.
*Mom Self-Care & Sanity — Reclaiming your time, managing burnout, and avoiding the trap of losing yourself in motherhood.
*Family Rhythms & Faith — Practical ways to integrate intentional parenting and faith into your everyday summer chaos.
*Sleep Schedules & Screen Time — Navigating the shifting rules of summer without losing control of the household.
*Back-to-School Transitions — Prepping your mind, home, and kids for a smooth shift back into the school year.
And so much more packed into 12 episodes. 15 minutes. The whole summer winning against these kids' shenanigans — together!
New episodes drop every Tuesday starting June 16th. Hit Follow right now so you never miss a single drop!
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Resources Mentioned
The Good Summer Guide (South Florida & Activities for Anywhere Editions) - https://girlfriendsthriving.com/summer
Connect With Latasha
Website: https://girlfriendsthriving.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/girlfriendsthriving
Share your takeaways and tag us. We love to hear from you!
Listen & Subscribe
New episodes every Tuesday. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
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The (Not So) Wild Summer is a production of the Girlfriends Thriving Network.
Latasha (00:04.93)
Hey sis, welcome to the Not So Wild Summer. I'm Latasha Kennedy and like you, I want this summer to feel good from the inside out. This is where we do summer together, practically, honestly, and with God at the center. So grab a snack and let's get into it.
Latasha (00:27.327)
It's day one of summer break and your kids are on it. They know they don't have to go to school. They know they don't have any practices and all the things. And so they have already planned with friends to stay up as long as they can, right? Because it's summer. And so it's midnight and they're still up. I mean.
I don't know about you, but my kids laughing, playing, just have enjoying their best life. Midnight day one of summer. And you're looking at the calendar and you know there are things that you have to take care of. You gotta take them to camp maybe at 8 a.m. You've got a full day plan and a kid who you know for sure is going to completely fall apart if they don't have enough sleep.
to really operate on, right? So by three PM, they're gonna fall apart and so are you. Right? So we need to talk about this now before it becomes your whole summer. Because here's what happens if we don't get ahead of it. The late nights they stack up and the mornings get rougher, the attitudes get shorter, and before you know it, everybody in the house is running on empty and wondering why summer feels so hard. And it just really doesn't have to be this way.
So today we're tackling the summer sleep conversation. Not to be the fun police, but because we know as parents that well-rested kids are actually enjoyable to be around. And so are well-rested moms. So I'm gonna show you how to set a summer sleep rhythm that actually works, gives everybody something to look forward to, and you get your kids full buy-in from day one. Let's dive in.
So our first action step is to reset the expectation early. So why is that important? It's important because without setting the expectation early, what happens is you spend the whole summer just sort of going back and forth about bedtime, fussing, negotiating, repeating yourself constantly. And so that just doesn't make it fun for you or for the kids. So that's why I really want us to get ahead of
Latasha (02:49.451)
the expectation, right? So have the conversation before the chaos kicks in. And ideally that looks like, you know, having this conversation before summer officially starts or at least within that first week of finishing school because they're a little bit more accustomed to, you know, going to bed early and can wrap their head around this bedtime conversation that you're gonna have, right? So the way I recommend doing it is just
sitting your kids down and just giving them to them straight and saying something like this. Listen, you're still growing, okay? Your body needs a solid eight to ten hours of sleep to actually function well. And we have things to do in the morning. Camp, activities, adventures. And I need you refreshed and ready. Not loopy, not moody, not dragging. Give it to them straight. Okay. We have smart, capable kids and when we treat them like the critical thinkers that they really are.
They rise to the standard every single time. And here's something else I want you to keep in mind as you set this rhythm. There's a season for everything, right? Ecclesiastes 3.1 tells us there's a time and a purpose for everything under heaven. Summer is a season. And every season gets to have its own rhythm. So the school year bedtime and the summer bedtime don't have to be identical because the season has changed.
That's not you being inconsistent. That's you being wired enough to honor the season you're in. And it makes sense that the children want to experience something different because the guardrails are down a little bit. They don't have homework. They don't have assemblies. They don't have all of the incredible amount of responsibilities that they have during the school year. So, you know, it makes sense that a different rhythm would want to be adopted during this time.
So we're gonna go with it, but we're still gonna make sure that we have appropriate boundaries for our kids within that season. So here's also a little bonus strategy for you. If you have kids who even care about things like getting taller or having great skin or want more energy for things they love, tie it into the sleep. Just don't go too far with it because they will call you out and then this whole plan goes out the window.
Latasha (05:15.275)
But honestly, kids who understand the why tend to cooperate with the what. So let's just tell them why. Okay? So the next thing you must embrace is that the summer bedtime is not the school bedtime. And as someone who genuinely looks forward to my nine thirty bedtime, this has not been the easiest thing for me to embrace either. So I'm not even gonna hold you. It's a real adjustment.
But summer is about everyone getting a little bit of what they want while school is out. So give yourself full permission to let bedtime shift later than the school year. That's actually part of what makes summer feel like summer, right? But here's the key. Pick a consistent time and protect it. A reliable later bedtime is infinitely better than a different time every single night. So consistency is the gift you give yourself just as much as you give them.
Now here's a pro tip, and please hear me on this. Don't allow bedtimes that you know don't serve your kid. No matter what season we're in, you know your child better than anyone. You know their blind spots even when they don't. They are fully convinced they can function on the 2 a.m. bedtime, and that's the official summer bedtime request that they put in. And you already know that noble, like you're not built for that, okay?
So give them some loving feedback and if they've already tested it, just replay the tape in love so they can actually see it. So an example of that would be, you know, I would probably tell my kid, well, remember when you told me you fell sick all day and you missed your friend's pool party? Was that two AM bed time really worth it? I want you to have a good time too. I'm not trying to be the fun police, but can we please have a great time and feel good at the same time?
Is that too much to ask? We just can't be out here risking it all every night, you know. Let your body recover from today's wild day so you can live to see another day. Right? And so just being able to just chat with your kid about natural consequences, you know. If you stay up every day at two AM, you're going to pay for that. And on the opposite side of that, mommy's gonna pay for it too, because I'm not gonna be able to have as much fun with you.
Latasha (07:40.165)
you might not be able to really enjoy the day with me and I've got so many cool things planned. Bro, even if it's just a random trip to get ice cream, that's the many things, you know? But the truth is is that like you you know, whenever you're thinking about getting a buy in, especially from kids, or really from anyone. I mean, we all wanna know what's in it for me. If I really wanna stay up at two AM and you're telling me that I can't stay up at two AM, I mean like what do I get out of it? Well
Listen, and it's this isn't bribery. This is just really saying like, listen, there are things that I want to do with you too. There are things that you want to do and I wanna do with you. But we can't do it all in one day. You know, we got two, three months of summer. Let's spread out the fun. Okay. So it's not about bribing our kids. You know, you are mama and you know best, but I think that we help our kids grow in practical intelligence when we talk to them.
in ways that help them see, okay. I mean, yeah, she is right. I did kind of like pass out, you know, in the middle of the restaurant and the, you know, my chicken, I really wanted the chicken, but I couldn't stay awake to eat it because 'cause I want to stay up at two AM every night. You know, so just helping them navigate through natural consequences and understand why you're saying something isn't a good idea and then not be just because you're a mommy and you're the adult, but really because
It's just really not in your best interest. Right. And so I I'd love to actually hear some of what the feedback is about this particular recommendation. And I'd love for you to circle back to me on IG at Girlfriends Thriving to let me know how this goes. Like I really wanna know what you can say and what y'all come up with together. Okay, so here's my last point. And honestly, this one is my favorite because
Here's the move that changes everything. We're gonna build one or two nights per week into the plan where the kids get to stay up as late as they as they want. Okay. It could be a late night movie, it could be a game night that goes past bedtime, it could be a late dinner where they pick the restaurant or the menu.
Latasha (09:58.269)
Just let them feel that sleepover energy without it being so rigid every single night, but also not so wild every single night either, right? Because when kids know that the wild nights are coming, they stop fighting the regular ones. So take a look at the calendar and plan those nights intentionally. Ideally when nothing serious is locked in for the next morning and they have something to look forward to and you have something to offer instead of just a bunch of rules to enforce.
Right. So you get the buy-in, right? You get to preserve the fun, not be the fun police. You know, you get to maintain peace and you're the best, right? You're you're the hero. Mom's a hero and mom wins again. Listen, I don't know about you, but I I keep I keep record of my win points. You know what I'm saying? So absolutely. Now I want you to take these action steps and I really
want you to apply them with the full confidence and knowing that what I'm sharing with you is not theory. I lived this. So before we wrap up today, I want to get really honest with you for a second. The summers I tried to keep everything tight every single night, consistent bedtime, no exceptions, hold the line. Were honestly exhausting and unfun for all of us. Nobody was happy, the kids were resentful, and I was tired of being the villain every single night.
But the summers that I loosened the grip strategically, gave them their wild nights, held the line the rest of the time, those were the summers everybody actually remembered with joy. The memories we still talk about came from those intentional late nights, not the nights I fought to keep the schedule perfect. So just know that you are not being a pushover by quote unquote.
Compromising, right? Offering some form of compromise to the kid. You are being a smart mama. And there is a very big difference between those two things. Right now, upon recording, I am in DC with family. And I'm gonna tell you, I went to bed eleven thirty. My kids were both still up playing a game together, eating
Latasha (12:21.959)
food, I mean, like just doing all the things. I gave them both a kiss on the forehead. I told them live their best life. Like have a ball. I'll see you tomorrow. Not tomorrow morning. Tomorrow. Cause who knows what time they were gonna get up. But the point is is that they're here in DC with their grandparents, with family. So, you know, to be rigid and say, You guys go to gotta go to bed. You guys gotta, you know, be able to get up in the morning.
It's okay. Like enjoy your time. Enjoy your time with your grandparents. I'm going to bed though. I'm going to bed. And obviously I can do that because my kids are older. my kid my oldest is eighteen. My youngest is thirteen. So I have a little bit more agency to be able to do that. If your kids are smaller, obviously you have to play the game a little bit differently. And so you really wanna stick to more of
the takeaways I shared earlier because those really ensure that even on vacation, you're having a wild time when it's best to have a wild time and they're getting the rest that they need while when it's appropriate to do so. So you have everything you know you need to really set up great bedtime routine for the summer. And like I said, please let me know, you know, what your kids and what you think about it.
Because I'd love to know like how you guys are going to navigate the summer when it comes to getting all the rest that you need. So let's just review real quick before I go what your takeaways and action steps are. So, number one, you're going to tell your kids the summer sleep plan. And in that same conversation, tell them which nights are their wild card nights. And you're going to put
It all in the calendar together. Let them pick if you can, okay? Then watch, and I mean really watch. Pay attention to how fast the resistance disappears. Okay? Because you might want to apply this type of strategy to other areas that you're dealing with with them when you start to find creative ways to really work with them and let them participate in the design of the vision.
Latasha (14:39.079)
And that's really the power of the buy-in. They're not fighting the rules anymore because the rules include something that they also want. And it's like it's a win-win situation. and if there's anything that I really love, it's a win-win. Right. Because it just really helps with the camaraderie and the morale of the home when people feel like, you know, the things that they love and enjoy matter to the other family members.
And for us as parents, it's a win because you don't have to fight so hard, you know, with your kids to get them to cooperate because they have a vested interest in doing the thing, right? So that's all I have for today. That's a wrap on today's episode. And I am so proud of you for showing up for this conversation. Sleep is not a small thing. It's the foundation that holds the whole summer together. And now, my friend, you have a plan.
Alright, friend, that is a wrap on today's episode. If this conversation gave you exactly what you needed today, you know the drill. Make sure you are officially following the show so you never miss a beat. Share this episode with a girlfriend and drop us a review. It truly helps other moms who are standing in the midst of the chaos asking, how sway? Find the practical tools that you need to get these kids on.
the way together this summer. And even more importantly, tag me on Instagram at GirlfriendsTriving with your one major takeaway so I can shout you out and we can celebrate our wins together. One more thing before you head off to your next adventure for today. Check the show notes and grab the good summer guide. I created this with your busy summer in mind so you never okay, let's be honest. So you rarely have to hear
Mom, I'm bored. It's packed with curated itineraries, stress-free family activities, and the ultimate rainy day survival plans. Whether you grab the South Florida edition or the Activities for Anywhere edition, both are completely ready to save your sanity and elevate your season. Grab yours right now and let's start building your not-so-wild summer today. Until next time, have a wonderful week and remember.
Latasha (17:06.759)
You're in his hands.