My Summer Mom Hack: How ChatGPT Is Saving My Sanity (E48)

Mom's Guide to Finding Herself
Written By Mom Identity Project

Do you ever wake up in July and immediately feel like you’ve become the cruise director of a very chaotic, very unpaid family vacation?

You’re not imagining things.

Summer with little kids is… a lot. The days are long in every direction—more daylight, more snacks, more bugs, more emotions. You want to soak it up, say yes to popsicles and nature walks, and let them stay in swimsuits all day. But you also want five uninterrupted minutes to drink your coffee while it’s still warm.

That’s where ChatGPT comes in.

No, this isn’t a pitch for some AI tool that’s going to revolutionize your life or make you a productivity goddess. I’m not using it to hustle or scale or systemize my summer. I’m using it to survive it—with a little more presence and a little less decision fatigue.

Here’s how.

The Daily Lunch Dread

Let’s start with lunch.

There is no time of day more soul-sucking than 11:47 AM when the kids are melting down, the fridge is half-empty, and you’re supposed to whip up something nutritious, creative, and low mess. That Venn diagram does not overlap.

So now? I ask ChatGPT.

“Give me 3 lunch ideas for a 2.5 and 4-year-old using baby carrots, bread, shredded cheese, and leftover chicken.”

It spits out stuff like:

  • Chicken and cheese pinwheels with carrot stick dippers

  • Muffin tin sandwich bar

  • Deconstructed lunchables with fruit on skewers

Would I have thought of those? Probably not. Did they save me from the “I don’t know, just eat some crackers” meltdown? Absolutely.

Boredom Busters on Demand

You know that moment in the afternoon when they’ve had too much screen time and not enough structure, and the whole house starts to feel like a zoo enclosure?

ChatGPT is now my emergency boredom hotline.

“Give me one indoor activity for a preschooler and toddler with no prep and stuff I already have.”

Boom. Sock toss tournaments, stuffed animal freeze dance, toy wash station in the kitchen sink.

Are any of these new? Nope. But they don’t live in my brain when I’m one tantrum away from snapping. Having ideas at my fingertips makes all the difference.

Planning Simple Summer Adventures

I love the idea of summer bucket lists. I hate the reality of Googling for 45 minutes only to give up and default to another park visit.

Now, I type in:

“Plan a half-day outing for a family with young kids under $40 that includes outdoor time, a snack stop, and no long car rides.”

And it delivers! Nature trails with story walks, splash pads with coffee shop nearby, packing lists included.

We even made a summer activity chart—20 free ideas like sidewalk chalk obstacle courses, backyard story time, and water walls out of recyclables. It’s taped to the fridge and keeps us inspired without me having to think.

A Rhythm, Not a Schedule

I can’t do rigid summer schedules. They make me twitchy. But total chaos? Equally bad.

So I asked ChatGPT for a flexible weekly rhythm—and now we have themed days:

  • Water Play Monday

  • Adventure Tuesday

  • Craft Wednesday

  • Chill Thursday

  • Fun Friday

    We swap them around based on weather or moods, but it gives us an anchor. A gentle rhythm instead of a strict clock. And that’s been magic.

Why This Matters

This isn’t about using AI to be more productive. It’s about being more present.

It’s about offloading the tiny, relentless decisions that make you feel like you’re drowning—so you can sit on the grass, watch your kids make mud pies, and actually enjoy the mess of summer.

ChatGPT isn’t a hack. It’s a helper. It’s a quiet assistant in my back pocket that doesn’t judge or overcomplicate—just gives me a hand when I need one.

Because moms deserve support too.

Want help reconnecting with yourself this summer?

💬 Book a free discovery call to see if coaching is the right fit: Book here

📸 Tag me in your summer chaos and wins: @momidentityproject

And if you try ChatGPT this summer—let me know! I’d love to hear how it helps you, too.


Help Us Grow

The BoldLittleMinds MomCast is made possible by you - the listener. Your support goes directly into making each episode happen—thank you for being part of the journey!

All donations go directly to supporting the production of the Mom's Guide to Finding Herself podcast

For Your Binging Enjoyment…

how I'm using chat gpt this summer

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[00:00:00] Do you feel like summer hits and suddenly you are the cruise director, the snack ferry, the fight referee, and the boredom buster all before 9:00 AM. Same here. That's why this summer I'm getting a little help from a new sidekick, not another Pinterest mom idea. I'm talking about chat GPT. In this episode, I'm spilling all the ways that I'm using it to save my sanity, spark creativity, and actually enjoy the summer.

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Let me set the scene. It is July. The sun is already blazing by 8:00 AM and the house feels like it is buzzing. With that summertime energy, like anything could happen. My kids aren't in school, so it's not like some huge shift happened overnight, but still something changes when [00:01:00] summer hits, right? The days feel longer in every direction.

There's more daylight, more movement, more snacks, more bugs. We are outside more, which I love, but it also means I'm not inside multitasking like I like. It should try to do. I'm not folding laundry while someone watches a show or sneaking in a few emails during a snack summer kind of rips that illusion of productivity right out from under you.

And honestly, I wanna soak it up. I wanna go on those spontaneous nature walks, play in the backyard all day long, say yes to the messy crafts. But here's the thing, I. Also want time for me time where I'm not the entertainer or the referee or the sunscreen enforcer. It's a lot. It's a lot of decisions, a lot of snack requests, a lot of energy management, a lot of me trying to be the emotional [00:02:00] regulator and the cruise director and the snack chef, and the referee and the event planner, and honestly, it's exhausting.

So this summer I've decided to let chat GPT be my behind the scenes assistant, not to replace me, not to make me some productivity guru, but to take a few things off my plate so that I have more room to be in it, to be outside, to sit on the grass, to say, sure, let's go for the nature walk without spiraling about what's for lunch.

It's like having a quiet helper in my back pocket. No judgment. No planning pressure, just someone to bounce ideas off. When I'm tired of making every single decision on my own to help me stay grounded in the chaos, to be more present with my kids and more present with myself. It's not a hack. It's a helper.

A way to carve out more ease, more fun. And yes, even a few [00:03:00] slivers of alone time during those long, beautiful, exhausting days. Here are five real ways that I'm going to use it this summer, so that way it feels a little more like a season of connection that I want it to be.

So the first thing I'm planning to use it for is lunch and snack planning. That doesn't make me cry. Lunch is a daily dread for me. You know what I mean? You are already tired from all of the refereeing that you've been doing, and now you're supposed to magically come up with something nutritious and appealing, and that doesn't require a sink full of dishes. So now I'm planning to just open chat GPT and type give me three fun lunch ideas for a two and a half and 4-year-old using only.

Whatever ingredients I wanna use. I don't know, sandwich bread, shredded cheese, baby carrots, and leftover grilled chicken. And in seconds it spits back stuff like chicken and cheese pinwheel sandwiches with carrot stick dippers, which. Your kids might or might not like, but then it might also throw out, [00:04:00] build your own sandwich bar with toppings and muffin tins, deconstructed Lunchable with sandwich squares, veggie sticks, and fruit on skewers.

Things that you love to see, but you wouldn't necessarily come up with your own. In that moment, things that you have like saved to your Instagram because you see them and you're like, I could do that. That's real. But when you're thinking about it in the moment with lunch in front of you, it's a blank slate.

You're looking at these empty plates like, what the heck am I even supposed to do? But now it's in your pocket to tell you and give you some good options for snacks. I'm planning to do the same thing. What's a creative afternoon snack using? I don't know, popcorn, yogurt, and apples. And you'll get things like DIY, yogurt parfait bar with apple slices and popcorn for crunch I feel like that's what chat GPC sounds like. Popcorn trail mix with mini chocolate chips and apple chunks. apple slice nachos, drizzled with yogurt and sprinkled with popcorn crumble. I don't know. The things that they said are sometimes a little wild.

But you [00:05:00] can use it as an inspiration and a starter point. It turns what I do, feed them now into something that's fun, but totally manageable. And when they're happy with food, I get a second to breathe. So it's a really great tool to try to buy that extra time and take your load off of your mind with it.

Another thing you can do is rainy day and mom, I am bored. Crisis mode. Here's how it goes, right? It's 2:15 in the afternoon. It's raining. They are pacing around like zoo animals. They've already watched way too much tv and you are about to start screaming into a pillow so you can type into chat g pt.

Give me one easy indoor activity for a two and a half and a 4-year-old that doesn't require prep and uses household stuff. Here's the things that it gave me when I did that sock toss. Set up baskets and threw a rolled socks for points. Toy wash station in the sink with bubbles and dish brushes. Freeze dance with [00:06:00] stuffed animals.

Yes, it's chaotic, but it works and these are all things that I have seen before. None of them are new, but they don't live in my brain when I actually need them. You could even ask it to give you a low mess, calming activity that they can actually do at the table while you sit down with a coffee.

Like, be specific. What do you wanna do? During this time when I just did that, I got color sorting with muffin tins. Love it. Sticker story challenge. Each sticker equals a new part of the story. This is adorable and calm jar making with glitter and baby oil if you happen to have it Again, none of these are new.

None of these are fancy, but they're fast and they're available at your fingertips when you can't pull it outta your brain yourself. And sometimes that is all we need to get through the tough moments. The third idea is planning simple summer adventures without Googling. I love the idea of a day trip, but the reality of it is tough for me.

Planning them usually [00:07:00] means spending an hour Googling fun stuff to do near me, and then I get overwhelmed and I give up. So now you could start by asking Che GBT. And you can be as specific as you want. plan, a half day outing near your town for a family with young kids under $40.

That includes outdoor time and a snack break and minimal time in the car so they don't take an accidental nap and ruin bedtime. I tried it for me just now, and it came up with a route to a nearby nature center, a walking trail with a story path and a picnic lunch suggestion.

It even added a packing list, the bug spray, the water bottles, the baby wipes. It just takes it off of your brain. It's like having a travel agent that understands how short kid attention spans are and how important bathrooms are. I've also used it to build a. Bucket list with the kids. I typed. Give me a printable list of 20 fun free summer activities for young kids at home and now we've got it on the fridge.

Everything from sidewalk [00:08:00] chalk obstacle course to host a backyard story, time to make a water wall out of recyclables. They love looking at it and thinking about what we might wanna do today. I love not having to think about the things to do the next thing you can do. Number four, create a weekly and daily rhythm that actually works for you.

Here's the deal. I can't do a strict summer schedule. I've tried. It makes me tense and nobody likes it, but total chaos also makes everyone grumpy. So I asked chat, g PT to help me come up with a flexible summer rhythm. Not a schedule, but like a vibe. Here's what it gave me. For a weekly rhythm. It said you could do things like on Monday we do water play On Tuesday, we have Adventure Day on Wednesday, we do craft day on Thursday, chill day on Friday, fun Friday.

Now I love these ideas. What I use all of them in this exact order, not necessarily. I'd [00:09:00] probably take them and then like shuffle 'em around based on the week. So on like the hot day, I might do the water day. So like the water balloons in the backyard and the water table down on the grass and have the hose play going.

My kids aren't really into water play, but this kind of stuff that doesn't get them fully wet is a lot of fun for them. And then on like the cold day or maybe the super duper hot, you can't even be out. Aside for a minute day, that's the chill day. That's like the puzzles, the quiet play, the books. But I love this idea of having a rotation in categories.

Categories really work for me. And then the daily flow, it suggested for me in the morning you walk through breakfast, outdoor play, planned activity, midday, lunch, rest time, or screens, independent play, whatever you wanna do. Afternoon snack, second activity, and maybe a short outing, and then the evening dinner, wind down, walk, and then books in bedtime.

It helps the kids know what to expect, and it helps me build the day around moments of quiet and connection. [00:10:00] I have started with a piece of paper out every day where I just write, number one, we're going to do this. Number two, we're going to do that, and even if we cross things out and don't stick to it.

My 4-year-old has really started to love to say, oh, after this, we're doing that. I even had it suggest short morning mantras. Like today we play outside, or today we create something, which I'll write on that paper for them and they know what we're going to do. There's that theme, that mantra, that thing that, that action word that points to what we're doing.

And then number five, manage the daily onslaught of tiny decisions. You know what I mean? Those micro decisions that pile up until you feel like your brain is full of static. What to pack for a picnic? What to say to the neighbor kid when they won't go home? How do explain thunderstorms without scaring your preschooler?

Now you can just toss it into chat. GPT. I'll type things like how do I explain thunderstorms to a [00:11:00] sensitive 4-year-old in a reassuring way, and it delivers short, helpful mom to mom style scripts that save me the brain space.

Even things like. What are some fun end of day questions I can ask my kids at dinner instead of, how was your day and suddenly we're having these really sweet conversations about what made you laugh today? Or if today was a color, what would it be? They're so cute. The best part of all of this is it's not doing more, it's about doing less of the hard stuff.

So you can say yes to the good stuff. Yes. To painting rocks outside. Yes to reading on a picnic blanket, yes, to just sitting for a minute and drinking your coffee while it's hot chat, GPT is just a tool, but it's a powerful one.

And this summer I'm going to let it take some of the load away from me so that I don't have to carry it all alone. Have you ever felt like you're using 0% of your brain while parenting, like you went from multitasking queen to snack fetching robot?

In the [00:12:00] next episode, we're digging into that mental whiplash with a former teacher turned stay at home mom, who found a simple way to bring purpose and creativity back into her days with her toddler in tow.

Mom Identity Project https://momidentityproject.com
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When Your Kid Melts Down and You Want to Disappear: Handling Public Mom Shame (E47)