Summer Days Ahead

Do you remember summer as a kid? What did you love about summer time?

I remember freedom; unlimited time to ride bikes, climb trees, skateboard, swim, go to the park, play with Barbies, GI Joes and Lincoln Logs, and pick plums from the neighbor’s trees. Our neighborhood was full of kids. We would pack our lunches and ride our bikes to “the Indian Trails” of upper Sherman Park. As a kid, it was a huge forest of trails where we built forts. It makes me smile every time I drive by it now and recognize what a little hill of trees it really is.

The neighborhood kids would race ten-speed bikes down the street to see who was the fastest. The summer before sixth grade I wiped out on my bike when I tried to stop on a patch of small rocks at the bottom of the street. Many rocks (pebbles really) were ground into my knee. It is a war wound of childhood that still exists and reminds me every year when I prepare myself for swimsuit and shorts season that summers are for play time.

What will your children do this summer? Have you given them time to play or is their summer already packed with camp after camp, summer school, enrichment programs, and summer sports teams? Time out!! Summer is for play time! Time to build tents in the backyard with old sheets and blankets, time to climb trees, play hide and seek, time to be outside without adult direction. And most importantly, summer is time for creative play.

We learned as kids to include everyone, how to fight with each other, and to resolve our own problems. We knew other parents would tell ours if we were out of line. We learned social skills and negotiation skills, but not because a parent intervened but because we were all we had for the summer.

The intention of parents today is to give their children every advantage they didn’t have. They spend more money on sports camps, enrichment activities, and other experiences than their own parents did. Kids today are over booked in sports and camps and adult planned play dates. Children do benefit from these activities too, but balance is the key. Back to back, non-stop activity, does not build character, it wears everyone out and robs children of the skills to know what to do with time off.

Give yourself and your kids a break this summer. Review what you have already signed your childen up for and ask yourself if you have allowed time for unscripted play time. If not, they are over booked and you will be too. Relax this summer. Play, read, rest and enjoy.


© 2008 Anne Nelson, Joy Zone LLC