Yesterday I was in the store looking for some new swim goggles for my son. Yes, the blonde one who would lose his head if it were not attached. I noticed a horrifying sight.
The summer stuff was being pushed back to the clearance rack and the back to school stuff was prominently featured up front. ACK! Summer just started. Didn’t it? I certainly am not ready for the back to school extravaganza to begin. This is the first year that I will have children in elementary school, middle school, and high school. Just thinking about all the planning and co0ordinating and lunch packing is making my head spin. I sure hope that they figure out how to add a few extra hours to the day by the time September rolls around!
But aside from my anxiety over that, I still feel like there are so many things that I want to do with our summer vacation. Like, maybe, actually GO on a vacation. We recently moved across the country and landed here right in the throes of baseball season. Last night was our final game. After almost 6 months of non-stop baseball we have a lull before the next sports season begins and more importantly before school begins.
People keep asking us if we have been to this place or that place–various touristy sites, lakes, parks, theaters– and so far Ihave had to say that no we haven’t gone anywhere. But I am looking forward to checking out at least a few places over the next month.
At Motherlode, the New York Times parenting blong, Lisa Belkin tackles the question of whether or not we should get rid of summer vacation as a society. For the children, not for the grown-ups, because clearly it really is not a vacation for us.
What do you think? Should we get rid of summer vacation and go to school year round? Would that help families where both parents work not have to scramble to find summer daycare? Are the lazy days of summer a thing of the past?
If we did get rid of summer vacation when in the world would children have time to just be children? To relax and run around the neighborhood with their friends and have no agenda? To sleep in until their eyes pop open by themselves, to lay on the grass and read a book, to play card games with some friends, to not have any scheduled activities. The sort of free time that we as adults are always wishing that we had more of. Time for the children to just be children.
I already think they’ve shortened Summer vacation too much from when we were kids. I think unregimented Summer play time is mandatory for developing minds! It doesn’t matter if you actually GO anywhere (though that would be nice).
Comment by Brigitte — July 18, 2009 @ 7:20 am
I’m with you and Brigitte.
Comment by liz — July 20, 2009 @ 9:59 am
Today was our first day of the 2009/2010 school year. We live in North Carolina and I am a teacher at my children’s school. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the year round schedule. We get the same amount of time off of school as our counterparts, we just get it spread out throughout the year. We are in school now, but when traditional schools start back we will be on our 3 week fall break. Instead of 2 weeks off at Christmas, we get a full 3 weeks off. In the spring/Easter time, instead of 1 week off, we get 3 weeks off. Our summer ends up being about 5 weeks. It works wonderfully for us as our family is all back in Michigan and travel is so much cheaper “off season”. In fact, a group of my co-workers is going to Vegas during our fall break this year and they got their airfare, and 3 nights at the MGM grand for under 300 dollars TOTAL…and that includes breakfast each day! Our children still get to do those lazy day things, they just do them at different times of the year.
Comment by Stacey — July 20, 2009 @ 9:49 pm