How did you spend your summer as a child? Did you spend lots of time indoors staring at a flickering screen? Did you enjoy the pool, backyard, front sidewalk and other outside activities? Did you find joy in a butterfly or chasing fireflies as dusk fell? Did you build forts out of old blankets when the rain drove you inside?
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Are your favorite memories the ones involving grown-ups supervising play or sports? Or were they the times you were free from adult supervision (at least you felt like you were) and you played Ghosts in the Graveyard until dark with the neighborhood kids? Or you followed a little stream in the ditch down the street to a land of enchantment you and your best friend created in your imaginations?
Kids need plenty of fresh air, sunshine and freedom to structure their own games and play fueled by imagination. I hope that your children enjoyed as free a summer as mine did—those are the memories that they will hug close as the years go by.
As the summer winds down, don’t forget that children will still need the freedom of unstructured playtime when school starts. A kid is sitting outside staring off into space is actually experiencing important brain growth. By providing opportunities for doing nothing, you are giving your kids the best gift of all—the ability to keep summer (and all it represents) around throughout the year.
Until next time,
Sarah
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