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Do you remember your carefree summer days? The days when you didn’t have somewhere to be every morning, you got to sleep in, the freezer was stocked with popsicles, and you didn’t have any responsibilities except to be home when the streetlights came on at night.
The days were filled with water fights and bike rides down the block. Nights were filled with flashlight tag in the middle of the cul-de-sac.
What if we could give this same gift to our kids?
Let’s remember not to pack their schedules.
Let’s remember to give them days without expectation.
Let’s remember to say yes to running through the sprinkler.
Let’s remember to let them stay up past their bedtime to catch fireflies.
Let’s remember to enjoy the extra daylight.
Let’s remember to make dandelion crowns.
Let’s remember to get dirty feet.
Let’s remember to let their bodies rest.
Try this popsicle recipe
Whether you school through the year or you take a break, we need to have seasons of rest. Seasons of recalibrating. Seasons where it’s more about fun than it is about fundamentals. Seasons where our kids hear us say yes more often than they hear us say no.
If your kids are in school during the year, the summer slide shouldn’t be about academics, but about slip ‘n slides in the backyard. Our kids need to have time during the year when the pressure is lifted.
We need to give our kids time that is unscheduled – without summer school or summer sports.
I want to give my kids a 1980s summer. Carefree. Unrushed. Unscheduled.