Stephenie Freeman
Summer is now upon us and instead of allowing my children to relax for the next three months I am scheduling every free moment they will have. I am afraid that if I don’t have activities planned for them there is a good chance that my children will remain in their pajamas in front of the television for the next twelve weeks. So last week, with the calendar and a city recreational guide in front of me, I sat out to create a memorable summer for my children.
I quickly realized that there would be plenty activities to peek my
children’s intellectual curiosities all summer long. Swimming lessons,
tee-ball games, library reading programs, art lessons, vacation bible
school, museum explorations, family vacations and more. As I filled up
our calendar, signed permission slips and paid the necessary fees, I
realized that I was not allowing my children to have an actual summer.
My kids were about to be busier than they were during the school year.
Everyone can remember their own anxious anticipation for summertime to
begin. Summer was more than just not having to go to school. It was a
time of freedom, fun, no shoes, freshly mowed yards, boat rides on the
lake, and ice cream in the park. I don’t remember a single scheduled
activity that I participated in during the summer except for swimming
lessons which was just the prerequisite to the activity to come, not the
activity itself. Back when I was a kid, your summer was full of
activities and none of it was planned.
During my childhood summers, my parents would drop us off at the local
pool and let the life guards baby-sit us all day. We would hop out of
the car with a beach towel, enough money for a hot dog and a Coke for
lunch, and maybe a bottle of sun screen that would sit at the bottom of
your tote bag. On days that the pool was closed, we road our bikes all
over town (without helmets) or played at the park behind the school. We
played and played until it was dark when, finally, we were forced to
head inside to eat dinner and rest until tomorrow.
Playing inside was never an option. Not only was there nothing on
television to watch and no video games to play, but all of your friends
were outside waiting on you to play. Remember the phrase, “Can (your
name here) come out to play?” In our neighborhood if you were the first
one outside, it was your job to go from house to house until the whole
neighborhood was outside. We played Star Wars in the creek behind our
house or filled the baskets on our bikes with chalk rocks that we found
in a yard down the street. We went every where without our shoes on,
leaving our feet black all summer and even the girls walked around with
scabbed up knees. The only thing we had to worry about was waiting for
the street light to turn on; our signal that it was time to go in.
Unfortunately children are not allowed to have the same adventurous
summers of that we did. Kidnappings, drownings, and other forms of
accidental death have caused parents to become overprotective, keeping
our children close and clamping down on most childhood freedoms. I would
never think of letting my child ride his bike out of my site. He is not
allowed to play in the front yard alone, and if he wants to go down to
the neighborhood park he has to be accompanied by an adult. Granted, my
children are still young. It is doubtful, however, that these rules will
change once they get older. Our world today is not allowing us to give
our children the same wonderful summer experiences that we had.
So, instead here I sit with my overscheduled calendar. Seeing little
breathing room, I begin to erase some of the trips to the museum and
library and in its place I write, “Time outside.” Maybe I will have to
ride behind my kids as they explore the neighborhood. Maybe I will have
to be brave enough to let my child explore the regions beyond our
driveway. Maybe he will have more scheduled summer activities than I
ever did, and maybe that is not such a bad thing. Maybe he won’t have
the same summers that I did as a child. Maybe they will be even better.
Previous Posts:
Excitement About
the Small Things
The Lies We
Parents Tell
Birthdays to
Remember
Can You Hang
Tinsel On A Recycling Bin?
Time Out For
Dummies
I'm A June Clever
Wannabe
To read more from Stephenie, visit her site!
Mama Wants More
A column for today's mother who has it all and still wants more
because you're a mother, a wife, a citizen, a consumer. You're
unappreciated, underpaid, and over qualified for wiping bottoms &
cleaning toilets. But this was your dream. This is what you always
wanted. you love your life, but you still want more . Me too.
