Summertime and the livin’ is easy…” goes the opening line of the famous aria by George Gershwin. That song may have been composed in 1935, but I’m sure that our American Idol kids of today can still appreciate the way it evokes the lazy days of summer. By this time of the year, most kids are literally already counting the days before the start of the coming two months of “freedom” from homework, classrooms, and teachers. For some of us parents, however, the worst case scenario can be as terrifying as that classic horror/slasher movie I Know What You Did Last Summer: bloody ears from hearing your kids’ constant “I’m bored” refrain; a tenfold increase in sibling cat fights; mess all over the house; and kids with zombie eyes from too much TV and video games. Apart from educating our children, schools provide a structure that parents can rely on for what to do with our kids while we’re busy earning a living or doing housework. When that structure takes a vacation for two months every year, things can sometimes get crazy at home.
I guess it’s more of a concern for parents nowadays than it was when I was growing up. Back then, finding stuff to do during summer was my problem. During my grade school years, I remember biking a lot, shooting hoops, and reading a lot of books. Still, there were a lot of times when I had nothing to do, especially since there were very few kids of my age that I could hang around with at the time. Bored or not, however, it was my job to find things to do. Today’s world is very different. First of all, parenting styles have changed. For better or for worse, many are now “hands-on” parents. We feel the need to keep our kids entertained and to have them learn new things 365 days a year. Our kids, in turn, have come to expect us to plan their summer activities for them. For parents, however, finding the time and energy to directly supervise all of these things can be very daunting. On the other hand, going back to the traditional approach of the past generation of parents may no longer be feasible as well. The societal landscape has significantly changed and there are a lot more safety and security concerns than before. These concerns limit the amount of freedom that kids can have to simply roam about unsupervised (a la Tom Sawyer) like we did. Moreover, while the physical boundaries for kids are now more constrained, the electronic realm that digital media and technology has created is limitless and fraught with new dangers. There are, of course, the options of going on a family vacation and/or sending your kids to summer camps. These choices, however, can be quite expensive. Moreover, if we force our kids to attend camps or other summer classes, they might also feel that we just don’t want them around the house. What then is a father or mother to do? While I don’t think that there are any magic solutions to this problem, here are three helpful and low-cost ideas that I gathered from several sources:
1. We have to accept the idea that it’s okay to sometimes let the kids be bored. It’s normal. To help them manage things better, however, we need to provide our children with a loose but structured routine that will give their summer days a sense of order. For example, it could involve setting times for doing household chores, reading books, arts & crafts, outdoor play, etc.
2. Limit access to electronic media and get the kids outdoors! Too much exposure to TV, movies, computers, and video games could leave them lethargic and moody. Let them bike around the village or play in the park. Sports camps or clinics are good but may not be for everyone. Alternatively, you can encourage them to play street ball or teach them some of the games we used to play like shato, holen, and agawan base. I believe that if you bring a kid to a park or playground, he/she will always find something fun and healthy to do. As author Darlene Hull writes, “…the sunshine will also stimulate ‘happy hormones’ which will have them (and you!) feeling much better about life.”
3. Let your child choose a summer-long project that they like and can do with you. It could be as simple as mother and daughter baking a different kind of cake every week. Or it could be a father and son working together after work or on weekends to build an AM radio from scratch or a complex scale model piece by piece.
I’m sure that there are other good ideas and tips out there and so I encourage parents to research and read up. In the end, only you will really know what works for your family. The key, however, is to be prepared and to plan ahead so that you can confidently tell your kids that, if you can pardon the pun, “I know what you’ll do this summer!”
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