Remember that old tv commercial for Wegmans that was on "WKBW" tv in Buffalo? Kids and family lazing around...the jingle went like this:
"Roll out those lazy, hazy days of summer,
You'll wish that summer will always be here.."
Everyone was laying around talking, laughing and enjoying a beautiful outdoor picnic. I can still remember the scene like it was yesterday.
Well, my friends, that is KEY. Lazy, hazy days. Summer is for lazing around, relaxing and socializing. Especially, for kids.
Some of my best memories of summers as a child were of me and my buddies just hanging around. Swimming at the creek, swimming at the Mill Pond, riding our bikes, staying up late talking to girls, laying in fields, staring at the sky and talking about life in general. We also threw in the odd green apple fight at the orchard, just for good measure and tons of welts. ( I also discovered alcohol in the summer, but if my kids are reading, I was 18 that summer..turning 19 in the fall)
Our children have an entire life of work, responsibility, stress, scheduling and
competing demands to look forward to. Why do we (parents) now elect to place too many demands on them in the few short summer seasons that they can enjoy with carefree abandon?
What I am talking about is "camps", "activities", scheduled activities out the ying-yang and all the things we sign our kids up for to "keep them entertained". It's almost become a competition to see who can enrol their kids in the most junk. To me, having your child play a sport in the summer is plenty and from there...the social interaction (that the kids find fun) evolves.
I hear people at work discussing all of the crap that they have their kids signed up for..rock camp, fire camp, water camp, wood camp, kid camp, computer camp, food camp, pre-camp prep camps.
Ugh..Ok, one or two..or a week away at camp? Great!
But, it seems we are bombarding our kids with scheduled activities and making it so structured that they don't have time to climb trees ( oh sorry forgot..that is too "dangerous"), hang out, have sleep overs and basically...be kids.
If my kids want to stay up late, hang out in the basement with friends and sleep in all summer long, I really don't care. The years that they get to do this are few...and the years that they will have to toil and be burdened with responsibility are many.
The best memories that your kids will eventually have of summer, are those that they create, not the ones that the parents fabricate.
So, let 'em be kids, for kids sake. Think about how busy you will be this week and how nice it would be to have the time to climb a tree, walk up with friends to get slurpees, or hang out with your friends and talk about the "important" things. Like...what you want to be when you grow up.
Enjoy your summer everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment