We wrapped up April vacation week today in Massachusetts, and it started me thinking about the coming summer vacation. I’m not talking about my vacation, of course, but rather the practice of closing the schools for a week in February, a week in April, two weeks in December, and all of July and August. Why do we do this?
When both parents work, school vacation is time that childcare must be covered. It can be an opportunity for fun–our kids enjoyed an enriching week at the Boston Nature Center. When parents can coordinate schedules it can be a great time for a family trip. But not three months.
Thinking ahead to summer, we have arranged several weeks of camps and planned a family vacation. We are far from “helicopter parents,” but not scheduling is not an option and we want our kids to have a good experience. I don’t mean to whine and complain that schools “inconvenience” us, but…
Isn’t the most important thing in our kids lives learning? Why is there a need for a vacation from what is good? Kids should not be sitting at desks all summer learning math, but they should be learning things about life that they will not get if left to their own. A toddler needs to be watched; kids need opportunities to learn and grow.
Boston has an amazing array of resources and programs for kids in the summer, but most of it is piecemeal. There are even more opportunities offered by private organizations. But you really have to “stitch” things together when some programs are morning or afternoon only or end at 4pm, don’t start until 10am, etc. When a parent works part time, or has an amazingly flexible schedule, or does not have a job…I guess you can make it work. But otherwise, I think most of those programs are an automatic “no.” Ironically, if your kids do poorly in school, there IS summer school–but I doubt anybody wants that.
We need something more comprehensive to keep the spark of learning alive for all kids over the summer that is also practical for parents. When I look at the programs offered, I think, wow, we are almost there. It’s the same reaction I have when I look at the after school programs and organizations like Citizen Schools, a nonprofit that coordinates volunteer parents to go into schools and provide extended learning opportunities by sharing their skills and experience in a way that links school to work.
The pieces are already there…and I think Boston has an incredible supply of opportunity–for those parents and kids who can find a way to participate. Why is there no systematic effort to make these opportunities available to all? What if parents could be assisted in creating a yearly education plan for their kids that would simultaneously solve the childcare challenge? Am I a hopeless liberal planner type to think we need more than just parental serendipity?
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To answer your question yes. The summer break should accomplish two things, one to release the kids from the scheduled learning to be replaced with free time, and two the forced scheduling of the parents to become immersed back in the family. The reliance of a school system or third party to schedule most daily activities relinquishes the control of the kids upbringing. All situations are different but if you can be with your children during an extended time instead of pawning them off on someone else, they usually turn out better. My wife and I both worked, we were lucky in a lot of ways to have some flexibility so one of us was available during non school time. Being there allows you to do the most important job of a parent-to say no-,you are not guilty that you have not seen them enough, you are not hoping that their teachers are instilling your type of morals to them. Instead you are parenting, setting boundaries and during the few months they have free, enjoying and exploring the down time together.
I will clarify/expand my post to make it clear I am not advocating the schools schedule/assign the kids to mandatory activities but rather that they provide a coordinated means for parents and kids who want to choose activities that extend the school day. That could include onsite activities that might be run by teachers or by other community organizations like the YMCA. Extended day should be different from just “extended homework help” or “child watch.”
Right now, there are YMCA before-and-after program at many schools. Some teachers organize “enrichment” activities like a dance or music class once or twice a week. If these efforts could but put on a consolidated schedule that parents could plan around, it would allow more participation.
I cannot see how summer vacation forces parents to become immersed back into the family–you sign the kids up for camp. Some parents will just sign the kids up for 10 weeks of a single camp; others will divvy up the weeks between different camps for some variety and to build in time for vacation and family activities. But most jobs do not allow for a parental “summer schedule” where the parent can be home half the time.
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