No More Pencils, No More Books …

Cheryl Gowin and Dennis Gowin.  Call us at our counseling practice with your feedback, comments, issues, or questions at 434-808-2637.

Well, it is that time of year again, the end of another school year.  Last week, kids filled the local McDonald’s all celebrating the last day of school.  Although the kids were happy and excited about it being the last day of school, when asked about their plans for the summer, the kids’ general response was a blank stare, a resigned shrug of the shoulders and a garbled “I don’t know.”

So why have a summer vacation?  Ken Gold, in his book “School’s In,” finds the break was created in the 19th century based on the belief that “too much schooling impaired a child’s and a teacher’s health.”

William H.H, Murray, a New York preacher, receives the credit for the idea of a summer vacation.  In 1869, he published a tour guide to the rugged Adirondacks of upstate New York, extolling them as an antidote to the debilitating effects of modern life.  He noted his desire to “encourage manly exercise in the open air, and familiarity with Nature in her wildest and grandest aspects.”  Murray observed how city dwellers weighed down by work emerged from the northern woods revived and bursting with health.  When parents contemplated bringing the kids along, the parents ran into a serious problem.  At this time, schools followed one of two calendars, neither of which was compatible with the idea of summer vacation.  In rural areas, schools opened their doors in the winter and the summer, but closed their doors in the spring and fall, when parents needed children to help on farms with planting and harvesting.  Cities, by contrast, remained open all year.  Neither system was conducive to bringing the kids on summer vacation.

At the same time, school reformers began voicing the same concerns about “brain work.”  Horace Mann, an influential school reformer of the 19th century, held that “health itself is destroyed by overstimulating the mind.”  Likewise, the Pennsylvania School Journal published the stand that because children spent too much time in school, they were “growing up puny, lank, pallid, emaciated, round-shouldered, thin-breasted, all because they were kept at study too long.”  It makes you wonder what they would say about kids and video games, but back to the subject of summer vacation.

Have you set any plans for your kids for this summer?  Over the nearly 150 years since the concept of summer vacation came into vogue, our world has changed dramatically.  We need to ensure that our kids have safe and enriching opportunities during the summer.

For your grade school kids, have you thought about Vacation Bible School?  Many churches in our area offer a free VBS program.  The program generally lasts a week and consists of skits, puppet shows, singing and arts and crafts.  Although the programs are geared toward elementary school-aged children, they also offer an opportunity for high schoolers.  Volunteers staff the programs, so helping at a VBS program is a great activity for your high school age kids.

Another idea for your middle school and high school aged kids is summer camp.  Young Life offers summer camps that have received the title “The Best Week of Your Life!”  Young Life’s website describes their camping as high adventure, lots of fun, great food and excellent speakers who understand and respect high school and middle school kids.  Their goal is to allow kids to be kids with activities that range from the giant swing, ropes course, blob, mountain bikes, horses, wakeboarding, and zip lines.  Details on the two camps in our area can be found at https://oneamazingweek.younglife.org/Pages/CrossRoads.aspx and http://Rockbridge.younglife.org.

We all intuitively know that too much time spent glued to smart phones, tablets, and computers is not good for our kids.  Summer vacation offers our kids a time to recharge as well as digital detox.  These are just two ideas of activities for your kids to enjoy without needing an electronic connection.  Next week we will look at family activities that also allow for a family digital detox.

Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.  Song of Songs 2:12

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Call us with your feedback, comments, issues, or questions; our phone number is 434-808-2637.