We are getting ready to hand these beautiful babies back to you for 7 daytime hours for the most wonderful of all inventions...summer vacation. Since we are so knowledgeable about your kids from 8am to 3pm each day, we thought we’d give you some hot tips to make your summer easier.
First of all, stock up on ice packs. It’s a pretty solid guarantee that you will need multiple ice packs from about noon to one o’clock. This could be for anything from a scraped knee to a weeks old bug bite to vague symptoms of fatigue. Ice works for it all. Or, at least, they believe it works. We have a pretty large selection of frozen placebo packs and by 1:00 every day, we are usually sold out. So, stock up on ice packs.
Actually, that’s probably the only tip. Your summers are yours. That’s what is so great about summer. There are no curriculum standards to hit over the summer. No need for bells to ring you to the next part of your day. Summer is for fun and even better, boredom. It is in those moments of endless lag that creativity and inspiration bloom.
There are books to be read and clouds to be watched. There are friends to laugh with and popsicles to devour. All of the stress, and make no mistake that just because they are kids that their stress isn’t real, melts like the popsicle treats. This is the chance for the processing of this school year to settle in. What did they learn? We’d like to think they are reflecting on the differences between scalene and isosceles or imagery and personification. But, it’s more likely, and probably more valuable, for them to reflect on the friends they made and maybe lost a little. The recess games that called into question issues of justice and fairness. How they see themselves moving into the next grade. They are going to grow and change over the summer and we will gladly take them back in August.
But, while they are in your loving charge for the slow summer months, help them process the year. Who they were and who they are. It can be very hard to be a kid and being in school around so many others presents endless chances to succeed and to fall down.
As you review those ups and downs with your children, be ready with an ice pack. They really do seem to help!