Summer is for…

Work? Play? Both?

How did you spend your summers growing up? 

I grew up in LA, but we came “home” to Utah every summer to visit my parents’ families. It was hot, no AC, and kids were expected (read required) to go outside and stay outside all day. 

Summer was long, sweaty afternoons under Uncle Ted’s trees (he had the deepest shade), endless mosquito bites, hot dogs in Aunt Marion’s back yard (no kids allowed inside), Go Fish with Grandma Frewin on the porch after dinner or kick the can with the neighbors while we waited with all the doors and windows open for the house to cool off, weekends at the higher (cooler) altitude of the Evans’ family cabin in the mountains, but with even more mosquitoes.

Did I mention that mosquitoes love me? 

No one planned out our days or told us what to do for fun. Boredom and discomfort were our inspiration, the keys to unlocking our creativity. We made up the craziest games, but we did indeed have fun.

And somehow those long, lazy days and irritating mosquito bites restored us, refreshed us, and we were excited and ready to go back to school.

How will your kids spend their summer? 

In his book The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Healthy, Happy Self, award winning journalist Michael Easter shares his realization that adults and kids today are all too quick to reach for their phone or their ipad or their gaming console. We have entertainment at our fingertips and rarely sit with boredom or discomfort long enough to discover that creative surge.

So, I ask, how will your kids get restored, refreshed, and ready to go back to school in the fall?

Here’s to more resilient wins at home and school,

Anne

PS Want to help your kids have less stress and more success at home and school? CLICK HERE to get a copy of our book, The Resiliency Toolkit: A Busy Parent’s Guide to Raising Happy, Confident, Successful Children.