For children who are at home during the summer break, parents
will wish to work diligently with slowing the pace of life. Children will
savor the leisurely passage of time in which they can relish individual
choices, uninterrupted play, ample rest and sleep, unhurried meals and
unplugged screens. Here are just a few ideas of how a child can fill her
long lovely summer days and return to school refreshed, nourished and eager:
▪
Read beautiful, appropriate books (remember, the school has book
lists to offer). For the older Children’s House child, begin a chapter
book that will develop into a repetitive ritual that she will look forward to
and remember with warmth and happiness. Have long leisurely conversations
about the characters, the places visited, the sights and smells. Provide
large blank sheets of paper and crayons or watercolors and invite the child to
illustrate parts of the story she remembers. Collect these into a handmade book
of illustrations.
▪
Provide long extended periods of outside play with freedom to
construct, dig, shovel and explore to heart’s content. Resist staging and
choosing for the child and instead, encourage the blossoming of his own
imaginative play efforts.
▪
Do not be afraid of boredom, for this is the passage to
imaginative, interesting activity of the child’s own choosing.
▪
Resist the need to provide a playmate or to be a playmate for
your child on a regular basis, but instead, honor her ability to find her own
entertainment and source of activity. Play-dates are fine for an
occasional get-together, but children really do enjoy their own company when
given the opportunity to figure it out and enact upon their own
ingenuity. The child’s play will reflect what is going on in her world,
for this is the source of her imaginings.
▪
Try to develop a schedule with shared responsibilities by the
adults so that the children are left with large blocks of uninterrupted play
(which is their summer ‘work’). Shopping is really an adult activity and
few children derive any enrichment from the ordeal of being taken from store to
store.
▪
Border a portion of the garden/yard for the child to tend with
appropriate size tools and gear. Give just enough guidance and
instruction so that she will know how to use the tools and how to tend her
section. Be friendly with error as she learns this craft. Also, a small
portion of the yard can be cordoned for digging exploration and the collecting
of objects found. Provide a tray and space to store these
treasures. The goal is that these activities will be something the child
wishes to return to often and engage in at will. Small creatures/insects
that are encountered are respected by observing them in their natural
habitat. Books are read as encounters are made. Let it be an
organic development.
▪
Include practical life experiences in your child’s day that will
provide ritual, a marking of passage of time and a sense of responsibility in
family life:
Sweeping designated areas inside and/or out
Washing windows with a spray bottle of vinegar water and wiping
them clean with newspaper
Sorting and loading laundry into the washing machine
Folding laundry together
Setting the table, clearing the table after a meal
Helping peel vegetables for dinner
Ironing (older children) the napkins and small cloths (under the
watchful eye of an adult, using a mildly warm small iron)
Making the bed together
Culling through toys and deciding what to discard and what to
keep
Washing shoes, especially the outdoor play shoes that will
probably need refreshing
A few short day trips that the children can participate in the
planning and executing of the events can result in happy moments for
summertime.
Occasionally a parent will ask guidance about working with their
child on academic work during the summer break, mostly out of concern for the
child’s ability to sustain previous learning. We encourage the parent to
recognize that the child needs the balance offered by a summer of relaxation
and reflection. It is in the reflection that true, deep- seated learning takes
place. Just as in the classroom the guide can observe children engaged in
reflection following an engrossing, focused work (be it washing a table with
vigor and precision or exploring the operations of addition with the stamp
game), and she will respect this moment, children will use their summer
down-time to reflect on what they have already achieved in the school
year. This will be observed in their desire to do a practical life
activity spontaneously (one mother related to me that her child, immediately
after breakfast, collected his bucket and sponge and cleaned the refrigerator
and repeated this exercise several times during the summer), or a desire to
write a letter or a word or a story, depending upon his development, or work
some simple math combinations.
I tell parents that it is fine to follow
the child’s lead in these activities, to answer the child’s questions (‘how is
number five written?” or ‘how is the word kitten written”- hint: we sound it
out ‘k i t i n’). Having papers of various colors and sizes, along with
crayons (and pencils for those children who have been introduced to the metal
inset work), available in a container and accessible to children for
spontaneous work and creation will go a long way in providing them an
opportunity to put into concrete form their reflections of previous
learning. Spontaneous reflection of this nature will allow the child
space to engage his mind academically without the pressures of additional
formal lessons. I also like to remind parents that when we write in front
of the children, we use beautiful, well-formed cursive letters.
Sharing the summertime break with extended family and friends
offers not only time to catch up on each other’s lives and experiences but also
often provides challenges on how to continue on the path one has thought
through with intention and care that the child is not exposed to media content
or entertainment inappropriate to her development. We accept other’s
choices of both lifestyle and family values but remain dedicated to our child’s
developmental stage and needs of rest, appropriate nourishment and contact with
the outdoor world.
Whenever the families we love and long to spend time with have
differing lifestyles, we must be the ones to consider alternatives that are
thoughtfully offered. Perhaps we can research and offer a vacation spot
that is equal-distant from each group and plan to rendezvous because there is a
wealth of outdoor environment of woods for walking, water for swimming, lawn
for play, places to set up lunch in the open air and enjoy long, lazy
get-togethers while over- seeing the combined brood of children – and the media
has been left behind.
If the extended family is local and just a drive away, perhaps
we can take the initiative to organize several play days for whole groups
outdoors in one of the local parks. This could be a well-thought out plan
of energetic games balanced by restful periods of portable meals and quiet
lying about on blankets, under umbrellas that shade the sun.
Book
readings and quiet conversation (always being conscious of the children who
will be absorbing every word we utter) after an energetic walk or game are the
stuff of memories, especially if ‘ritualized’ over a one or two week period
with the people most loved in one’s life. It is true that great thought
and energy will have to go into books to take (appropriate real stories about
real life), food to pack (share nourishing, tempting recipes with other family
members and share the menu) and games appropriate to the children’s
development, but this will form the basis of the time spent together.
I
vividly remember childhood family gatherings in the summer in the piney woods
of a Louisiana park. There were all generations of family members, many
stories to hear, running and hiding games under the watchful supervision of the
adults, luscious Louisiana watermelon and homemade sandwiches to eat. Do
extended families get together like this anymore – away from the in-doors and
into the ‘wilds’ of the outdoors?
As the ones who have the vision for their child’s development,
we must plan for opportunities to gather with the ones we love AND accept the
leadership in planning, recruiting support and providing for pleasurable
re-connections with family and friends that do not exhaust our children or
unravel our best laid plans for their development.
Locating and matching the perfect summer rendezvous for your
child might take time and planning but your child is worth all of the
effort. For us, the adults, the summer is fleeting, but for children, it
is a world unto itself that stretches out forever, until, magically, someone
says it is time for school again. Your child’s guide will be ready to
receive a well-rested, well-nourished child who has developed her sense of self
a bit more through the leisurely passage of summer activity.
Charlotte Kroger is the Consultant/Mentor for Children’s House
Level atAustin Montessori School,
Austin, Texas. Following her 14 years of leading Children’s House
communities in both Oregon and Texas, she retired, only to return shortly after
to her current role.
