Yayy!!
Summer vacations are here.
For some of us, it’s a time to go to our own parent’s house, for some, it’s a time to take a trip to Switzerland, for some, it’s a time to bloody figure out what to do with all the extra time that kids have.
My dad was in a bank so summer vacations were a time to take LTC and travel to a far-flung location. That happened only once in 4 years so the rest of the 3 years it was a time for cousins and friends to come over or for us to go to their homes.
I am not sure if my parents ever thought about what to do during summer vacations with kids, but here I am writing about it.
Nevertheless, summer vacations are a time for parents to travel with their children. To have fun, get some quality time with their kids and take a break from a normal routine.
But what kind of break do we need?
And what kind of break do our children need?
One where our already stimulated mind is stimulated more
or, a break where we can let our and our child’s mind relax?
This has been on my mind for some time.
My aunt, now a US university professor, shared this incident from her childhood.
She said that her first introduction to art was through her cousins who she only met on summer vacations. And they were the ones who taught her how to knit, and how to embroider and those simple things went on to become her life’s work.
And she became a Professor of Art.
And it happened because there was this period of summer vacations where they could be at a place with their cousins without the need to travel, go to school or visit one place after another. She could just play. The key was that it was a new environment that she was exposed to for a long enough time.
I saw the same thing when we went on a beach holiday. On the beach there were these small white crabs rushing about.
On day 1, the children were afraid of the small white crabs that we see on the beach.
On day 2, they were still afraid.
On day 3, the children’s curiosity took them closer to the crabs watching them run around their holes in the ground.
And on day 4, they were chasing the crabs.
This wouldn’t have been possible if we were not staying at the same place the whole time. Or if the place was a place where there were a lot of distractions or ‘man-made’ things to do. If we had kept travelling to new places, and cities every day, then this kind of relationship wouldn’t have developed.
There are two big things that have pervaded our children’s lives:
Distractions: Our world is full of distractions for our kids. In the form of screens, in the form of junk, in the form of ‘new’. There is always something new, something shiny which attracts them. Especially our kids who have 'new' things all the time. Which makes the normal world 'boring' for them. This boredom leads them to not interact with the world deeply.
Lack of independence: Our children are less independent physically. They are always in our sight, especially the younger ones. They have visited other countries but can rarely go away 100m from their house on their own. This is because of the nature of the places we live in and how crowded our roads have become.
Summer vacation is a time when we can consciously change that.
We have done that for our past few summer vacations.
If this summer vacation, you choose to live in a place which slows down life for you, here is what you can look for to choose such a place:
All of this allows a safe place for kids to get lost without the parents worrying. And allows the parent time both with kids and themselves.
For millions of years, humans have lived in nature. Only in the last few thousand years have we been accustomed to the convenience of apartments and cities.
And as ‘time in cities’ has increased nature deficit disorder* has entered our children’s lives.
And obesity, incidences of ADHD, and anxiety in children have increased.
Summer vacation is a time when it is possible for us to take our kids back to nature.
To travel more slowly and allow a deeper interaction for our children with the natural world around them. So that they can discover that something like frogs exists in this world (and maybe even try to catch a few), so they can stop being afraid of the small white crabs, so that the stillness of nature does not seem scary to them as adults and maybe, just maybe their mind can for those few weeks forget the hustle and bustle of cities.
3 places which our family loved going to:
*natural deficit disorder: for more, you can read: Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv.
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