Ah, the joys of summer vacation.
Blue skies, sandy beaches in the Caribbean, thrilling rides at Six Flags, road trips to anywhere necessitating a minimum seven-day stay at a ritzy hotel with a pool, sauna and Jacuzzi, and plenty of endless fun-filled activities...
I would keep dreaming but ever since I graduated from childhood to parenthood umpteen years ago, I know all too well that the 60-plus days of classwork- and homework-free days for kids are a ticket to hell, not paradise, for working parents.
Since my kids were old, and bold, enough to ask me what we had planned for the summer, I’ve told them: “This is your brain on summer vacation.”
My message, year after year, has fallen on deaf ears. But in a recent column the venerated “Time” magazine stated its “Case against summer vacation. About time. “All that downtime is making our kids fall behind” in school (“especially for those who can least afford to”) the writer says.
Now that I have “Time” endorsing my long-held theory, I would take this message to school administrators but my campaign wouldn’t stand a chance in a school district that never fails to pass a school budget.
I must say this summer’s been no picnic in the park for me. For a good month and a half now, my primary duty, aside from holding on to a full-time job and keeping the home fires burning, has been to keep my three kids from sheer boredom and “summer learning loss.” Quite a mental and physical workout for their dad and mum.
Hence the numerous trips to the library, ice skating rink, tennis court, swimming pool, shopping mall, movies, day trips, camp for one kid, and other family excursions. Throw in their day parties and sleepovers, time for them to catch up on all the “new episodes” and reruns on TV, and play video and Wii games (yes, we plead guilty). And to make it a really hot exciting summer break the kids can rave about, we even fired up the grill a few times.
So, I asked the kids the other day how their summer vacation’s going so far.
“It’s the B-O-R-I-N-G-est vacation.” Brief pause. “EVER,” the three whined in unison. This was followed by a litany of all the things their friends and cousins did (sandy beaches, ritzy hotel stays) and they did not.
“Really now kids?” My budget just can’t fancy a posh vacation. Nor can it fancy daily private tutorials that some other kids in the district can afford. And getting the kids workbooks as I did last summer are a waste of my hard-earned dollars. No amount of bribery, or threats, can get them to complete their worksheets, I’ve learned, unless I want to hear for the zillionth time: “It’s our summer break, after all, MOM!” Plus, hubby and I have learned, you can take the kids to the moon but if their friends and cousins are not going, it’s still “B-O-R-I-N-G.”
So, I suggested that my more-or-less bright kids slack off a little bit during the next school year so they can go to summer school. My kids, so far, have been pretty good students (I am an Asian-American parent, so deep in my heart, I’m sure, I feel they could always get an A++).
They may still have the “B-O-R-I-N-G-est vacation ever” but I won’t have to fear the damage wrought by “dull summers.” And, perchance, I can catch a break.
Right. “Yeah, mom, G-R-E-A-T idea,” the kids responded emphatically, rolling their eyes. I was shocked my idea got an “F.”
I concede I’ve run out of ideas. It must be the result of all the “summer learning loss” I experienced as a kid.
Thankfully, there are only 19 more days before kids go back to school. But who’s counting.
