I know that's the question on a lot of kid's minds as they anxiously bounce their knee, clockwatch, and dream of summer break. We think of our childhoods, thankfully, before the internet was a thing and how they were full of riding bikes, catching lightning bugs in jars with holes in the lid, blanket forts with friends and what kids today would call "boring." I'm good with that.
How did you spend your summers as a kid? How do your kids or grandkids spend their summers these days?
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The first week of June usually meant a summer vacation with my family. I even remember one year where they literally picked me up from school and we immediately left town. But once we were back home I had no real structure. I do fondly remember playing "Breakout" on summer nights with kids in the neighborhood. We'd all agree to meet at one persons house and randomly choose someone to be "it" first and that person had to catch everyone with a flashlight by shining the light on them and calling their name. Once caught you had to stay in Jail (the driveway) until everyone was caught, then the first person who was caught would have to be the next person who was "it". The twist being that anyone still free had the ability to free people from jail by standing on the driveway/jail and yelling breakout real loud, freeing everyone the "it" person had caught. Made it tough to catch everybody but it was also risky for the person trying to break everyone out because it was easier to catch them right by the jail if you were good at it. It was a lot of fun and made us look forward to the evenings in summer. Would give anything to play that again!
ReplyDeleteWe ran all day until dark. There was a park district program at the school where we played games like Nokia hockey, etc. Mom had no idea where the 5 of us were. My kids grew up the same way, wheeling around the neighborhood on bikes, scooters and blades. I'm so glad my kids lived most of their childhood sans internet. I would not have the energy to raise my kids now if I had to their every moment Outdoors.
ReplyDeletePatiently waiting for summer. 50 degrees and raining the last 3 days and supposedly 80° today
Lots of time spent outdoors, even though I never liked the hot temps even as a kid. But it was a lot of ball playing, some bike riding, chores, and sidewalk chalk. The rule was to be in when the street lights came on and we never saw our parents before that. lol Also spent a lot of time at the local pools through the park district.
ReplyDeleteI spent the whole summer as a kid riding my bike around the countryside and town (I lived on a farm a mile from our small town), I didn't have to be home until the 6PM whistle blew, and no one was worried I would be kidnapped. I played basketball outside shooting hoops until late night. I played softball on the town team. I was born in the early 80s, and I am sad my kids don't have this exact same childhood before technology took over. My kids spend their summer playing baseball and softball, trips to the library, spending time on the farm, and riding bikes, but with much more supervision than I remember having. They swim a lot, go to different summer camps, and spend time outside. The main difference is, I will hear complaints about them wanting to be on youtube, time to play on the XBOX, and complaints about it being too hot outside. It's a struggle to keep them off their devices!
ReplyDeleteI spent my summers swimming. We had a 'swimming hole' in front of the house, lived a 10 minute walk from a beach, and had an awesome beach with lots of waves about a 10 minute drive from the house. We would spend all day at the beach if we could playing in the sand, swimming/playing in the waves in the ocean, and then warming up in a fresh water pond on the other side of the sand dunes. We also took a lot of swimming lessons and playing in the woods around the house with friends if the weather wasn't good for the beach.
ReplyDeleteMy partner's son has a very different summer for the weeks that he is with us than the weeks that he is with his mother. With us he has no devices or video game systems, so he is either playing outside or with his other toys (mostly hot wheels or leggo) in general. In the summer there is soccer and spending a lot of time at his grandfather's camp on an island that is only accessible by boat and has no power. So he plays on the beach, is in his kayak, or is exploring the island for treasures with other kids with camps on the island. We let him roam free. His only responsibility is to come back to the camp about every two hours to re-apply sunscreen and for meals.
I spent my summers at day camps, a week at my grandma's and 2 weeks at overnight camp.
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