It's summer vacation time again! I know all students from primary to high school are looking forward to a wonderful summer break from regular school work. Many are going to have fun. Some are going to make money by having a summer job. Many others are going to travel with family or friends. Summertime is usually busy with great activities for the family.
Let me caution you -- while the much-needed change from school work will be great, parents be aware that, for many students, especially those who are not doing well in school academically or socially, summertime will have a negative impact on their lives. In the article "A Case Against Summer Vacation", by David Von Drehle in Time Magazine in July 2010, he discussed how summer vacation weakens the educational capabilities of at-risk youths. All children, but especially low-income students, can fall into intellectual and social isolation during the summer.
It is true that many students who are below average in a subject or a number of subjects will be required by the school they attend to go to classes during the summer. This is a good idea, but only if the student truly gets involved and the parents show interest and concern in the development of the child. Many parents are happy for the mandatory school because it solves the problem, for a while, of what the child will be doing during the summer. In most cases, the classes are half day and parents still need to provide activities for the rest of the day.
A quote from the article about American students that I have found to be true in our country also says, "Dull summers take a steep toll, as researchers have been documenting for more than a century. Deprived of healthy stimulation, millions of low-income kids lose a significant amount of what they learn during the school year. Call it 'summer learning loss,' as the academics do, or 'the summer slide', but by any name summer vacation is among the most pernicious -- if least acknowledged -- causes of achievement gaps in America's schools."
While parents might be excited about their children having a break, remember, you might be damaging their lives if it is not organized. There is to be some form of structure or organization, even during summer vacations. This is important for teaching personal management, discipline, and social and intellectual development. Wise parents will create a schedule of household chores, reading assignments, controlled fun time, etc. If summer time is used to allow the brain to escape into "do-nothing-ness", then more damage is being done to the child's overall development.
The writer of the Time Magazine article wrote: "The problem of summer vacation, first documented in 1906, compounds year after year. What starts as a hiccup in a six-year-old's education can be a crisis by the time that child reaches high school. After collecting a century's worth of academic studies, summer-learning expert Harris Cooper, now at Duke University, concluded that, on average, all students lose about a month of progress in math skills each summer, while low-income students slip as many as three months in reading comprehension, compared with middle-income students."
What, then, should parents do? Parents, please be reminded that you are responsible for your child's development 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year for at least 18 years. This includes the long summer vacations. Don't create monsters out of your promising children.
In 2004 in my article "Summer Mania" I gave a few suggestions as to how parents can manage their teens during the summer vacation.
o Plan. At the beginning of the summer vacation, parents should sit down and plan with all of their children. Ask questions like: "Who will be going to summer jobs?" "Who will stay home?" "Who will go to a relative?" Discuss safety issues related to fire, strangers and sexual molestation, and provide guidelines for dealing with emergencies.
o Leave no time period uncovered. If the teenagers are going to work, discuss when they will be leaving home each morning and when they will return. Do not hesitate to call on the job to find out how they are doing. Do this about two to three times during the summer break -- at the beginning, the middle and the end of the work experience.
o Provide suggestions and opportunities about what your teenagers can do each day after their working hours. Do not allow vagrancy, loitering and wandering.
o Set time limits for engaging in social activities and establish night curfews.
o If teenagers are not working, discussing what will happen during the long hours spent home alone is important. Create a schedule of home chores that could include painting, yard work, house cleaning, etc. Better yet, purchase crafts and other artwork they can create with their hands. Telephone them at home just to see how everything is going.
o Although teenagers' time should be structured, allow a window of time daily for free time or personal choices -- under your parental guidance.
o Do not allow your children to spend all of the summer hours watching television or playing video games. Set time limits for daily television viewing. It is best not to allow any of your children to sit longer than three hours in front of the television. It is not healthy for the mind and the body. It creates laziness and mental lethargy.
o Let your children participate in organized summer programs in your community. For example -- basketball camps, summer camps, summer computer schools, vacation Bible schools, etc.
o Plan to spend some of your daytime with your children, no matter their ages.

o Barrington H. Brennen is a marriage and family therapist and board certified clinical psychotherapist. Send your questions or comments to barringtonbrennen@gmail.com or write to P.O. Box CB-13019, Nassau, The Bahamas, or visit www.soencouragement.org or call 242-327-1980 or 242-477-4002.

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