Blog: During Summer Break, Do Children Need Structure or Good Old Fashion Fun?
July 13, 2012 
17 Comments
Before my girls were old enough to be enrolled in school, summers blended in with all of our days. Instead of playing in a pile of leaves, making snowmen or picking daffodils, we were playing in sprinklers or swimming in a pool.
Once my oldest went through her first year of school, I realized that summer wasn’t going to be as carefree as it used it be. It could still be fun but my daughter craved the structure that was instilled in her in Kindergarten. I planned trips to the science museum, the aquarium and children’s museums. I scouted out every library program offered. We had play dates where we worked on educational crafts. I designated reading time and math time. My oldest daughter thrived. My other daughter, 2 years younger, followed along and loved it too.
Summer after summer we kept up with that routine. As they got a bit older we added some camps. My daughters couldn’t have been happier.
This year as spring was approaching I started to plan our summer. I thought back to my own childhood and remembered fondly of waking up and jumping in our pool every day. I was always in a swimsuit. If I wasn’t in the pool, I was riding my bike or playing with my friends. Both of those things you can do in a swimsuit.
After my stroll down memory lane, I decided that I was going to have a good old fashioned summer with my daughters. We weren’t going to fill our calendars. We were going to let our days lead us to fun and adventure. I purchased my daughters new swimsuits, bottles of sunscreen, a new sprinkler and a popsicle making kit. We were ready for the fun!
Three weeks into summer after being at the pool, running around outside, fishing and playing, I heard my daughters chit chatting in our family room. They were talking about how strange it was that they didn’t have scheduled reading or math times. They were also talking about how they missed being in school. Of course, they missed their friends but mostly they were talking about their teachers and the knowledge that they had gained over the previous school year. The next thing I knew my oldest asked me why I hadn’t bought them any workbooks to do over the summer.
Needless to say, we went to Barnes & Noble that evening and bought some workbooks. 
Do your children need structure over the summer? What are some of the things that you do to fill that need?
If mine don’t have some structure all I hear about is how bored they are.
I’m pretty sure we were headed in that direction too. Thank goodness for Barnes & Noble, camps and few things that we added to our calendar. It gives us a good balanced of structured and free time.
I’m a structured person myself, so I love the idea of having structured activities throughout the summer, I think leaving some wiggle room for spontaneous fun is the perfect balance.
Yes, it seems more and more of my day to day is about finding balance. I’m thankful that my girls can sometimes help me with it.
I have to be honest, the former teacher in me loves this….
My kids need structure. I have noticed that the weeks we don’t do our “normal routine” very often, we have a lot more chaos/squabbling around the house.
And part of our normal routine? Workbooks in the morning!
I can’t believe how much my girls get into their workbooks. It makes me so happy to see that they want to stay on top of their work. They are such good students during the year that it shouldn’t surprise me that crave it during the summer too.
We are unstructured around here. After many years of teaching pre-k I need a break from schedules and my kids crave spontaneity and being able to do whatever they want..whenever they want. We still go to the library, still read, go to parks, lakes, fishing, catch matinees and have water fights.
Oooh, I love a good water fight! That is something we haven’t done yet this year. We have some really fun Nerf water blasters and we have this water pump bottle that makes it easier for kids to fill up their own water balloons. Oh, it is on like Donkey Kong!! Thanks for the reminder!
Great article, Kristen. I think we do well with both or a mixture.
Thanks, Leigh. Yes, I must have been a little delirious to think that my girls would just want to chill all summer. I kept thinking about how hard they worked during the school year with their academics, sports and other activities and I thought they would enjoy a true break. To be honest, I am not that good at just chilling out either. I should’ve know better.
We have so much structure when school is in session that I try not to have too much in the summer. I love being able to wake up and see where the day takes us.
Thanks for a great post!!
You have a great point, Mel. During the school year we don’t have that much say over our calendars but in the summer it is nice to just let our days lead us. I have to be honest, the days that start later and where we get to hang out in our pjs are usually the days where we all enjoy each other’s company the best.
We are not in school yet. And…. our structure is a little – non-existent. So, I’m enrolling them in preschool next year specifically for that reason. I have a hard time believing I will be a structure summer – we are too fly by the seat of our pants.
It’s fun to fly by the seat of our pants sometimes right? Summer is usually the only time of year we have to do it. I’m very happy with the balance we found this summer. If the girls would’ve wanted a full structured summer I would’ve been a bit heartbroken. I enjoy my days with them and I miss them when they are at camps.
We’re not in school here yet, either, but my daughter does get plenty of structure in her daycare environment. And now that she’s getting older (2.5), I’m realizing how important it is. Whereas we used to play weekends by ear, now we find ourselves planning a few structured activities on Saturdays and Sundays – be it a trip to a museum, recreational time at a park, or a playdate at a bouncy house. Otherwise, we want to pull our hair out by the end of the day.
Overall, I think a mixture of structure and fun is the best balance.
It is like when you are little and sitting on a see saw trying to adjust everything to keep that board floating balanced on both sides. Some days one side may dip deep but it eventually evens out and then the smiles come across our faces because we know we did it. I may not have been perfect but we did it.
Former teacher here- I can’t imagine not having some kind of structure for the boys. But I also remember that summer is summer and I have great memories from growing up. I’m really interested in how our moving to where they have year round school will impact my thought process on that. Being so young, my guys might not know a difference- but I will!