How we're planning for summer boredom

Boredom is our highest priority, y'all

Since our oldest crossed into elementary school, each summer has felt like a new puzzle. Granted, we are still early in the game — June is just finishing second grade — but the difference between the summer after her kindergarten year and her first-grade year felt vast. And this year, with our son headed to kindergarten in the fall and home much of the time for the first time until then, summer is looking to be altogether different once again.

This doesn’t alarm me — it actually kind of excites me : ) As a consummate planner, I looked ahead to elementary school summers and thought about them for actual years in advance. This is in part because long, slow summers at home were formative for me, and I knew I wanted to offer the same to my kids — even before I had kids.

So, despite the careful planning and extra effort it requires for two working parents to facilitate a long, slow summer, that is what we fight for over here: relaxed time to be a kid. Time outside. Time to be bored and to use their imaginations. Time to read. Time to play with neighborhood friends. Time to create. Time to grow closer together as siblings. And, you know, time for John and I to do our work with minimal interruption.

For our family, a slow summer has not looked the same each year. Our first elementary school summer, we erred on the side of more programming. Last year, we eased off, and this year, June’s only programming is one two-week sleepaway camp — otherwise, we’ll be traveling together as a family or she’ll be kicking it at home.

I know a long, slow summer filled with boredom is not every family’s goal. You might be looking for academic progress, or exposure to new activities, or ways to further your child’s passion, or socialization opportunities. You might also have more constraints given your job or finances. Your unique mix of priorities will almost certainly look different than ours or your neighbors’. That is okay.

But if you, too, are hoping to scaffold a summer filled with boredom — boredom that, at best, might bloom into creativity, relationship, resourcefulness, patience, and passion — I’d love to share a few ways we’ll be doing it in our home this year.