Summer Is Not a Time For Slacking Off or Is It?

Parents often wonder how kids can use summers to stay competitive for college admissions, and at the very least, not lose all their academic knowledge from the previous school year. On the other hand, kids are planning how late into the afternoon they’ll be able to sleep, how many Call of Duty levels they’ll be able to master, and how much fun they’ll have with friends.  Yet, somehow, parents and kids will compromise in the middle.  Summer reading will naturally force students to keep academics in mind—even if only in the last week of summer vacation before school starts again.  Yet, students will fill in long summer days with as much “play” as equal to their tolerance to endure mom’s and dad’s consistent “reminders” about getting summer homework done.  In addition, positive peer pressure may encourage teens to join their friends, who are spending their summers seemingly solving world hunger and finding cures for cancer, so can they have fun while serving others. No matter what the actual activity, striking a balance between resting and exploring is the aim for summer.