Summer of New Frontiers

June 10, 2021

LOOK AWAY FROM THIS SCREEN!

No, wait, come back, I didn't exactly mean it... Please stay here reading this newsletter as long as you like! In my 20 years of publishing KidsOutAndAbout, I have always rather enjoyed the irony that our whole point is to to help you stop engaging with us and instead head out to engage with the real world. We're all sick of these sterile screens, and my job is to help you embrace summer, with all of its multi-sensory messiness. It's time to make a plan!

Simply giving your summer a theme can be a great way to generate a bucket list of ideas. Here are some examples: During our Summer of Connection, my family recorded video interviews with each other and other family members. We also scanned in old photos and used an online service to organize these into photo albums, which we printed for family members as gifts. During the Summer of Good Taste, we joined a CSA (community-supported agriculture) and tried lots of new foods: We looked through a lot of recipe books to figure out what to do with these mysterious things called vegetables. Our Summer of Outdoor Adventure eventually got renamed the Summer of the Adirondacks Camping Debacle, which we tried to forget as quickly as possible.

One year I declared our house a No-Zone-Out Zone: Instead of relying on technology to entertain my kids, we focused on low-tech play. That was so fun that it led to my article 50 Ways to Love Your Summer... without technology, which never goes out of style! It's the perfect jumping-off point for a low-screen summer of 2021. For summer 2021, we're so eager to be out and about that I've decided this will be the Summer of New Frontiers.

If you're looking for themes, tips, tricks, and resources as you search for your theme, our other timeless article It's Their Vacation and You're the Tour Guide: How to Organize Camp Mom provides tons of ideas for things to do and how to structure the long summer days. But remember: A little boredom goes a long way in the life of a young person. Forcing your kids to come up with their own plans teaches them creativity, and having a theme in advance helps them focus it. As long as "creativity" doesn't mean creative destruction of your living space, of course. No one wants 2021 to be the Summer of Unexpected Remodeling Expenses.

—Deb