Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

What are your favorite childhood memories? Often, they’re not the elaborately planned events, but the time, maybe, spent building a tree fort or curled in a sunny window with a new book. Today on Home School Heartbeat, host Mike Smith encourages you to give your own children the space for such memories.

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Mike Smith: Last time on the program, we considered summer break as a great opportunity to try new things, or even new ways of doing things. Today’s suggestion is simple. You don’t have to do everything.

Sure, summer provides an opportunity for numerous activities—swimming lessons, sports clinics, summer camps, or catching up on a challenging subject with some tutoring. But think back to your own childhood memories. Do you remember mornings spent wandering through the woods or afternoons where all you did was run through the sprinkler and eat popsicles with your best friend? An important part of childhood is having the time to think about life, to explore the world at a leisurely pace, and to develop imagination.

It can be easy to think that we need to provide every possible opportunity for our children. But we might accidentally crowd out the time and space they need to just be a child! After all, parents aren’t the only ones who suffer when the pace of life is too frenetic.

So this summer, give your child some breathing room. Make sure she has a library card and time to read. Does your child know how to entertain himself? Consider turning off the TV, computer, and the Xbox for a while. Boredom can be a powerful motivator for self-directed learning! Let your child discover the world outside, and the world of ideas. He’ll thank you someday when he looks back.

And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.