Sarah Nigbor

Whatever happened to the lazy days of summer? I don’t think they exist anymore. Our sports columnist Cripe Olson has lamented this fact several times and I agree with him.

Last Thursday we celebrated my daughter’s eighth grade graduation/promotion from Ellsworth Middle School. It was quite the ceremony, with awards, a choral selection, a heartfelt speech from Principal Olin Morrison and a slideshow, which much to the horror/delight of the kids, compared their sixth-grade school pictures to their eighth-grade ones. The whole eighth-grade graduation concept is foreign to me, though I like it. They didn’t do that when I was leaving Meyer Middle School in River Falls to head to RFHS.

This is the kids’ first week of “summer vacation” and I think they’re just about as busy as when school was in session, between weight room workouts, summer basketball leagues, helping out at football camps, music lessons and dreaded dentist appointments. The myth that all teachers get summers off is just that – a myth. My husband has been overseeing weight room, developing curriculum and helping host a middle school football camp. There’s no grass growing under his feet.

When I was a kid, the glorious summer days stretched out before me with nary a ripple to disrupt them. Granted, I was not an athlete, but kids didn’t have endless camps, workouts, leagues, tournaments and games back then the way they do today. It’s like every single minute of every single day has to be productive and accounted for, and I don’t think it’s healthy. While I don’t think kids should park themselves in front of screens all summer long, they should also be allowed to be kids. This coming weekend alone, one kid has a basketball tournament in Savage, Minn., while the other is going to La Crosse. And what happened to basketball being a winter sport?

When my stepsons aren’t busy with scheduled activities, they don’t seem to know what to do with themselves. It’s like they have no idea how to pass the time or entertain themselves unless a phone is involved. Finally last week, Lincoln took out his .22 and began sighting it in by shooting pop cans. He’s been taking joy in trying to shoot cowbirds, especially since they took over our cardinals’ nest.

We’re in the process of getting a new basketball hoop, since all the kids like to shoot baskets. Unfortunately, ours died last year when one of the boys (who shall remain nameless but has no license) refused to listen to his brother and backed Dad’s truck into the hoop, bending the post nearly in half. It was the day we were leaving for our New Orleans trip. As I walked out the front door, I heard a wail, a scream and brotherly fighting, each blaming the other. That was a fun way to begin a 3,200-mile road trip.

When I was young, I loved summer because I could read as many books as I wanted to (as soon as my chores were done). I could spend hours in the creek or on my bike. I only came home at dark because my grandparents made me, when the lightning bugs were beginning to blink. It seemed like summer would never end. I’m sad because my kids haven’t really experienced those lazy summer days, except for a few days here and there. My 17-year-old’s favorite “vacation” activity is to sit at home and do nothing, because he never gets to do it. “Optional” practices and open gyms aren’t really optional, because if they don’t go, it’s held against them.

It might sound like I don’t think kids should work hard; that’s absolutely not the case. I just don’t think they should be treated like machines who don’t get a break. Let them have summer, at least a little bit.