What did a typical summer day look like when you were a kid?
June 11, 2025 | Sparkle Wednesday
A couple of days ago, The New York Times published an article titled Is It OK for Your Kids to ‘Rot’ All Summer? It explored the age-old debate among parents about whether kids need structured summer schedules packed with camps, or if it’s perfectly fine to let them have unstructured time to be bored, explore, and just BE. For the record, I think calling it "rotting" is an unfortunate way to describe a kind of freedom that can nurture creativity, exploration, and wonder.
The article mostly centered around New York City parents and what they do with their children during the summer. (Spoiler: Camps in NYC are wildly expensive. Wowza.) It also highlighted how many of us especially those of us of a certain vintage cough cough - fondly remember summers spent riding bikes, living at the local pool, and playing neighborhood games until it was dark out. Things are different now, with phones and the internet shaping how kids experience downtime.
When I was a kid, the only “camp” I attended was Bible Study Camp at our church. High schoolers were the counselors, and my memories are mostly of lopsided crafts, shared snacks, and afternoons at the park. And I loved it. One year, my sister, Julie was in charge of my class. Other than that one week, my summers were wide open: pool days, adventures in the woods, and long bike rides. I also spent a lot of time at my childhood friend Becky’s house. Her mom watch soap operas and sunbathed in the backyard, and seemed as different from my own mom as humanly possible. I thought she was so glamorous.
What about you? What did a typical summer day look like when you were a kid?
We had so much fun in the summers at Girl Scout Camp. It was $20 for the week so three friends of mine & myself washed dishes so we could go. Oh my! But it was fun & later years I was a life guard & taught swimming. Fun canoe rides, swamping the canoe & swimming across the lake was a highlight for us. Loved Camp Shabena. Summer Vacation was the best.
Summer for me included catching the daily swimming bus at 12:00Noon and riding it to the lake where we had swimming lessons and were gloriously unsupervised until we caught it home about 4:00 PM, playing baseball-I was the only girl on the team, riding bikes, making potions, and going to “the cabin” which was a trailer house my parents owned on lake property. It was lonely & wasn’t fancy; but I got to swim and ski and boat and read.