Insights

Summer how it was and how it is

All year long we dream about summer, the sun baking on sparkling blue water, boating, swimming and wearing sandals. When it gets here are we as excited as we were when we were young…back in the day…you know, the eighties. 

Getting up and putting on your bathing suit first thing because why do you need regular clothing, the little, hard plastic pool and the back and forth sprinkler are just outside the door. 

As a child I spent hours in the woods behind my house making forts with other neighbor children. The only way for my parents to get in touch with me was by yelling into the wide open woods. 

Today’s children are scheduled most of the time. If they are lucky they have a phone and can still talk to their friends from daycare or while being forced to drive to a beach with their parents who demanded they come.

Experts are demanding that the children get outside to exercise, when we never had someone telling us that. Most of the outdoor activities involve high tech equipment, paddle boarding, wakeboarding, water skiing or surfing, are just some of those. Of course, they might need lessons on how to perform these sports without injuring themselves and requiring months of physical therapy, indoors. 

Paddling a canoe on a lake was pure bliss in my youth. Strapped into my orange life preserver with its one strap and bow tie, I would paddle around, no care if I was doing it right or wrong. 

Today that canoe is a high speed boat with wakeboarding tower and that orange life preserver has been replaced by a form fitting neoprene vest.
What is the best way to spend a summer? And are our memories clouded by the years? Maybe there’s no way to go back to that time. However, our children deserve the opportunity to play unrestricted without their cell phone ball and chain. Should we give them the freedom?