“Valuing childhood does not mean seeing it as a happy, innocent period but, rather, as an important period of life to which children are entitled.”
~ David Elkind, The Hurried Child
Childhood is a short, sacred, and non-linear phase meant for play, discovery, and building foundational social-emotional skills, not for accelerating academic milestones or adopting adult pressures. Rushing this period can cause loss of motivation, anxiety, and long-term developmental damage. Protecting a child’s right to be young fosters resilience, curiosity, and better long-term mental health.
One of the greatest gifts we can offer children during the summer is open-ended play. Engaging with open-ended materials and activities are quintessential childhood experiences. A stick can be a wand, a spoon, a paintbrush, or a comb. Indefinite tools allow children to use their imagination and be creative. It builds their confidence as they make their own choices and allows them to feel proud, happy, and excited about their own ideas.
Simple summer experiences: collecting shells at the beach, building forts, gardening, mixing mud, painting outside, cooking together, or creating with loose parts from nature, provide rich sensory opportunities that help children connect to themselves and the world around them. These experiences support the development of self-regulation, patience, flexibility, and focus.
This summer, perhaps the most meaningful thing we can do is resist the urge to overschedule and instead protect time for boredom, creativity, play, and presence. Often, it is within these simple, open-ended moments that the deepest learning unfolds.
~Dr. Mindy Coates Smith, Director of Early Childhood, Gillispie School