Summer has begun here in Louisiana. Yesterday the weather gave us a nice break by dipping down to about 89°, and school was let out last week.
Along with swimming and traveling my girls will also have a set regimen of studies. We’ve done this since my oldest finished the 1st grade two years ago when they wanted to hold her back, and we’ll probably do it every year until the girls are out of high school.
Does it Make a Difference if Kids Work Over the Summer?
I have two sources in addition to my own experience that tell me I’m doing the right thing.
1. The first is a book called Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Freakonomics is a light book on behavioral economics, which is a kind of micro (or household) economics.
Levitt and Dubner discuss the matter of charter schooling, where parents can try to get their child into any school in the district. This was done in Chicago in the ’90s. Naturally, more children were attempted to be enrolled into the best schools. The result was that a lottery was held. Some made it and some didn’t.
The results of the study based on this charter system was that the students who did the best were not the ones who attended the best schools, but the ones whose parents tried to get them into the best schools.
This came about because the parents who were active in their child’s education were also the ones making sure she cared about her studies.
2. The second book is Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell.
In Outliers Gladwell discusses an experiment where 12 sets of parents and children were observed very closely. Their original hypothesis was that there would be 12 different methods of parenting, but there were only 2.
One method showed parents who managed their children and the other showed parents who let their children develop independently.
The difference is much like letting a tree grow on its own vs. pruning its lower branches while fertilizing and getting it checked out by an expert on occasion so that it can grow higher and be more attractive to outsiders.
Two examples from the book show the big differences these contrasting parenting methods have. In one, a mother is driving her son to the doctor. She tells him to think of anything he wants to ask the doctor during his physical. This child (9) is very confident and does not feel intimidated by authority figures. When he grows up he’ll likely be one himself.
The other example is of a girl who loves to sing and act. She is in the choir but only because she signed herself up and gets herself to practice. Her mother does not see singing and drama as a means for her daughter to grow, but really something that is a part of her. “She likes the attention,” the mother said. Sadly, this young girl’s love and determination is not likely to match the decade of learned talent and contacts of a girl who had a mother bringing her to singing lessons and theater camp.
My Children’s Summer Regimen
My daughters (9 and 4) each have a math and grammar workbook. Each day, they are to complete 2 pages in each one.
In addition to this, they are signed up at the local library to win prizes for books they/we read over the summer. They’re very excited about the toys, and I’m thrilled they’ll get a t-shirt (48 books) and a beach towel (60 books).
In addition to this my oldest will be writing letters. Today, one is going out to her cousin in New York. Letter writing is great for kids because it teaches them how to write correspondence and it also shows them that if they want something (mail) they have to give something first.
My only regret about their summer regimen is that there are no violin teachers within 50 miles of where I live. I’m involved, but let’s not get crazy.
My Parents Gave Me a Good Example to Follow
I never did any school work over the summer as a kid, and I’m glad for it. I was a C student in junior high, a B+ student in high school (when it counted) and played sports while taking piano lessons.
When I applied to college I was rejected from Boston College and NYU, and was accepted into Fordham University and Niagara University.
While my parents were not involved in my studies nearly as much as I am with my children they were heavily involved with my extra-carricular activites. My father was at all of my football practices after work, coached my little league baseball team, and even gave his employees the day off early if they came one of my tennis matches.
My mother bought a nice piano for our home despite the fact that I already had a keyboard, and she ran the after-school program when I was younger, encouraging us to take as many as we wanted.
When I had gigs playing the piano in coffee shoppes, restaurants, or Christmas parties, she drove me hearing the same songs I’d played 100 times before.
Had I have taken an SAT prep course I might’ve gotten into Boston College or NYU, but that’s not the point of this article.
The point is that children with involved parents have a much better chance of being successful at all ages because they’ll have advantages over children with less involved parents who are more talented.
And that is because talent cannot substitute for one’s absence. Despite one’s grit and determination, the kid with no support might not be able to get to an audition, tryout, or lesson. Meanwhile, the child with support will be there early with a ride and a snack getting noticed, receiving extra help, and making more friends.
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Children with involved parents definitely have a much better chance of being successful than children with less involved parents who are more talented.