It’s summertime. The time of the year that we as kids looked forward to, and now our little ones await these months eagerly too. And yet, there is a world of a difference between our summers and our kids’ summers. Like chalk and cheese.
We’d mount our bicycles on sunny afternoons and pant up a hill; cycling for all that we were worth. And then, ecstatically, race ourselves down to the bottom. The best holidays would be the ones when we visited the beach, building sandcastles with small buckets and shovels, playing with the turtles and collecting sea shells. Evenings would be about building forts and castles out of pillows and old, ragged bed sheets, snuggling within them with a rug and a good book, all the while sipping on hot chocolate.
Nowadays, it’s a different story altogether. I literally have to push my kids out of the house to go and play outdoors on most days. Some overprotective parents I know are of the view that their kids might hurt themselves, scrape their knees or have a fall, if let out of sight. Creating too safe an environment for our kids does them more harm than good. At times, it is okay to allow your child to trip over something, get back up again on their own and learn from their mistakes. Playing catch with their friends outdoors is so much better than becoming couch potatoes as a result of the internet, too much television or video games.
Like they say, cheers to unkempt beach hair and tanned skin, flip flops and sandy toes, bruised knees and scraped hands. It’s those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer after all!
We’d mount our bicycles on sunny afternoons and pant up a hill; cycling for all that we were worth. And then, ecstatically, race ourselves down to the bottom. The best holidays would be the ones when we visited the beach, building sandcastles with small buckets and shovels, playing with the turtles and collecting sea shells. Evenings would be about building forts and castles out of pillows and old, ragged bed sheets, snuggling within them with a rug and a good book, all the while sipping on hot chocolate.
Nowadays, it’s a different story altogether. I literally have to push my kids out of the house to go and play outdoors on most days. Some overprotective parents I know are of the view that their kids might hurt themselves, scrape their knees or have a fall, if let out of sight. Creating too safe an environment for our kids does them more harm than good. At times, it is okay to allow your child to trip over something, get back up again on their own and learn from their mistakes. Playing catch with their friends outdoors is so much better than becoming couch potatoes as a result of the internet, too much television or video games.
Like they say, cheers to unkempt beach hair and tanned skin, flip flops and sandy toes, bruised knees and scraped hands. It’s those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer after all!