"I'm Bored!"

 

"Work is applied effort; it is whatever we put ourselves into, whatever we expend our energy on for the sake of accomplishing or achieving something. Work in this fundamental sense is not what we do for a living but what we do with our living."

                                                     --William Bennett, The Book of Virtues

It seems that I've had a reason to look forward to summer every year since, well...kindergarten. Then came high school and college, and even after that, we were either working with college students, or homeschooling our own kids. So summer vacation has always been a thing to value highly. I greatly appreciate the end of compositions and math tests, science experiments and grammar worksheets, yet there is something to be said for days that are busy and productive. Too much free time isn't good for anyone, especially for those that seek primarily to be entertained, but free time that has some suggested structure can do wonders to cure boredom.

Are there things that should have been learned during the school year? Are there manners or attitudes that need to be adjusted? Talents and hobbies that could be cultivated?

Summer is the time.

I don't remember when it started, and the idea is not even one that I can take credit for, but when a friend suggested the idea of creating challenges for each of my kids for the summer, the idea stuck with me and has grown and changed over the years. Wherever we are, whatever seems to need attention within the family--we take it and turn it into a challenge. Every area of life is open to scrutiny when summer time comes around, from memory work to typing skills to making new friends to ordering restaurant food independently.

A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, and a dose of healthy competition keeps us all striving for improvement. The bar is set high: not every challenge will be completed. But there are rewards, and most of us will rise to the occasion when a challenge is set before us. 

Summer days are special, and should not be taken for granted, but the free time that can so easily become boredom will be valued all the more after a little bit of work.

"Difficulties mastered are opportunities won." 

                             --Winston Churchill