Let Them Play!

 

Summer is just a few short weeks from being over and I have not heard once from my boys that they are bored…why? Because I like to let them play. Summer is a time to spend with your friends making lifelong memories. They are busy with their friends, soaking up the sun, enjoying the lake, pontooning, kayaking, swimming, playing basketball and baseball, mostly just being kids.

There is some work and mowing the grass in there too.) This is my joy of summer too, seeing them be exhausted from fun.

I found this great article “23 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do.” Now after you read this list you can either consider me a good mom or “ready for the looneybin” but believe I have allowed, and probably encouraged, my kids to do all 23. I will let you be the judge.

Play with Fireworks. I had so much fun with fireworks as a kid how could I deny my kids the pleasure? And yes, I did burn my fingers lighting firecrackers, but I learned the value of a long fuse.

 

Hammer a Nail. I learned young the fun in hammering nails when I helped my dad put an addition on the back of the house. A can of nails, an old board and a hammer can easily occupy hours of fun. Again, they will hit their fingers and it will hurt. Tell them to “rub a little dirt on it.”

( I Stick Your Arm Out of The Car Window. Nothing better than this on a warm sunny day. Yes you may have to move the car seat a little closer to the window but I promise it won’t get hit by a passing car.

Jump Off a Cliff. This was probably one of my favorite things to do swimming in the Temperance River growing up. DO NOT DO THIS BELOW THE BRIDGE. Pick a safe place to jump where there is not shallow water and rapids. Cliff jumping has exhilarated my boys since they were little tots.

Use a bow and arrow, climb a tree, roughhouse, and go sledding. There is value in each and every one of these activities. They might seem simple enough but kids can learn so much about fun and most of all consequences.

 

Cook a Meal. This is my favorite summer activity when I was young. My mom would let me nose through the Betty Crocker cookbook and pick a fun recipe. I spent an entire summer making jelly roll cakes. Your kids would love this too. Ignore the mess. Kitchens can be cleaned.

Drive a Car. OMG the most fun activity for youngsters. I am not talking about letting the kids go on the highway but my dad would find a country road and my brother and I would take turns driving while on his lap. He’d let us get pretty close to the ditch before he’d touch the wheel and bring us back. Many belly laughs from this activity!

If you like some of the ideas here you might want to seek the article for more. The point is summer is a time for kids to be kids. Once school is over it’s a grown-up world of work, work, and work. Play is also the best way to learn so let them play!

“Kids are 100 percent washable,
dryable and loveable. Let them play.”
~ SMH

Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on a farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.