“Unscheduled,
unsupervised, playtime is one of the most valuable educational opportunities we
give our children. It is fertile ground; the place where children strengthen
social bonds, build emotional maturity, develop cognitive skills, and shore up
their physical health.” Jessica Lahey The Atlantic 6/20/14
OK. I
know the kids got out of school for summer vacation in May, for gosh sakes! And,
most of the schools start up again next week.
At least that’s true in my little part of northern California. So, you may have been asking -- Where are the
Helpful Hints for Summer Fun that you may have been anticipating from this, your
grandparent blogsite? (True, maybe no
one was holding their breath for the list and that is a good thing.)
In my tenure as Nana to Ethan and Taylor, I
have had lists many pages long for stuff I wanted to do with them when I got
the chance. But, I hesitate to share all that in the light of Jessica Lahey’s
statement quoted above. She points out
that few children get the opportunity for any unstructured playtime and I agree
with her that “doing whatever” or nothing at all is essential for all of us
at ANY age.
When Ethan was born, I lived in Bob and
Tracey’s little apartment behind their house on Carrillo Street. I got to see him every day. He kick started my song-writing career, (See "Nana’s Greatest Hits" blog, June 13 and "Hits Keep on Coming", July 4) and I got to spend lots of unstructured time with
him. (Remember my favorite early childhood sport – baby watching?)
My time with Taylor was not quite as lavish
nor unstructured, but my wish was always for the same kind of time that I got
to have with Ethan. I wrote this song
when she was 2 or 3 years old (video to come) and it
contains all the advice and helpful hints that I can offer in these waning days
of summer vacation. Mostly, have fun with your darling grandchildren!
I Wanna Spend Time with You
We can go in the car
We can take a walk
Sit right down and have a little talk
It doesn’t much matter what we do
I wanna spend time with you.
***
We can play in front
We can go out back
Sit right here and have a little snack
Whatever we decide to do
You're with me and I'm with you.
***
Running, jumping and playing with the ball
What we do doesn’t matter all
We can’t help laughing and when we’re done
What we are doing is having fun.
***
OR…we can crawl around
We can read a book
Sit in the garden and quietly look
When I see your face, I can see
You like spending time with me.
****
