Dear Son,
School is almost over, and you’ve had such an amazing first year. You’ve learned so much and gone above and beyond my expectations. I had no idea you would come home reading one day and never stop. You went on your first field trips and made friends. You got invited to birthday parties and celebrated your friends as they turned six. You’ve learned to write — albeit with a rather odd pencil grip — and do simple math problems.
I couldn’t be prouder of your accomplishments in this first year of school. I’m certain with each passing year you’ll continue to surprise me with your progress.
But now you’re winding down the school year. There are things you’ve come to expect, and I want to talk to you about how this summer will be. It will be your first summer of 12 that you won’t be constantly awake early, busy in school all day, and home with stories to tell later.
This summer will be different for you. And since you’ve been asking us daily if we can go somewhere, I want you to know this summer won’t be a go-go-go excitement-fest.
You’ll have to learn to embrace boredom a little bit, and that’s okay. Boredom isn’t inherently bad. Rest is a good thing. And after a busy year, I think it will do you some good to slow down and learn to entertain yourself.
You can play outside with the neighbor kids or inside with your brothers. You can make up new games with silly rules. You can play make-believe or create crazy racetracks for your cars to race on. It doesn’t mean we won’t have fun or go places. It doesn’t mean our days will be full of boredom. I plan to go out with you and your brothers plenty of times this summer.
We’ll visit the animals at the zoo, ride rides at Dollywood, splash through the pool and splash pad, and play on the playground. We’ll check out books at the library and go shopping together. Maybe we’ll even take a small vacation together.
But this summer, I really hope you’ll learn to sit with your boredom and explore creative ways to entertain yourself. I hope you’ll learn the value of having time to rest and relax during down time. I hope you’ll use the summer to slow down from your busy first year of school so you can be ready to start back up in the fall.
