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With Memorial Day weekend coming up, it means summer vacation time is here for school students. Elizabethton and Carter County Schools will end the 2024-25 school year this week, and it will be summer break time.

Summer vacation is really one big, long extended recess. It’s a chunk of time for children to play, to recharge, to explore interests that don’t receive class time in school, to self-manage their time without the constant imposition of structure. Summer is a time to play sports, to do art, to play games, to socialize with friends and to explore hobbies and subjects outside the curriculum.

During the school year, students spend their days taking orders from teachers and parents. They do assignments, they study, they take tests and so on.

But summer is a time to sleep in, go on vacation and spend the day lazing around. However, it can be a time to explore and learn.

For one, start with the Elizabethton-Carter County Public Library, where the summer reading program will kick off Saturday, May 31, for all ages. The kickoff will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the library’s meeting room. There will be games, snacks and, of course, books.

And of course, it’s a good time to enjoy the outdoors, such as biking, hiking and a picnic with friends, especially if you’re a teenager.

However, for some children, it means having a babysitter.

The way we live, work and raise children has transformed dramatically over time, while the structure of the school year is more or less the same as it was a century ago. Today, the majority of parents work — few can afford to stay home, even if they wanted to — and many receive only two weeks of paid vacation, the legal minimum. Schools, by comparison, may break for around a dozen weeks: two in winter, one or two in spring and nine weeks in summer.

When school is in session, its hours rarely line up with a typical workday — which poses even more logistical challenges to caregivers who work shifts or irregular hours. The assumption underpinning this academic calendar is that one parent is always available when school is out or that a family can find and afford out-of-school care.

However, summer vacation is looked forward to by both children and parents — and teachers, too.

It’s a time for children to explore new skills outside of the traditional classroom, to try new things and just to take a break from the everyday schedule of book learning.

Also, educators need time for more experiences that can help impact their teaching and learning. They need time for self-care.

As the summer season arrives, we encourage both parents and schoolchildren to look at new ways to spend the summer. One suggestion is the local Boys and Girls Club, perhaps Little League ball or studying nature.

Parents must be creative and plan the summer season as a fun event for their child as well as a learning time away from books.

Here’s wishing all students a safe and happy summer.