By Natasha Hayden
July 1, 2016
A couple years ago, my family was introduced to Perry the Platypus, his evil(?) nemesis, and 104 days of summer vacation. It was glorious! From the 3-year-old to the 33-year-old, we all loved it. Still do.
From Disney XD website
But I always wondered…from what calendar did they come up with 104 days of summer vacation? (I suppose, if that’s the only thing that had me scratching my head, there’s something wrong with my logic.) It certainly wasn’t from Indiana’s! In our county, we’re lucky to get 66, and the push seems to be for school year-round. Why?
What’s wrong with a good ol’ lazy, long summer? What’s wrong with ditching the books and hours of boredom? You certainly don’t see Phineas and Ferb doing homework (unless they’re reading a building manual). While I wouldn’t generally take my notes from a cartoon…why don’t we for a moment?
Picture it: two boys sitting under a tree, hot, bored, wondering what to fill the hours with. Their friends come by to shoot the breeze, and suddenly, the two boys are inspired. This is actually very true to life. My husband and I seem to come up with our best ideas on long trips or even just a good walk. Boredom is necessary for creativity. It allows the mind to get away from the have-to’s and wonder about the could-be’s. With books or a phone or the TV in front of you, your mind is constantly being filled, but when you take the time to do nothing but stare at the clouds, you begin to see shapes you never would have otherwise.
Don’t misunderstand. I love books. Books are great. They’re important. They can teach you…or transport your imagination. You have to read. But there are other ways to learn and explore and experience, too.
Writers understand the need for a little boredom. There’s enough out there to entertain yourself to death, but to create a little life, you need space and time to think for yourself. And I think something is lost when we fill up our summer hours or our kids’ summer hours for them. It’s hard not to. I get it. Summer is short, and there’s too much fun to be had. Too many places to go. Gotta cram it all in before school starts again. Oh, and the kids can’t forget what they learned in school a month ago, so make sure they do their summer homework, too!
I’m not against learning, I’m really not. My kids do their summer workbooks and read nearly every day. Our summer schedule stays pretty full. But it makes me a little melancholy as I remember the freedom and creativity of my own childhood summers and hope my kids are just a little bored.
Now, I don’t suppose you or anyone you know is capable of turning an afternoon of boredom into spectacular feats of engineering, but maybe, just maybe, in the dry expanses of your creative soul, you might discover the spring of an idea.
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