May, 2010

Dear Goshen Friends Families:

Summer is almost here!  Our spring has been punctuated by erratic and unusual weather, but summer brings the promise of warm mornings, lighter evenings and a slower pace for many.  The months ahead are filled with vacation time, ice cream, family reunions, fireworks, sleeping in and refreshing our own souls.  With our academic calendar still based on the agrarian year when children helped parents with farm work during the summer months, we take a break from the school rigor of the previous nine months.  In some states today, like California, students have six weeks off in the summer and begin the new school year in early August.  Pennsylvania has not yet moved toward the California model, but I believe that that will change in the next twenty years.  So then, without school, what can we do in the summer to help our children continue life’s journey?  Here are some suggestions:

• Read.  Take the time to read with your children.  Read aloud to them or take the time to read your book while they read theirs.  It is time worth spending, in quiet and focus and imagination, when parent and child are learning together.
• Listen.  Summer is a wonderful time, without the pressures of school, to converse with your children, to actually listen to them without the burden of schedules and jobs.  Yes, many of us are working, but find the time to talk with your sons and daughters about their fears, hopes and dreams.
• Be spontaneous.  While children like structure, do things differently. If you can, take an afternoon off and picnic in the park.  Take a trip to the zoo.  Get up late and have a special breakfast on the porch.  Do the unexpected!
• Hug. Our children grow quickly. Hold them and celebrate the moment.  Be thankful for that warm embrace.
• Explore.  If you can, go on field trips.  While they may not be in the classroom, your children can still learn in the summer.  Valley Forge, Chester County Historical Society, Hopewell Furnace, and Carpenters Hall are a few examples of places of learning and exploration.  Children learn by seeing and doing.
• Reflect.  Slow yourself down. Take a breath.  It will ease your child’s worries and concerns, and it will extend your own life.
• Love.  Take it all in.  Soak it up. Be vulnerable.   Love your child with all your heart and create lasting and meaningful summer memories for you and for him.  Enjoy!

Thank you for a terrific year!  May your summer be filled with joy and love.

Tom

Archived Letters:
April 2010
March 2010
Feburary 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009