Ep 165: The Summer Break Problem: How Shorter Summers Are Hurting Our Kids
Dr. Laura Hanson
As kids start school this week, I wanted to share something that worries me. Our kids only get 7-8 weeks of summer break now. Way less than the 3+ months we had growing up.
That’s not enough time for them to truly rest and recharge.
After working with kids for over 30 years, I see how stressed they are. They’re always rushing from one thing to the next, never getting a break. Without realizing it, we’re teaching our kids that being busy all the time is normal. But it’s not healthy!
This school year, let’s try something different. Your child doesn’t need to be signed up for an activity every single day. Sometimes the best thing we can do is give them space to just be kids and let their minds rest.
If your child is struggling in school, maybe it’s time to figure out what’s really going on instead of adding more tutoring.
At Connect My Brain, we help get to the root of learning struggles so kids can actually succeed.
Check us out at http://connectmybrain.com!
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Full Transcript
Back-to-School Timing and Summer Break 0:00
Hi everybody, it's Dr. Laura, connecting the dots. Truth bombs, okay. This is our five minute power moment. I want to talk about kids going back to school, depending upon when you see this particular recording. It's actually July 27th, 2025, and the kids are going to back school. next week and I am absolutely blown away. I think the summer just went by like that but it did when they've only got somewhere between seven and eight weeks of a break and some kids I don't even think get that long. I actually hear people do put their children in school year round.
Why Kids Need Rest and New Experiences 0:52
And while I completely understand what it's like as a parent to try to manage life when children are not going back to school, but I'm not gonna talk about that one today. I need us to focus on the child. You know, when I was a kid, We had about three and a half months of summer vacation and that is over, over 90 days of being able to really decompress. It's also an amazing amount of time for a child to learn something new. Could you imagine having three and a half months or three months that you could teach your kid how to ride a bicycle, that learn a new sport, you could learn an instrument.
There are so many things other than learning to read, comprehend, and put some information back out. What kind of math strategy are we going to learn next? Because in my opinion, what I see, I have been with children now for over 30 years.
Stress, Over-Scheduling, and Family Pace 2:06
And these kids, everybody talks about how stressed out they are. Okay. And we did talk about that when we had our COVID situation and they were not able to be with friends, but that's not the situation anymore. So why are the kids still so stressed Why are they vulnerable to even harming themselves? I think this is a question that we really need to do some deep investigating because our children need rest and relaxation. They need the opportunity to learn something new. Did you know that that's actually what your brain is always seeking, is to learn something new.
And when we just go, go go. Hurry up, we've only got this amount of time. We've got only this many weeks to do 14 camps and we never slow down. I think all those things are very important. I do think it's great to try and see the world even, but I think its really coming at a cost. I always hear these parents say to me, well school's starting back up again so you know we're going to be really busy, school is coming to an end right now,
A Different Approach to Learning Support 3:34
you now we are going be busy. Well guess what, this is what we teaching our children. We're teaching our children that we have to be in a hurry, we cannot slow down, and we always have be doing the next thing. So I want to put out a charge for anybody listening to this. I want you to slow down. I wanted to be a family that literally makes a plan. We're going to approach this school year differently. Children do not have to have something to go to every day of their life, especially if your child is struggling.
I would love for you to consider Connect My Brain, because once and for all, if you came here, we would be helping you resolve those issues once, and not having to go to tutors all the time, not have to repeat something all time. Let's figure out what's going on in that brain. Put everything else aside for a little while. Give your child a season to reconnect with themselves, allow their bodies to heal, and really watch their brain flourish. Check us out. ConnectMyBrain.com
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