School's out ... for some kids...

When youngsters get back to school in September and write that first composition that most teachers ask for in the first week i.e. "How I spent my summer vacation", what will the children write? Will they say they went away to camp? Or will they say they

sat in front of the computer or tv day after day as the gorgeous summery days rolled by? Or will they, like many kids, say they spent their summer vacation in yet another school of sorts, this time a summer school? And if they did, is this a good idea? Jesse Torres is 9. He'll tell the class about his soccer games, Spanish lessons and the reading program in which mom has him enrolled. According to his mom, Ingrid, it beats sitting in front of a TV and most likely will give him an advantage over other students in the long run.

"They have to expand their brain and their learning," she said. "He will have time (to rest.) We just need to balance it all."

Is this just another pushy mom or one who doesn't know what else to do to keep her child from falling into idle, perhaps even dangerous pursuits over July and August? I remember how it felt when school finally got out in June. At first, it was wonderful to have so much time on my hands to do, well, nothing. But as the weeks dragged on and friends went away to cottages, it got lonelier and lonelier and often boring, especially with both mom and dad working every day. In my day, it wasn't unusual for me to be left alone for hours on end with no parents at home. There wasn't the fuss or fear that's made today about child abandonment. I never gave it a second thought. I also was lucky enough, I suppose, to never had a major accident while mom and dad were at work. But I digress. Reading the article on which this thread is based got me thinking: is summer vacation too long? Is it a good idea to find activities, school, what have you, for the kids if they are going to be minus parents and friends for over 2 months. Or is it, as a Dr. Amitay suggests:

"Most parents have great intentions ... but the outcomes aren't what they'd planned," he said.

Over the past 20 years, there's been a jump in anxiety disorders and depression in children, he said, adding stressed out kids are at increased risk of developing such problems.

There's no rule on how much is too much. Some children thrive on a packed summer. Others buckle under the pressure. The key to finding that balance is communication, Amitay said.

So here we go again. Yes, as in everything, there must be balance. But are our kids becoming more distressed, depressed and anxious because they have to go to summer school or just from the pressures they live with while school's in session and with whatever other trials and tribulations they are trying to cope with in their daily lives. Is not going to summer school going to help those problems? I, for one, have often felt the summer break in US and Canada is way too long. I know in Australia, they get only 5-6 weeks over Christmas (their summer) and get 3 more breaks of 2 weeks each over the year. Sounds like a good system to me. But I know this topic has come up before in Canada and it was concluded that economically, it'd be disastrous to change the way it works here now. So, obviously that's not going to change. But that being the case, what's so wrong about putting a kid in school for the summer. We're not talking 9 - 3 days. These are probably only 3 hour days. Seems to me that still leaves lots of time for de-stressing etc after a year of school. What do you all think?