What Happened to Summer?
Read Time:3 Minute, 58 Second
School’s out and everyone is taking trips to the beach, Disney, the mountains, or some other destination. What happened to allowing kids to just appreciate being out of school and enjoying their own surroundings? AND, what happened to allowing parents (or grandparents) to sit back in a lounge chair with a cold drink and watch the fun?
When I was a kid, summer started with water “attractions”: a hose, a home-made slip-and-slide (before they were invented) and a small pool. The size didn’t matter; all we needed to have fun was that plastic oasis of blue water. Today, kids have to go to a water park with giant slides or have access to a fancy cement pool to have fun. So, what happened to having simple fun spraying your brother with a garden hose?
Cold refreshments were always important during our summers too. MAYBE, once a week, we could buy a Popsicle from the Good Humor man; sky blue was my favorite. Back then, there was no fancy ice cream, frozen yogurt or gelato; we simply looked forward to getting a chunk of ice from Bill-the-milk-man. I can still taste that delicious and refreshing ice treat wrapped in a paper towel. So, what happened to being satisfied with a chunk of ice?
And what did we expect of our parents in the summer: trips to islands or expensive trips to Pigeon Forge or Disney World? No, all we wanted was to spend some time outside with mom and dad. My best memories of my father are the summer evenings he coordinated ball games in the streets with the neighborhood kids and their parents. So, what happened to JUST being happy to be with your parents on a hot summer evening?
Summer food was critical. Kids today crave expensive and unhealthy fast food to be satisfied on summer days. But I can remember being thrilled if my mother packed us a picnic basket filled with simple white bread and American cheese sandwiches along with canning jars full of Cool-Ade. And if there was not enough white bread, we ate plain crackers with Hellman’s mayonnaise….and we were happy. So, what happened to simple picnic lunches packed by mom and eaten in the shade of a willow tree?
Being with nature was also an important part of the summers. I guess it still is in a way; kids today want to explore dinosaur exhibits, visit the zoo or travel a thousand miles to Sea World. But back in the “old” days, nature was at our finger tips every day: frogs, worms, turtles, fire flies in jars, and cats that had kittens all summer to teach us about the birds and bees. So, what happened to discovering nature for free in our own back yards?
And, did you ever fish during the summer with a bamboo pole? Do you think kids today would do that? Maybe, but their fishing involves a trip to a sports outlet resulting in a $200 bill. When I was a kid, I don’t remember even catching anything. But, what I DO remember is the excitement of sticking that worm on the hook, the cool breeze off the lake, and the time spent with my father, brother and friends. So, what has happened to cane poles, anyway?
But, my most memorable part of summer was building a tree fort. One year, the neighborhood kids constructed two: one for the boys and one for the girls. The girls decorated theirs with old curtains, rugs, and anything our mothers were getting rid of. Then, the boys tried to take it over but that didn’t work! It was our first real lesson about “girls rule”. And, have you seen today’s tree houses? You just have to go to a store like Home Depot to see what can be purchased. So, what happened to allowing the imagination of kids to create their own tree houses from bits and pieces of scavenged wood?
Well, I know I sound like an old grandmother (and I am), but I regret that my six year old grandson will not have the opportunity to simply use his imagination to create and enjoy this summer. His parents are busy getting the family ready for a trip to Hawaii.
So now, I’ll sit back in my lounge chair on the deck, watch my dog delight in her plastic pool, listen to this Alice Cooper song, and wonder…what happened to summer?
Alice Cooper: “School’s Out for Summer”
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You can dress for the cold but you can only take off so many clothes. Give me the crisp days of fall and winter anytime, although I appreciate the spirit of the well written piece. Nice job.
And I take them off every chance I get.
Ha! Good E.A. 🙂
Really, E.A. ?? I hope you live in a warm climate and don’t have any neighbors who call the cops to report a naked (or neked as they say in the south) person.
In that abandoned park, there was a clearing formed by the concrete foundation of one of the small buildings that got torn down. It was surrounded by dense and prickly bushes that grew around it, and it could only be reached by crawling underneath them. Nobody could see into to even from the top of the ravine. I used to go there and commune with nature with my clothes off. Being naked outdoors felt really daring, and I made up an elaborate story to explain why clothes were not allowed in there. That clearing is still there, and as far as I can tell, nobody had visited it during the years I lived out of town.
I can just picture that clearing and it seems a great place to visit and commune with nature even as an adult.
R.A. I agree about Fall, especially. I have a post ready to go on the first day of Fall this year 🙂 Thanks for the compliment on the post.
I have pollution to thank for my summers. There was a park at the south end of the block I lived on that, through the 1920’s, was something of a resort, with a large pavilion fro swimmers and a boathouse with canoes for rent. When the river was declared unfit for swimming due to pollution, the pavilion was torn down and the park abandoned. It had thirty+ years of going back to wilderness by the time I started hanging out there. My summers consisted largely of being out the door after breakfast, spending the day at Pleasant Valley Park, and getting home in time for supper. It was in the middle of a city, but like being in the deep woods.
Sad story about that park E.A. but glad you found an alternative.
There’s nothing sad about that park. It’s a a refreshing patch of near-wilderness in the middle of a largish city. It’s still there, and every time I revisit it, I’m ten years old again. I’m glad it’s abandoned and has no facilities or structures (save one – a concrete bridge spanning the ravine) and people messing it up.
EA…I could jut picture what the park looked like in its hay day around the 1920’s. What an amazing thing that you can go back to being 10 by just going to that park! I enjoyed your reply.
A curious thing, summer, depending on where you live. When I moved to the Deep South I despised summer, what with the baking heat, high humidity, and generalized apathy. After almost 10 years of being here, however, I’ve developed an affection for the place, including the weather. I no longer hide in the air conditioning, instead I swim in my pond, brush my horses, exercise my dogs, and walk in the woods. Summer is good. It’s a good time.
Sounds like a good place to be, Mike. The only thing that bothers me about summer in the south is the mosquitoes. They are especially bad this year.
Oddly enough I’ve not seen as many this year as in years past, and I can’t quite figure out why.
Great post Carol, and great questions. Summers for me were always an adventure. As I have mentioned before my parents moved almost every year – then I would find them ( 🙂 that part is joke) but I think thank James was right when he talked about the freedom. When my mother wasn’t working I was out of the house early and if I had not made new friends I would seek out friends. If could not find them I created scenarios to have fun by myself. I developed a very vivid imagination. Then by 11 or 12 their were the trips to my grandfather’s and going out on the party fishing with him. I called myself working but I was probably more in the way. One of the things I remember most was until my teens you rarely found me with shoes or a shirt on unless I was going to a store or a movie. Saturday afternoon, 25 cents, a double feature, a cartoon, a serial about “Hop Along Cassidy” or “Lash Larue”, and a large drink and popcorn.
Yes that was nice.
And it was nice just reading about your summers. I can just see you in LA (Lower Alabama) with no shirt and shoes…hey, nothing changes, does it? 🙂
We are fortunate because we live on the water and so our summer is almost built in. This year we did something different and bought a little sailboat for “the kids.” I (they) love it 🙂 Happy summer Carol.
Having personally owned sailboats from 11 to 32 feet, I know how enjoyable it can me. You might enjoy my amusing (hopefully) and (also hopefully) instructive post here called “Crew Overboard.”
Yes, James. I enjoyed your post today.
Thanks Rachael. Sounds like a perfect summer place to live and sail.
I’m lucky where I live because we have everything here within an hour or two we can get to for summer fun that is relatively inexpensive. Kids here are always out in the streets during summer and everyone watches out for them. My first recollection of a good summer, was when the ‘rents decided we were going to SF Zoo and when we got there, we left almost immediately because I was in tears. Still to this day, I won’t visit a zoo because of the animals being in cages and trapped. Ended up going to the ocean, which next to the forests are my favorite places to be. I did summer camp a couple times but figured it out I couldn’t bear to be away from the ‘rents for 6 weeks so I stopped doing that too. Now when hubby and I babysit the little one (our neice) we take her on bike rides around our little hamlet to the secret places in the “forest” we have found and she has a blast just exploring. Her brothers always find things to do that don’t include her.
Jess, I can relate to feeling that way about zoos. The gorilla makes me cry. Sounds like a great place to live.
We are right smack dab in the middle, between San Jose and San Francisco on the peninsula. I can get to the mountains in 40 minutes or less, the ocean same deal. We’ve got plenty of the amusement parks in the area but most of the friends I have we would just get in the car and go worship the sun at the beaches of Santa Cruz or Monterey.
Sounds lovely. I have always thought I should live in California but no one I was attached to ever agreed 🙂
I doubt it was the food or the trips or anything but the freedom of summer and the company of your parents, relatives and just doing what yu couldn’t so all winter.
Yes, I think it’s the freedom that’s missing.
Yes, James. Seems everything these days has to be structured and expensive to be fun.
I remember how anxious I was to play baseball and knock the can all day once school was out. How about playing marbles and using my pea shooter with friends on the mangy, miserable dog next door. He was probably like that because he was always tied up. Or, riding your bike into town….raiding gardens for carrots and rhubarb at night. Going to the movies for 25 cents….not seeing your parents for most of the day cause we were having a hell of a good time with our friends laughing and clowning around. Let’s raid the crab apple tree tonight, guys! The old swimming hole is a good place to cool off, only a couple miles by bike. And so on. Plus, our parents didn’t give a hoot where we were for the most part as long as we were out of their hair and not into too much trouble. Let’s sneak one of my parent’s cigarettes. “Come home when you’re hungry.” they’d say. Yeah, things have sure changed since I turned 64.
You painted a great picture of your summers for us in your reply. Sounds like some wildly independent fun. Yes, things have changed but we have not, I guess.
I remember my buddy and I renting bicycles and pedaling all over southern Italy. We were all of 15 years old and having a dad in the Navy was a big advantage. When in the U.S., however, my summers were much like yours anonymous all the way to stealing my dad’s Pall Mall cigarettes. He finally caught me, but that’s another story. I loved summer.