If you’re relieved the kids are back in school, it turns out you are not alone: 67 percent of parents think summer vacation is too long.

In 2019 a New York Post report shared a study that found that, of 2,000 American parents with school-aged children, by the time summer ends 57 percent are left wishing for a weekend alone without the kids. A third (37 percent) revealed they felt overwhelmed with the start of another
school year, while 42 percent said they felt anxious. Over half (54 percent) admitted to feeling relieved to have some time away from the kids come their return to school.

As a mother of four school aged children, the first day of school is always bittersweet in our home. I’m good and ready for my kids to return to school while equally sad we now have one less summer left to enjoy as a family.

My eldest will be entering the 8th grade this year and our precious summers are sadly numbered. As I watch my little ones pass through the school gates on the first day of class, this harsh reality never ceases to haunt me (pause to wipe this momma’s tear-stricken face). They say the days are long, but the years are short - that seems applicable to my summer season parental sentiment.

Having my kids home full-time for the extended period of two and a half months, however, comes with a unique set of challenges. I love summer just as much as everyone else, but would personally prefer this recess last closer to six weeks, rather than the typical ten to eleven.

My children start to lose interest in yet another beach or pool playdate come mid-July. Midsummer is typically the time I start to struggle keeping them intellectually stimulated.

We seem more than ready to return to class around this point but, instead, we brace ourselves for what seems like a never ending final month of recess. I can’t help but wonder how those last weeks could be far better distributed for much needed breaks during the hustle and grind of the actual school year.

Let’s not forget summer learning loss is a real problem. When the students stop attending school for what equals to just under three months off, bad things happen.

According to research, after third grade, students lose about 20 percent of their gains made in reading and 27 percent of their gains made in math after the summer is over.

YIKES!!  

This only worsens as students get older. After seventh grade, kids lose 36 percent of their gains in reading and about 50 percent of their gains in math. “Use it or you’ll lose it.”

This problem impacts teachers upon students’ return to class.  The pressure to have high-performing students is the bane of every teacher’s existence.   

Studies show that, even with all the hard work that teachers put into their students the previous academic year, too much time off from school leads to learning loss. The first two to three months of every school year is often spent re-teaching remedial skills from the previous grade.  Seems to me like a waste of valuable time that could be used much more wisely.  

The history behind our lengthy summer schedule is fascinating.  When public schools first started in the U.S., they were considered secondary to other hands-on pursuits.   Priority was given to actual work like helping keep up family farms over learning to read, write and perform basic arithmetic in classrooms.  Schoolwork values were deemed not equal to or greater than real life labor.

Even when primary education started to take precedence, the school calendar continued to revolve around agriculture. Three months away from school was not mandated because students needed “down time” to decompress from the pressures of their studies or simply for vacay and free play:  those months off were full of even more work for the sake of the family and the needs of the nation.  

My mother spent summers working on the family ranch alongside her siblings.  She has many fond memories and life skills acquired from those days, but suffice to say most families I know today don’t have a ranch for their children to tend to.  Despite family farms having since become an antiquated part of American history, the idea of summers off from school is still alive and well.

The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research finds that the average American student receives 13 weeks off from school each calendar year – with approximately 10 or 11 of those consecutively occurring during June, July and August.  

Most other countries have no more than seven weeks off in a school calendar year.  Around 10 percent of U.S. schools have transitioned to a year-round school calendar with shorter breaks inserted throughout the year; however, the majority in the U.S. still follow an old school summer-off schedule.

The challenge to come up with clever ways to keep the kids' brains engaged (not to mention parents’ sanity intact) poses problems every summer, but why?  

There is no perilous economic reasoning that keeping children in school during the summer can be detrimental. I could argue, however, that the high cost of childcare and summer camps puts parents in a financial predicament.  

I have yet to discover any medical reason that three consecutive months away mid-year are necessary for the healthy development of children.  Medically speaking, a healthy dose of work-life balance could actually be a practical solution to the common problem of student overwhelm and exhaustion. Addressing the high anxiety and stress many students experience is a real need.  Student self-care is arguably a form of healthcare.

My educator friends and own children raise a serious point of contention whenever the topic of year-round schooling arises in our home.  They argue threatening their lengthy summer break is a strict no-go zone.  My children desperately seem to need this break come the end of every academic year.  

When I asked my eldest why they felt so anxious over returning to school following another long summer away, their primary concern centered around how quickly school can lead to student burnout.  As the academic demand and workload increases with each year they progress, their need for a hard-earned respite hits hard and fast.  

My children start to run out of steam as early as September following Labor Day; they begin asking when the holiday weekend will bring more rest.  November’s Thanksgiving break never seems to arrive soon enough. I find myself reassuring the kids that they only need to hold on a few weeks until their next two week winter break will bring needed help.

My children's fierce protection over the need for a long summer revolves around lack of healthy balance from the grueling school year.  For them, school equates to stress. 

We already know many students—from elementary school to high school—experience stress at school.  Common causes include everything from too little down time and too much work leading to metal overwhelm and fatigue, anxiety around upcoming tests and worry about getting good grades, to simply making time to study. 

Students with poor organizational skills experience more stress in school because they aren’t properly prepared with the tools or the understanding needed to learn.  The list is long and stress inducing factors that many students face is high.

We all know just how poisonous stress can be to our bodies – you don’t need me to remind you!   As a cancer survivor, wellness coach, and best-selling author, I speak openly in my book and popular online wellness programs about how chronic stress played a contributing factor behind my own disease development.  

Establishing at what point stress creates illness in the body is a topic I teach others about as one of the core optimal wellness practices everyone can use to help prevent and protect against disease. Helping others become more aware of how you can better serve your body by keeping stress to a minimum – at least as much as possible in today’s age - is a topic I’m passionate about.  

The U.S. is the most overworked nation in the world and don’t get me started on the discrepancy between how we compare to others lacking healthy work-life balance for adults - that’s another story, for another day.  The silver lining here is that at least American students and teachers are getting thirteen weeks off every year to practice mental and emotional wellness - even if it isn’t scheduled in the most effective manner to achieve optimal balance.
 
I recently asked my sister, a second grade teacher, if she honestly thinks most teachers who have misgivings about year-round school were based on personal reasons, or out of concern for their students.  The majority of teachers I know, just like my children, don’t seem keen over the idea of losing their beloved long summer break.  

Maybe the question we ought to be asking ourselves is, what if this issue was one that students and teachers alike could avoid in the first place?  What if we could replace student and teacher burnout - with balance?

Theoretically, if nothing about the school year changed except for the timing of the days off,  a more strategic school calendar spread out over 12 months, breaks scheduled evenly and dispersed more often, I reckon we’d improve quality of life for both students and educators. 
 

The demands of being around children 24/7 (24/5?) whilst spending evenings lesson planning and/or grading can be daunting.  No doubt summers allow teachers ample time for hard-earned mental decompression. I also know some use summer to earn supplemental income to compensate for teacher salaries. I can see this side of their argument in support of the need for long summers.  I still believe; however, that the benefit to teachers and students of year-round schooling far outweighs these inconveniences, though. 

Post pandemic life has shown us that work-life balance has become a public health issue we cannot ignore.  Feeling in control of how you balance the various demands of all aspects of life to enable wellbeing and avoid illness is imperative.  This should involve happiness, fulfillment and increased job satisfaction for both students and our workers.

Parents, what do you say?  

Please keep sharing those obligatory first day of school photos and on behalf of my family to yours, we wish every student and beloved educator a year of health, happiness and love of learning.

Erin is a best-selling author of The Mother of all Fights, stage three cancer survivor, wellness coach and mother of four based in Orange County, California.  She teaches how to reclaim control over your health and happiness while sharing tips and resources for using the power of the human spirit and mindset to overcome crises.   Sign up for one of her popular online courses, receive free weekly tips on her website and check out her Living Well App for healthy habits, goal tracking and motivation.

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