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"  I was in an airport when I realized how good my mother had been at raising me. I was 23 and traveling alone on business for the first time, and I had to find my way off the plane, over to the baggage claim and then to the local transportation area. I was going to hail a taxi, but I figured out that the shuttle bus stopped at my hotel, and the ride was free. I took the bus, got to my hotel and made it to my meeting on time. But if my mother hadn&amp;#039;t taught me not only the basics of air travel but also a few character-building lessons, I&amp;#039;d have wandered aimlessly around the Cleveland Airport in despair. Now my son&amp;#039;s third grade teacher wants me to give him the same gift. No, his teacher didn&amp;#039;t suggest that I send my nine-year-old to Cleveland all by himself. Rather, she wants me to make the road ahead easier for him by teaching him something you can&amp;#039;t find in flash cards and summer tutoring: responsibility. In her end-of-the-school-year letter to her students&amp;#039; parents, she outlined five steps for making sure our kids are ready for fourth grade, and it&amp;#039;s got nothing to do with long division: 1. Help your child learn to make decisions and accept the results of those decisions. 2. Give your child the gift of organization and a strategy to develop it. 3. Share times that are creative, not expensive. 4. Encourage independence, but don&amp;#039;t expect it to be without limits. 5. Have fun. Wait a minute. where are the science lessons at the beach? The spelling worksheets and the teachable moments for long car rides? The multiplication tables on the refrigerator door? Where&amp;#039;s the warning that kids lose their edge during summer break if you don&amp;#039;t keep feeding their brains? But none of that was in her letter. Rather, the lessons my son&amp;#039;s teacher wants us to concentrate on this summer have less to do with school work and more to do with the very things my mother had instilled in me before I wound up all by myself in the airport baggage claim. I made decisions and dealt with them. I got organized. I was creative without spending a lot of money. I was independent. And I had fun. (Well, as much fun as you can have on a shuttle bus in Cleveland.) I knew how to do all of that because of my mother. And now, thanks to my son&amp;#039;s third grade teacher, he will, too. This summer, I&amp;#039;ll oversee his days a little less and encourage him to make his own decisions a lot more. I will leave him to fill hours of summer break without stepping in to serve as his own personal tour guide. I&amp;#039;ll show him how to organize his stuff, but it&amp;#039;ll be his job to keep it up. I&amp;#039;ll expect him to be more independent, creative and resourceful. And most of all, I&amp;#039;ll insist that he have fun. The multiplication tables can wait until the fall. I&amp;#039;ve got a future grown-up to mold. And if I follow my son&amp;#039;s teacher&amp;#039;s summer break guidelines, no doubt my mother will be proud. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/a22084/5-real-lessons-for-summer-break/?src=shelter_footer>