Here comes the summer of nothing! For older kids, camps and sports leagues and internships and jobs are canceled. For little kids, even "Camp Grandma" isn't a sure thing this year.

We usually look forward to summer as a lazy-living, sleep in and lie around break from our usual hectic lives. But our kids have already *had* three months of lying around doing nothing, and the thought of three more months of cranky pajama time is not reassuring.

How are we going to make July different from March this year?

Our guests this week are Ashley Hearon-Smith and Keri Setaro from the Momtourage podcast.

We talk with Ashley and Keri about the "special hard" of each age group when you're looking at a summer calendar with basically nothing on it.

No matter how old your kids are, we think the answer is pretty much the same: give your kids the gift of free play, also known as the Land On The Other Side of Boredom.

Here are links to writing on this topic that we discuss in this episode:

Melissa Bernstein for Thrive Global: How Screen Time is Edging Out Play Time – and Why It Matters

Esther Entin for The Atlantic: All Work and No Play: Why Your Kids Are More Anxious, Depressed

Peter Gray: Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life

Michael E. Ruane for Washington Post: The coronavirus wrecked spring. Will it claim summer, too?

Sydney Trent for Washington Post: Summer jobs for teens are scarce, but a little boredom has its benefits

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Traveling Solo for the First Time