June 23, 2025 • 15 mins
Strategies To Mitigate Declines In Academic Progress With Effective & Fun Summer Activities
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Starcare's a weekly program that delves into the
issues that impact you and your family. This program is
a public affairs feature of this radio station. Now here's
your host, Michael Leach.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Just because your kids are on summer break doesn't mean
that their brains need to be. Summer regression, summer learning
loss is real. Let's talk about it. My guest today
is Dina Thayer. She's a parenting associate at Focus on
the Family. Dina, thanks for joining me and welcome to
the show.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Well, thank you so much for having me. I'm delighted
to get to chat with you today.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
There's something called summer regression or summer learning loss. Will
you take a moment to define that for us?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Absolutely, this term and you mentioned them both perfectly. There's
also a more casual or colloquial term, summer slide. And
really what it means is that over the summer break,
kids are going essentially a little bit backwards in their learning.
They're experiencing some kind of decline in the academic gains
(01:01):
they've made over that previous school year.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Why do you think that this issue continues to be
a concern.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Big thing is there's a generational shift that we're seeing.
So I'm dating myself a little bit here, but when
I got out of school for the summer, my parents
were essentially like, go play, come home when the street
lights come on. There wasn't a lot of thought about
how do we keep up the academics. So I think
even though this was an issue, even say a decade
(01:30):
or a generation ago, there wasn't the same awareness around it.
So now we're aware of it, and the encouraging thing
is that means we can do something about it.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
What are some of the common misconceptions that many people
have about summer learning loss.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Well, I think the biggest myth that we can bust
is that it's not real. There are people who would say,
you know, that's not really a thing, And that's what
the beginning of the school year is for. Anyway, they're
supposed to spend the first several weeks on review, and
what we know is the data is in and summer
slide is real, and we want those educators to be
(02:05):
able to jump back in and of course maybe a
quick refresher, but to be able to dive into the
new and more challenging material at the appropriate grade level.
So that's the biggest myth that we can bust. I
think the myth I'm also hoping to bust today in
our conversation is that this has to wreck your kids summer.
Mitigating summer slide does not mean you have to plunk
(02:26):
your kid in front of a worksheet at the dining
room table and make their summer super boring. So my
hope is to encourage parents in that regard today as well.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
What role, Dina, do you think that socioeconomic factors play
in this sort of summer slide.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
They are a definite factor, Michael. We know from the
data that the achievement gap, including the cumulative effects of
summer slide, are noticeable in terms of socioeconomics factors. So,
for instance, we see a larger summer slide from children
who maybe come from low income families or are people
(03:04):
of color. We know that that's real, and so what
we have to do is get resources in the hands
of everyone to help. Maybe we won't ever be able
to eradicate it, but to at least help mitigate it
and to make this playing field a little more even
across the board. And what's great about that is there
are fun ways to do that that are accessible that
(03:25):
don't require inordinate amounts of finances or the ability to
go on a crazy summer vacation or anything like that.
So what I love is again on the encouraging side.
Although the achievement gap is noticeable with those factors, the
ways to mitigate it are accessible to everyone.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
With that in mind, what types of summer activities, programs,
or experiences can then help reduce or even prevent learning loss.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Well, let me start with the ones that would be
a little bit of either a heavier lift financially or
just require a little bit of planning, And in my mind,
those are the ones that are around outing. So for instance,
a really fun one is taking your kids to the zoo.
Even little kids who are just learning things like their
colors or numbers, can have fun telling mom and dad
(04:13):
what color an animal is, or we can ask, hey,
how many giraffes are in the enclosure. That's really accessible
even for little kids, but again that is an outing.
Now older kids, you can do spelling. I would be
going crazy having my kids spell hippopotamus and whatever. Super fun,
but again that requires an outing. Another one is escape rooms.
I love escape rooms for summer cognitive thinking process because
(04:36):
they get kids thinking outside the box solving logic puzzles,
but they almost don't even think about it because they're
having fun. And a lot of escape rooms now will
have a family friendly one or two in their facility,
so the puzzles are more accessible for kids. But as
we just talked about, maybe that's not an option for
your family and you're not going to be going out
(04:57):
and about or spending money to go to the zoo
or things like that. There are lots of things you
can do that are low cost or free. In fact.
On the reading side, one of my favorite things is
take advantage of your local library. Most libraries will have
some kind of summer reading program, and a lot of
them even turn it into a contest so the kids
(05:17):
can earn some fun prizes. And what's great about this
is they're not restricted to academic reading. You're not stuck
reading a textbook in the summer. You could read fiction,
or if your child is into fantasy, they can choose
some fantasy books. Then that makes it really fun and
it's obviously no cost. You get a library card, check
your books out no cost. There. Another fun one is
(05:38):
bringing your kids along on your errands that you have
to do anyway, it doesn't cost you any extra. And
say you're at the grocery store and your child is
trying to negotiate for the fun serial or whatever it
might be, and they say, but hey, mom, it's on sale.
Pop it right back to them, get some mas skills
and go. You're right, it does say it's ten percent off.
How many dollars and cents is that? Again, that doesn't
(05:58):
cost you anything, but just gets you in the dialogue
that keeps them thinking about some of those academic skills
in the summer.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
This is a really serious issue, right, and so for
parents who think like you mentioned earlier, the teachers are
going to address this in the new school year. But
what are the long term consequences of repeated summer learning
loss for students?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Thanks for asking about that, Michael, because it is important.
I think we can easily think, well, what's a couple
of months, but over time there is a real cumulative effect.
So a couple kind of startling stats I came across
when researching this topic. One is the cumulative effect of
summer slide. Just by the end of elementary school, so
we're talking fifth grade, can put kids two and a
(06:42):
half to three academic years behind their peers, so that's
quite serious. And this also gets worse as you get older.
So another thing we see that I thought was just
startling was by ninth grade, so freshman year of high school,
two thirds of the achievement gap they've been able to
attribute to summer learning loss. So that's quite significant, actually,
(07:04):
and my hope is it would make parents want to say, hey,
what are a couple of things I can do to
help with that and make that not be my kid
in that statistic.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
There's the parental responsibilities. But I'm wondering, because it's such
a known issue and it is in a sense academic,
do you believe that schools should have more structured summer
learning programs?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Why are why not?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I actually think schools can play a really pivotal role.
And the reason I think that is that for some families,
as we've mentioned, these kinds of things just don't feel
as accessible. If you've got parents working outside the home
and are having to send their kids to some form
of childcare in the summer, they're not taking them even
to the free things like the library. And so if
(07:47):
schools can send home some resources or some packets of
things to keep up the learning. That can be really helpful.
Other ways schools can offer help here is to actually
offer some programs themselves. Maybe they have a little bit
of a light summer school per se, or a fun
academic They can even call it a summer camp where
(08:07):
the kids can have some fun, but there's some learning
incorporated into those things. Maybe they help the kids make
a lemonade stand in front of the school and they're
learning about entrepreneurship along with that budgeting and math skills
and even marketing because they got to make the signs
to advertise it. Schools could be part of the solution here.
And my kids went to a classical school that actually
(08:28):
required summer reading and I was very grateful for it.
And so yes, my short answer is, yes, I think
schools can be part of the solution and not just
part of the issue.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And then there may be some community partners that can
help to join in. Do you have any suggestions for that?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yes, I do think. In addition to the library which
I mentioned, a lot of communities have community centers where
there are some activities and they're even divided by age range,
which is so great and another element of community. I
would encourage parents to avail themselves of especially if they're
working or they're are other factors that make some of
these earlier suggestions untenable. Is talk to your neighbors. I've
(09:06):
been so impressed with people who will get little carpools going.
Maybe there's a day camp and you say, hey, I work,
so I'm not going to be around in the afternoon
when it gets done at three, But I'd be happy
to drive my kids and a couple of neighbor kids
to the camp in the morning on my way to work.
And you can tag team in this way and it
helps immensely. Also, those other parents are great resources for ideas.
(09:29):
So if you can tap into a network, whether that's
people from your church, people from your kids' school, or
like I said, even just in your own neighborhood, sometimes
other parents can be a wonderful source of support and
we can all just pick up the slack for each other,
which is a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Which subjects tend to be the most affected by summer
learning loss.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
The most staggering data is around masts, just because we're
seeing over three quarters of the students depending on which
study you read, that go down in math over the
summer that that's closely followed by reading what you mentioned
can lose up to two months of academic school year gain.
And then a third one that sometimes gets overlooked is writing,
(10:10):
and so I also encourage parents to be encouraging their
kids if they're just outside, even write a nature journal,
what bugs did you see today? What flowers did you
look at? And write it down because we don't always
think about writing. And for those younger kids who are
still developing the fine motor coordination of even holding their
pencil and such, keeping up with writing over the summer
(10:32):
is really important.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Sina, in your opinion, with all of what's going on,
do you think that maybe summer breaks should be shorter
or should academic enrichment opportunities be more widely available during
the summer, which one Well.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
The answer is yes, Michael. I think both ideas have
merit if we can get enrichment activities more readily available
and get parents thinking outside the box about Wait, I
didn't know taking my kids to the zoo could help
them with their school. That's one way we can help.
But the other one is reconsidering the school year, and
there are several states that have schools with a modified
(11:05):
year round program, so the kids are going all year round,
about eight weeks on and then two weeks off, and
that does really move the needle because they're not ever
away from school for two to three months at a time,
and so you don't see such large declines in the
academic achievement. So certainly something for state and even local
(11:26):
governments to consider. At the school district level, do we
offer maybe a school or two that have this modified
year round program and hopefully help some of these kids
not fall through the cracks.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
And so beyond the summertime, if someone is really saying
that their child is suffering as they're going back into
the school year and they just need a little bit
more support, what say you about summer school or tutoring.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
I think actually, in the right context, summer school can
be a positive thing. I do think we want to
watch out for paying attention to the developmental frame of
the child. Meaning five year old is not going to
cope with eight weeks of summer school. They just will
melt and that's not going to work. Now, a teenager
may need several weeks of support, but I would say
(12:12):
it has to be mitigated with also letting them be
a kid and enjoy their summer. And for those older kids,
you learn a lot of skills by having a summer job.
So let's not take that away. Can we look at
how to do these things in concert with letting kids
be kids now tutoring what's great about that is that
can be accessed all year round, So parents may want
(12:33):
to take a break from some of that heavy tutoring
while they're on vacation in the summer or doing different things,
but you can dial that right back in during the
school year and that can be a beautiful supplement to
what's going on at school, whether that's helping with homework
or even helping with time management and more of those
intangibles that some students struggle with, which then affect their academics.
(12:55):
So I'm a fan of both of those things. I
think we just do need to keep in mind that
kids do need breaks. Just like we as adults need
work life balance, they need school life balance, and we
want to pay attention to that as well.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
With all that we've discussed today, what's the one thing
that you believe would make the biggest difference in reducing
the summer slide and the learning loss?
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Here? It is, and it's really simple. It's kind of
a two fold encouragement. Number one, it is not too late.
If you're a parent listening to this and you're like,
I've never been doing things like this over the summer,
I always say it's never too late to make course correction.
Talk with your kids in advance. Let them know, hey,
I've let a few things slide. This summer is going
to look a little bit different, but it's going to
(13:37):
be super fun and here are some things we're going
to do, so give them that heads up. We often
don't give kids the courtesy of a heads up, and
we need to understand kids know what's going on, so
talk to them first. It's not too late. That's my
first encouragement. My second one is please do something. If
you have heard this and you're thinking I want to
just move the needle, but I don't know if I
can do all the things we talked about, that's okay.
(13:59):
Pick one, pick two, and say this summer is the
year that I'm going to do this a little different
and at least be a little more intentional and thoughtful
about keeping those cognitive skills up. And even that can
make the difference. So do something and it's never too late.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Tina, how can we learn more about what we've discussed today.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
I always love to encourage parents to check out our website,
Focus on the Family dot Com. There is a plethora
of materials there, parenting articles, resources, ideas. Please check that out.
And I want to encourage parents if you are hitting
a speed bump in your parenting or things are just
feeling challenging, never hesitate to give us a call. Our
(14:40):
number is one eight hundred, the letter A and the
word family.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
So let's focus on the family dot com. Focus on
the Family dot Com or one eight hundred A family,
Kadina Sayer, thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Well, thank you for shining a light on this important issue.
I really appreciate it, and thank you for listening.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Won't you join I'm your host, Michael Leech, and I
am praying for you and praying that the rest of
your day is wonderful.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
M
Welcome to Starcare's a weekly program that delves into the
issues that impact you and your family. This program is
a public affairs feature of this radio station. Now here's
your host, Michael Leach.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Just because your kids are on summer break doesn't mean
that their brains need to be. Summer regression, summer learning
loss is real. Let's talk about it. My guest today
is Dina Thayer. She's a parenting associate at Focus on
the Family. Dina, thanks for joining me and welcome to
the show.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Well, thank you so much for having me. I'm delighted
to get to chat with you today.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
There's something called summer regression or summer learning loss. Will
you take a moment to define that for us?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Absolutely, this term and you mentioned them both perfectly. There's
also a more casual or colloquial term, summer slide. And
really what it means is that over the summer break,
kids are going essentially a little bit backwards in their learning.
They're experiencing some kind of decline in the academic gains
(01:01):
they've made over that previous school year.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Why do you think that this issue continues to be
a concern.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Big thing is there's a generational shift that we're seeing.
So I'm dating myself a little bit here, but when
I got out of school for the summer, my parents
were essentially like, go play, come home when the street
lights come on. There wasn't a lot of thought about
how do we keep up the academics. So I think
even though this was an issue, even say a decade
(01:30):
or a generation ago, there wasn't the same awareness around it.
So now we're aware of it, and the encouraging thing
is that means we can do something about it.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
What are some of the common misconceptions that many people
have about summer learning loss.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Well, I think the biggest myth that we can bust
is that it's not real. There are people who would say,
you know, that's not really a thing, And that's what
the beginning of the school year is for. Anyway, they're
supposed to spend the first several weeks on review, and
what we know is the data is in and summer
slide is real, and we want those educators to be
(02:05):
able to jump back in and of course maybe a
quick refresher, but to be able to dive into the
new and more challenging material at the appropriate grade level.
So that's the biggest myth that we can bust. I
think the myth I'm also hoping to bust today in
our conversation is that this has to wreck your kids summer.
Mitigating summer slide does not mean you have to plunk
(02:26):
your kid in front of a worksheet at the dining
room table and make their summer super boring. So my
hope is to encourage parents in that regard today as well.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
What role, Dina, do you think that socioeconomic factors play
in this sort of summer slide.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
They are a definite factor, Michael. We know from the
data that the achievement gap, including the cumulative effects of
summer slide, are noticeable in terms of socioeconomics factors. So,
for instance, we see a larger summer slide from children
who maybe come from low income families or are people
(03:04):
of color. We know that that's real, and so what
we have to do is get resources in the hands
of everyone to help. Maybe we won't ever be able
to eradicate it, but to at least help mitigate it
and to make this playing field a little more even
across the board. And what's great about that is there
are fun ways to do that that are accessible that
(03:25):
don't require inordinate amounts of finances or the ability to
go on a crazy summer vacation or anything like that.
So what I love is again on the encouraging side.
Although the achievement gap is noticeable with those factors, the
ways to mitigate it are accessible to everyone.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
With that in mind, what types of summer activities, programs,
or experiences can then help reduce or even prevent learning loss.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Well, let me start with the ones that would be
a little bit of either a heavier lift financially or
just require a little bit of planning, And in my mind,
those are the ones that are around outing. So for instance,
a really fun one is taking your kids to the zoo.
Even little kids who are just learning things like their
colors or numbers, can have fun telling mom and dad
(04:13):
what color an animal is, or we can ask, hey,
how many giraffes are in the enclosure. That's really accessible
even for little kids, but again that is an outing.
Now older kids, you can do spelling. I would be
going crazy having my kids spell hippopotamus and whatever. Super fun,
but again that requires an outing. Another one is escape rooms.
I love escape rooms for summer cognitive thinking process because
(04:36):
they get kids thinking outside the box solving logic puzzles,
but they almost don't even think about it because they're
having fun. And a lot of escape rooms now will
have a family friendly one or two in their facility,
so the puzzles are more accessible for kids. But as
we just talked about, maybe that's not an option for
your family and you're not going to be going out
(04:57):
and about or spending money to go to the zoo
or things like that. There are lots of things you
can do that are low cost or free. In fact.
On the reading side, one of my favorite things is
take advantage of your local library. Most libraries will have
some kind of summer reading program, and a lot of
them even turn it into a contest so the kids
(05:17):
can earn some fun prizes. And what's great about this
is they're not restricted to academic reading. You're not stuck
reading a textbook in the summer. You could read fiction,
or if your child is into fantasy, they can choose
some fantasy books. Then that makes it really fun and
it's obviously no cost. You get a library card, check
your books out no cost. There. Another fun one is
(05:38):
bringing your kids along on your errands that you have
to do anyway, it doesn't cost you any extra. And
say you're at the grocery store and your child is
trying to negotiate for the fun serial or whatever it
might be, and they say, but hey, mom, it's on sale.
Pop it right back to them, get some mas skills
and go. You're right, it does say it's ten percent off.
How many dollars and cents is that? Again, that doesn't
(05:58):
cost you anything, but just gets you in the dialogue
that keeps them thinking about some of those academic skills
in the summer.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
This is a really serious issue, right, and so for
parents who think like you mentioned earlier, the teachers are
going to address this in the new school year. But
what are the long term consequences of repeated summer learning
loss for students?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Thanks for asking about that, Michael, because it is important.
I think we can easily think, well, what's a couple
of months, but over time there is a real cumulative effect.
So a couple kind of startling stats I came across
when researching this topic. One is the cumulative effect of
summer slide. Just by the end of elementary school, so
we're talking fifth grade, can put kids two and a
(06:42):
half to three academic years behind their peers, so that's
quite serious. And this also gets worse as you get older.
So another thing we see that I thought was just
startling was by ninth grade, so freshman year of high school,
two thirds of the achievement gap they've been able to
attribute to summer learning loss. So that's quite significant, actually,
(07:04):
and my hope is it would make parents want to say, hey,
what are a couple of things I can do to
help with that and make that not be my kid
in that statistic.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
There's the parental responsibilities. But I'm wondering, because it's such
a known issue and it is in a sense academic,
do you believe that schools should have more structured summer
learning programs?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Why are why not?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I actually think schools can play a really pivotal role.
And the reason I think that is that for some families,
as we've mentioned, these kinds of things just don't feel
as accessible. If you've got parents working outside the home
and are having to send their kids to some form
of childcare in the summer, they're not taking them even
to the free things like the library. And so if
(07:47):
schools can send home some resources or some packets of
things to keep up the learning. That can be really helpful.
Other ways schools can offer help here is to actually
offer some programs themselves. Maybe they have a little bit
of a light summer school per se, or a fun
academic They can even call it a summer camp where
(08:07):
the kids can have some fun, but there's some learning
incorporated into those things. Maybe they help the kids make
a lemonade stand in front of the school and they're
learning about entrepreneurship along with that budgeting and math skills
and even marketing because they got to make the signs
to advertise it. Schools could be part of the solution here.
And my kids went to a classical school that actually
(08:28):
required summer reading and I was very grateful for it.
And so yes, my short answer is, yes, I think
schools can be part of the solution and not just
part of the issue.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And then there may be some community partners that can
help to join in. Do you have any suggestions for that?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yes, I do think. In addition to the library which
I mentioned, a lot of communities have community centers where
there are some activities and they're even divided by age range,
which is so great and another element of community. I
would encourage parents to avail themselves of especially if they're
working or they're are other factors that make some of
these earlier suggestions untenable. Is talk to your neighbors. I've
(09:06):
been so impressed with people who will get little carpools going.
Maybe there's a day camp and you say, hey, I work,
so I'm not going to be around in the afternoon
when it gets done at three, But I'd be happy
to drive my kids and a couple of neighbor kids
to the camp in the morning on my way to work.
And you can tag team in this way and it
helps immensely. Also, those other parents are great resources for ideas.
(09:29):
So if you can tap into a network, whether that's
people from your church, people from your kids' school, or
like I said, even just in your own neighborhood, sometimes
other parents can be a wonderful source of support and
we can all just pick up the slack for each other,
which is a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Which subjects tend to be the most affected by summer
learning loss.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
The most staggering data is around masts, just because we're
seeing over three quarters of the students depending on which
study you read, that go down in math over the
summer that that's closely followed by reading what you mentioned
can lose up to two months of academic school year gain.
And then a third one that sometimes gets overlooked is writing,
(10:10):
and so I also encourage parents to be encouraging their
kids if they're just outside, even write a nature journal,
what bugs did you see today? What flowers did you
look at? And write it down because we don't always
think about writing. And for those younger kids who are
still developing the fine motor coordination of even holding their
pencil and such, keeping up with writing over the summer
(10:32):
is really important.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Sina, in your opinion, with all of what's going on,
do you think that maybe summer breaks should be shorter
or should academic enrichment opportunities be more widely available during
the summer, which one Well.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
The answer is yes, Michael. I think both ideas have
merit if we can get enrichment activities more readily available
and get parents thinking outside the box about Wait, I
didn't know taking my kids to the zoo could help
them with their school. That's one way we can help.
But the other one is reconsidering the school year, and
there are several states that have schools with a modified
(11:05):
year round program, so the kids are going all year round,
about eight weeks on and then two weeks off, and
that does really move the needle because they're not ever
away from school for two to three months at a time,
and so you don't see such large declines in the
academic achievement. So certainly something for state and even local
(11:26):
governments to consider. At the school district level, do we
offer maybe a school or two that have this modified
year round program and hopefully help some of these kids
not fall through the cracks.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
And so beyond the summertime, if someone is really saying
that their child is suffering as they're going back into
the school year and they just need a little bit
more support, what say you about summer school or tutoring.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
I think actually, in the right context, summer school can
be a positive thing. I do think we want to
watch out for paying attention to the developmental frame of
the child. Meaning five year old is not going to
cope with eight weeks of summer school. They just will
melt and that's not going to work. Now, a teenager
may need several weeks of support, but I would say
(12:12):
it has to be mitigated with also letting them be
a kid and enjoy their summer. And for those older kids,
you learn a lot of skills by having a summer job.
So let's not take that away. Can we look at
how to do these things in concert with letting kids
be kids now tutoring what's great about that is that
can be accessed all year round, So parents may want
(12:33):
to take a break from some of that heavy tutoring
while they're on vacation in the summer or doing different things,
but you can dial that right back in during the
school year and that can be a beautiful supplement to
what's going on at school, whether that's helping with homework
or even helping with time management and more of those
intangibles that some students struggle with, which then affect their academics.
(12:55):
So I'm a fan of both of those things. I
think we just do need to keep in mind that
kids do need breaks. Just like we as adults need
work life balance, they need school life balance, and we
want to pay attention to that as well.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
With all that we've discussed today, what's the one thing
that you believe would make the biggest difference in reducing
the summer slide and the learning loss?
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Here? It is, and it's really simple. It's kind of
a two fold encouragement. Number one, it is not too late.
If you're a parent listening to this and you're like,
I've never been doing things like this over the summer,
I always say it's never too late to make course correction.
Talk with your kids in advance. Let them know, hey,
I've let a few things slide. This summer is going
to look a little bit different, but it's going to
(13:37):
be super fun and here are some things we're going
to do, so give them that heads up. We often
don't give kids the courtesy of a heads up, and
we need to understand kids know what's going on, so
talk to them first. It's not too late. That's my
first encouragement. My second one is please do something. If
you have heard this and you're thinking I want to
just move the needle, but I don't know if I
can do all the things we talked about, that's okay.
(13:59):
Pick one, pick two, and say this summer is the
year that I'm going to do this a little different
and at least be a little more intentional and thoughtful
about keeping those cognitive skills up. And even that can
make the difference. So do something and it's never too late.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Tina, how can we learn more about what we've discussed today.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
I always love to encourage parents to check out our website,
Focus on the Family dot Com. There is a plethora
of materials there, parenting articles, resources, ideas. Please check that out.
And I want to encourage parents if you are hitting
a speed bump in your parenting or things are just
feeling challenging, never hesitate to give us a call. Our
(14:40):
number is one eight hundred, the letter A and the
word family.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
So let's focus on the family dot com. Focus on
the Family dot Com or one eight hundred A family,
Kadina Sayer, thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Well, thank you for shining a light on this important issue.
I really appreciate it, and thank you for listening.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Won't you join I'm your host, Michael Leech, and I
am praying for you and praying that the rest of
your day is wonderful.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
M
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