Giving children down time is akin to giving children the good nutrition they need to grow and thrive.
The Fourth of July signifies summer is here. For so many families, unstructured time and lazy summer days are a fantasy. Children today are more over scheduled than ever before and the end of the school year brings no relief. Often, summer is seen as a time to increase a child’s activities. A recent article, The ‘Busy’ Trap speaks to some of the hazards of busyness. “ Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets.” 
Getting lost in a book transports a child to a world of dreams and inventiveness. For example, Dr. Seuss was a botanist and zoologist of the first rank. Never mind that the flora and fauna he described were imaginary. A child headed for a career in science could do very well starting with the plants and animals that populate the books of the madcap master of biology.
Albert Einstein wrote: “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” At first, this might seem a strange thought as it applies to science. We are frequently asked to believe that science takes mystery out of the world. Nothing could be further from the truth. Mystery invites curiosity. Unless we perceive the world as mysterious, we shall never be curious about what makes the world tick.”
