Our kids' summer break is coming to an end, but they shouldn't have one at all

USA Today

2 days ago

We have this idyllic idea of summer, that kids should be spending their vacations lazing about outside, under a tree, watching the clouds go by. But that's just not reality in a blazing desert.
Why do kids in metro Phoenix even have a summer break?
They should be in school. Wait, wait. Hear me out. This might even make sense.
Summer isn't what it used to be. It's hotter now, with more stretches of 110-degree-plus weather. You can play outside, but not in the heat of the day and never for long. If the sunburn doesn't get kids, the quick dehydration will. Pools aren't the cooling savior that they once were, either. Fewer houses have backyard pools nowadays.
And splash pads take time off work to visit.
We send kids to camp, which is a lot like school
Boredom quickly takes a toll.
Either your house is a wreck from whatever your kids get into – again, because you can't just send them outside, and they have to do something – or you cave and give them more screen time to keep them quiet. Double this effect when their friends come over to play. Presuming there are even friends around to play.
Parents who can afford it often use this time to travel out of state. Many also send their kids from camp to camp in the summer to keep them occupied.
Again, isn't that steady stream of organized activity kind of like … school?
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I know. We have this idyllic idea of summer, that kids should be spending their vacations lazing about outside, under a tree, watching the clouds go by. But that's just not reality in a blazing desert like this one. Plenty of folks complain that the summer is too short, that the school year keeps starting earlier. We shouldn't be back-to-school shopping on the Fourth of July.
And, hey, I get it. My kid started back this week. Others already have a week or more of school under their belts.
Phoenix should move summer break to the winter
Even the later starting schools are back in session by early- to mid-August, drawing plenty of head-scratching from people on the coasts, who don't start until after Labor Day.
But think of it this way: Summer in metro Phoenix is like winter for everyone else. And what do kids do in winter? They go to school. People in colder climates would never dream of keeping kids out of school for two months in the middle of January. They'd get cabin fever.
Well, same concept here. Why don't we take a two-week break in the summer?
We could time it around the Fourth of July, sort of how most schools pause for a couple of weeks around Christmas. And then we could have our summer break in November and December, or save it for February and March, when the weather is more bearable.
You know as well as I do why this won't happen
I know the answer as well as you do.
We keep our kids home for weeks in the heat because it would force people to rework their vacations and move camps to other times of the year. It would be tough to schedule sports, because no one in their right mind would ever play a football game, even one under Friday night lights, in July.
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It also could cost more to cool cash-strapped schools that are normally vacant in summer, among any number of other reasons not to do this.
Change is hard, especially when that change would make metro Phoenix the odd one out nationally. Then again, we relish our standalone status as the only state in the continental U.S. to not observe daylight saving time.
Maybe it's not that weird of an idea after all. Especially, if – you know – we did it for the kids.
Joanna Allhands is columnist and digital opinions editor for the Arizona Republic, where this column originally appeared. Reach Allhands at [e-mail] or on X: @joannaallhands