When the summer months roll around, a lot of children can’t wait to lounge around the house, sleep in or enjoy cartoons for hours on end. Depending on the parenting style you have, there might be room for those experiences. That’s perfectly fine. However, it’s good to make room for educational enrichment. You don’t have to become a drill sergeant, but it’s excellent to foster a learning environment for a number of reasons. Consider the following three.

1. Maintain Mental Clarity

There’s nothing fun about feeling mentally drained after a long stint at school, no matter how old you are. Brain fog and burnout are some of the most draining experiences a person can endure, and they can be incredibly difficult to get out of. After a year of school, your child might be someone who’s likely to deal with this. 

One of the best ways to avoid mental fogginess involves practice. Find unique ways to stimulate cognitive development in your child throughout the summer through unique learning opportunities. Develop an at-home curriculum where you all study a new subject matter each week. If you’re studying animals, read interesting books on specific animals. Do animal puzzles, visit the zoo, and take other types of subject-related field trips. This will help to keep the mind engaged as you expand their capacity to retain information.

2. Development, Confidence, and Increased Esteem

Within the world of motivational speaking, many speakers believe that “learners are earners” and “readers are leaders”. Your educational capacity can directly impact the amount you’ll earn and the positions you can attain. When a person’s ability to learn and earn more, can contribute to their ability to become confident within themselves. If childhood experiences like kids STEM summer camps become normalized, the exposure allows them to feel more well-versed in specific subject matters. They become confident in what they know because they’ve developed years of experience. They really don’t know anything other than learning and achieving.

3. Education is a Lifestyle

Instill education into your child as a lifestyle. Education doesn’t just come in the form of sitting in a classroom during the school year. Education comes in the form of reading books, exploring new hobbies, and traveling. When you utilize the summer months to display this fact, it’ll become an integral part of the way they live their own lives. Education doesn’t just stop after college. In fact, the people who tend to progress more in life tend to be life-long students.

Balance is key when you’re approaching opportunities for educational enrichment for your child. After all, it is important for children to enjoy the break they get during the summer, but it’s also not a good idea for them to spend all day every day of the break doing nothing besides watching TV or sleeping. You don’t necessarily need to make sure they wake up at 7 am each morning to read or complete educational projects. However, creating a schedule or finding opportunities that make room for study and leisure is incredibly healthy and productive.