By Stephen Vance, Editor
The beach bags have been traded in for backpacks as the children head back to school this week after a summer filled with fun and freedom.
This is a week that is always filled with mixed emotions for both parents and students.
While some students will be less than thrilled to shift from leisurely days of skateboarding or skipping stones on the river to lessons in mathematics, others woke up this morning excited to head back to class.
Parents likewise have a shift in routine this week, and though there are no doubt some who wish they had a few more weeks with the kids at home, many parents will be positively thrilled to see the little ones head back.
My own children are excited to be heading back to school albeit for very different reasons. My eight year old has been missing his “girlfriend” while my twelve year old begins his final year of elementary school today and he clearly has his eye on hitting the big time when he begins his high school years next September.
Myself, I always loved the start of the school year. I loved the routine of going to school, I loved the opportunity to learn new things – so long as they in no way involved numbers or complex formulae.
The start of the school year is the symbolic end of summer (though technically we still have a few weeks of summer remaining) and as such it should be a time to reflect upon how fortunate we are that we have the opportunity to enjoy the summer months in the way that we do.
Living in Meaford we are somewhat spoiled in the summer department. With a beautiful waterfront to take advantage of, a large network of trails to explore, and a community that loves special events, there is a seemingly never-ending list of things to do in the warm season.
The return to school shouldn’t be the end of that fun and exploration though. While we may now have to restrict our leisure activities to weekends, there is so much that we can do in our area the whole year round.
The trails don’t disappear when the first school bell rings, though before long you will need some snowshoes or skis to take advantage of them. There are many events in Meaford throughout the colder months. The Scarecrow Invasion is on the way, Beautiful Joe’s Autumn Adventure arrives even sooner. And before we know it the downtown businesses will be covering their windows in order to create their holiday window displays just in time for the annual Santa Claus Parade.
I like to think of the start of the school year not as the end of summer, but as the beginning of the rest of the year.
There is a scene in a film I love called State and Main where playwright Joseph Turner White (played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman) says to bookstore owner Ann Black (played by Rebecca Pidgeon) “A little, small town. I suppose you have to make your own fun.” To which Ann responds: “Everybody makes their own fun. If you don’t make it yourself it ain’t fun, it’s entertainment.”
How very true.
Collectively Meafordites are very good at making their own fun, and perhaps the beginning of the school year when many of us are inclined to think that the fun is over until the end of next June, is a good time to remind ourselves that we do indeed make our own fun, and the end of summer isn’t the end of fun, it is an opportunity to make new fun.
To all of our students returning to school – enjoy every second of it, believe it or not, there will be a time later in life when you will long for the days that you were “trapped” at school.
And for those of us who are parents, don’t let the fun die with the start of the school year. Let’s all stop waiting around to be entertained, and spend some more time making our own fun – we may be surprised at how good we are at it.
