Time Magazine had a recent cover story entitled “Who Killed Summer Vacation?”.
The article brought focus to the sad fact that many American workers have been discouraged or even prevented from taking vacation time at corporate jobs.
Many that do take time off limit it to one week at most, in part because they fear that they will lose their jobs or the next promotion.
There seems to be a chipping away of a cherished part of our culture – the family vacation or two weeks off in July or August. For many families this simple pleasure is becoming a thing of the past.
While many do squeeze in a long weekend or a four-day break during summer, there are far too many individuals and families who either can’t afford a vacation or are too pressed at work to take one.
We owe the next generation more. It is time to revisit summer rituals and pleasures before they simply become the domain of the comfortably retired or the affluent.
Sailing and cruising the New England coast with children was common in the 60s, 70s and 80s. You didn’t have to be a Kennedy, although they cleverly used these Life Magazine images of vigor and courage to reach the White House. No, back then it took just a little bit of money and two weeks and some sailing knowledge. With a few lessons, a borrowed or rented boat and the will to give it a try many hardy souls took to the sea. Instead of buying an expensive grill and patio furniture – sailing lessons were quite popular.
They are still very accessible in places like Newburyport, Marblehead and on the Cape. Many can ask a friend to take you out on a boat and get some experience. If you can learn enough and take the proper classes to do it with your family, I know from experience that it can be a remarkable opportunity.
Cruising in a sailboat along the coast builds more than just memories. It instills a sense of adventure. It teaches us about nature, adversity, fog, and forces us to find entertainment like playing cards with each other, or walking into a quiet Maine town for ice cream or searching for stones on a remote island. There are times when one cannot get Wi Fi and it is no ones fault. Many families used to go cruising each summer and improved their skills with each passing year. Sailing up the Maine coast as a family, can be scary, challenging, and unpredictable and sometimes boring…but it is still worth it.
For me, cruising is not just a unique experience; it serves to actually bond families in a way many other activities cannot. Children cannot hide in their rooms or walk out the door or tune out. Families must work together on a small boat. Getting ashore and getting some distance only makes families realize they would rather sit together, have a bonfire on a beach and toast marshmallows around the fire than go their separate ways.
What could I learn on the back deck or in the yard compared to what I did at sea?
Today, this summer tradition of cruising around on a boat is dying out in New England but I feel it remains to be one of the greatest things you can do for your family and yourself.
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When the article in Time Magazine hit the newsstands, it prompted the radio host on WBUR’s “On Point” Tom Ashbrook to discuss the overall problem and take calls on the subject.
Many people from around the country called into the radio station saying that they are afraid to take their time off.
They noted that they find themselves apologizing to bosses for taking a vacation! One caller said he is not offered any vacation time at his job. He said even if he got the time off, he couldn’t afford to go anywhere. One caller mentioned that she lived in Europe. She noted that “… Europeans work hard but they take a month off in summer and two weeks around Christmas time.”
They not only consider it something they have earned, but it is their right. They are out enjoying life.” She said the U.S. must “wake up” as right now it is the only developed country in the world that does not guarantee time off. We still create car commercials celebrating the workaholic disconnected from his life.
It seems sometimes now, that we are scared. And, we are making our kids scared. The rest of the civilized world is evolving and growing and experiencing life. And, we are both retreating and are overworked. Families can suffer the effects. We do need to wake up.
There is an expression that says “Everyday you should do something that scares you.” Maybe…today is the day to put in a request for your two weeks off in August!
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Looking back at summer vacations in the past, not all of them go as planned. My parents took us to Canada in summers to visit relatives and I remember each trip NOW as clear as yesterday.
I remember the dog getting lost before leaving for Niagara Falls. At a hotel in Ontario, I was rushing to buy post cards and I thought I was walking into a hallway. It was a glass window. I walked smack into it, knocked myself unconscious and my parents found me on the floor. In New Brunswick at a small seaside hotel, my sister’s pillow got too close to a heater and it caught fire. In Toronto, my older sister met another family and she was invited to go up to the space needle with them as a treat. We actually trusted these fellow travelers and met them later for dinner.
What I remember about our summer vacations taught me to be adventurous, independent and respectful. I learned how to be a good traveler as opposed to a tourist. I set off just after high school with a backpack and $200 to see Europe.
I spent many years traveling in Asia, the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Russia. I lived in Spain during my junior year of college and learned the language. All I really had to go on when I began my quest to see the world was those few summers traveling to Canada in the station wagon with my family. Those family adventures inspired me to broaden my horizons and set out and see the world.
Sailing or traveling to Canada as a child made me who I am today. I am grateful that my parents took a risk. And, I am grateful that they were able and willing to take two weeks off.
When you put in your request for time off, it may be difficult to explain WHY to an employer. That you want your daughter to meet another girl her age on Cape Cod and beg you to have a simple rope bracelet made for them by a local.
If HR looks at you with a raised eyebrow, you must declare that you need to go sailing to Cuttyhunk Island and dive off a pier into the water. When the boss goes over your paper work, tell her that going to Nova Scotia to visit your relatives and stopping by the side of the road to look at lupine and take pictures of cows is imperative. Or simply tell the board that it is time to pour the kids into the car and go find Lost River in New Hampshire. It is worth looking for.
I am not naive. There are mortgages and tuitions and car payments. But there are also more frivolous items we are putting too high on the list of must haves. New technology should be making it easier to take off a few weeks with an hour at the laptop. Some are finding this to be true.
But without vacation time, we really can’t build stories or anecdotes or laughter around the family table. We won’t make the next generation very brave or bold or adaptable.
The vacation is a core American value and an essential tool for growth and learning.
We are at risk of becoming risk adverse. Innovation in many forms is what will keep this country strong.
So, please don’t let this happen to you this summer.
Don’t give in to the pressure of staying home or skipping vacation or listening to how busy everyone is. Grab that chance to pack up the car and or boat and take a risk. It is worth every minute… even walking into a window or sailing into a fog bank. Think about the pursuit of happiness vs. the pursuit of transient things.
The vacation is a freedom that we can’t afford to lose.
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Still adventurous, Laurie Fullerton finished this article and soon after boarded a 110 foot schooner called the Spirit of Bermuda as a guest journalist. The ship will make a 600-mile crossing this summer.