Special Edition: The Summer Kids Actually Need

**Lisa Damour** (0:00)
The summer is sort of a wide open space, and I think wide open spaces can make us anxious because we have to design them.

**Erica Mandy** (0:08)
Today is Saturday, June 13th. Summer is supposed to feel fun, relaxed, maybe even magical, right? But for a lot of parents, it can also feel like a lot to figure out. How much structure do kids really need? Should we worry about the summer slide? What about screens, boredom, camps, costs? Ultimately, how do we make summer meaningful without making it overwhelming or expensive? Today, I'm joined by Dr. Lisa Damour, a clinical psychologist with a long list of accomplishments. She's the author of three New York Times bestsellers, Untangled, Under Pressure, and The Emotional Lives of Teenagers, and she's the co-host of the Ask Lisa podcast. She's also a regular contributor to CBS News, she works with UNICEF, and she's even consulted on Pixar's Inside Out 2 The list goes on. In this episode, she's sharing what kids actually need most this summer, at every age, from toddlers to teenagers, what parents can worry about less, and how even simple but strategic activities and requests can go a long way in helping kids and teens thrive over the summer and beyond.
Welcome to The News Worthy special edition Saturday, when we sit down with a different expert or celebrity every Saturday to talk about something in the news. Don't forget to tune in every Monday through Friday for our regular episodes, where we provide all the day's news in less than 15 minutes. I'm Erica Mandy, it's now time for today's special edition Saturday.
Dr. Lisa Damour, thank you so much for joining us here on The News Worthy.

**Lisa Damour** (1:34)
I am delighted to be with you.

**Erica Mandy** (1:36)
So before we dig into really the actionable ideas for summer, which I know you'll have many, I want to acknowledge all the pressure that's put on parents to get it right, to have this magical summer. Why does summer feel like this task?
And how can parents navigate all that pressure, do you think?

**Lisa Damour** (1:56)
Well, summer is sort of unscripted, right? School year is easy, right? Like the routines are handed to you, you have to work with them, and you can have some confidence that your kids are being kept busy in ways that are probably productive, right? The summer is sort of a wide open space, and I think wide open spaces can make us anxious because we have to design them. We have to figure out what is doable. And then of course, a lot of us have jobs and things like that, that change, you know, what's possible, that make summer actually pretty demanding in terms of figuring out what kids are supposed to be doing with their time and who's supposed to be supervising them or getting them from place to place, right? This is not easy.

**Erica Mandy** (2:32)
Yeah, it's up to us versus just handing it off to somebody else. So at the end of the day, as we're making these decisions about what summer should look like, what does matter most about summer for kids?

**Lisa Damour** (2:44)
I focus a lot of my work on tweens and teens. So the thing that always matters most is that they're safe, right? And safety can actually be a little bit up for grabs in the summer, especially with teenagers. You know, when we look at the data, there's more likelihood that something's going to go wrong in terms of their safety in the summer, either because they're out with a lot more unstructured and unsupervised time. They can just get bored and go online and find themselves in places that really aren't good for kids.
So the most important thing always is that you know that your kid is safe.
One of the ways that kids stay safe is that they are busy enough and that they are in the company of adults who can provide appropriate levels of supervision.

**Erica Mandy** (3:22)
Okay, so that's an interesting point because I feel like the last couple of years we've heard a lot about this, create the 90s summer where you let your kids roam free and have independence. But then, of course, especially for parents that work, it's the pressure to put them in the best summer camps and make sure they have something to do. So is there a balance of structure and independence and how do you find that?

**Lisa Damour** (3:43)
So one way to balance it is, know your kid, right? There are some 13 and 14-year-olds who could basically run corporations who operate like 40-year-old librarians, who do not need a whole lot of supervision, and who can be counted on to get through a chore list, do their summer reading. If that's your kid, that's your kid.