Summer Time – Super Time with Family!

Summer is often the season when parents fill their children’s schedules with camps, tuition classes, music lessons, and art workshops. While using the holidays to develop skills is valuable, summer can also be a beautiful opportunity to strengthen family bonds — especially with grandparents, cousins, uncles, and aunts.

When I was a child, my summer holidays were often spent at my grandparents’ home, visiting relatives in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The bonds I built during those visits have kept me connected to my roots and loved ones even today. Sadly, this intentional building of relationships seems to have taken a back seat in recent times.

With growing competition, there is a strong desire to raise “super kids.” Children’s calendars are packed, leaving little room for meaningful connection. Why is this generation more focused on competence than on connection?

I am not suggesting that you stop enrolling your children in summer classes. However, the relationships within our families are God-given and meant to be nurtured. The life lessons learned through shared meals, conversations, laughter, and care cannot be taught in any classroom.

Make This Summer Count

Why not use this summer as a time for intentional family bonding?

A wonderful resource by our friends Rod and Ruthie Gilbert, titled Family Falooda, offers creative and practical ideas for enjoying meaningful family time. We have featured one of the chapters in the Family Fun Time column of this issue to inspire you.

A Thought-Provoking Reminder

Selfishness and individualism are slowly invading cultures once known for hospitality, care, and togetherness. Caring for the elderly and spending time with the needy are becoming outsourced responsibilities, handled by professional services rather than family.

I once received a message that made me pause and reflect.

A man received a call from the elderly care home where his mother was staying. The caretaker informed him that her condition was worsening and urged him to come immediately.

When he reached her bedside, she shared her final wishes:

“Please install ten air conditioners for the rooms here. Ensure that enough food is supplied every day, as sometimes there isn’t enough. Replace the bed sheets and fumigate the building — there are too many bedbugs and mosquitoes.”

The son, puzzled, asked, “Why are you telling me this now, when you are at the verge of death? Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

The mother replied gently, “I have somehow managed through the difficulties. I am leaving this world now. But I want this place to be better — for you, when your children bring you here.”

History has a way of repeating itself — sometimes painfully.

Build Relationships Today

Let this summer be different.
Choose connection over competition.
Choose presence over performance.

Invest time in your children. Reconnect with grandparents. Strengthen extended family ties. Build relationships now — so that you will have no regrets later.