- As the mom of two tweens, I really wish schools would keep snow days.
- I have so many great memories from those unexpected magical days growing up.
- I feel like my kids spend too much time on screens for school already; let them have fun.
As temperatures drop , I hope school administrators call for at least one “old-fashioned” snow day this season. I think it’s important that kids across the country — including my own two pre-teens — experience the style of snow days that I did growing up, and not because I got to stay inside relaxing. In fact, I learned surprising lessons in those days about history, science, and art.
Lawmakers in states including Iowa, New Jersey, and Virginia have introduced bills to make it easier for districts to replace traditional days off with remote classes. I hope this doesn’t become the preference. Kids will lose out if they’re robbed of the unexpected time to be curious.
I have fond memories of my snow days
When I think back to the snow days I enjoyed growing up in the 1980s — in the farm-filled New Jersey town of Freehold — I picture long strings of glowing red lights.
My dad would drive my brother and me to Monmouth Battlefield State Park, where lit-up displays at the visitors’ center outlined routes that Washington’s Army and British soldiers took to get to the bloody battle in which as many as 400 died. We were actually there because the hilly park has become a popular sledding destination , but after we took turns careening toward the woods on our creaky Flexible Flyer, we’d head inside to thaw out and study the displays…