You Only Get 12 Summers

You only get twelve summers with your child before they leave home.

When you think about it that way, the clock feels very real.

Twelve summers. That’s all we get.

The Power of Summer

During the school year, life runs on rails: schedules, assignments, grades, expectations. But in the summer, those rails fall away.

Often, that’s when children get to explore who they are when no one’s grading them. That’s when the world opens up—new environments, mentors, and experiences that can either accelerate growth or stall it.

Summers are displacement events. They can move a child out of the familiar and into the formative.

Every summer is a fork in the road:

One that either awakens potential—or lets it lie dormant.

Gifts and Talents

Every child is born with gifts—those natural inclinations and abilities that seem to appear without effort. Some call it aptitude. Others call it grace.

But a gift only becomes a talent when it’s developed through effort. That’s the partnership between nature and nurture—between what’s given and what’s grown.

Summers are when that partnership flourishes. A two-week program, a passion project, a leadership camp—each one creates the kind of concentrated challenge that regular schooling rarely allows.

It’s not about busyness.
It’s about direction.

HIIT for the Mind and Soul

In fitness, HIIT—high-intensity interval training—produces more progress in less time. Summer is HIIT for education.

In a few focused weeks, a child can grow more intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually than they might in an entire semester. Why? Because intensity breeds clarity.

When students immerse themselves in something meaningful, they see what they’re made of. They glimpse the connection between effort and excellence—between who they are and who they might be.

The 12 Summers Framework

Each summer plays a different role in shaping a child’s story:

Each summer builds on the last.
Miss one, and it’s not the end, but the opportunity cost compounds.
Twelve chances to build identity, confidence, and character.

For Parents

Parents often ask, “Am I doing enough?”
But the better question is, “Am I using the summers well?”

Because those 12 summers—they go fast.
And each one can either reinforce comfort or ignite calling.

The best summers aren’t about over-scheduling.
They’re about over-delivering on meaning.

A Final Thought

Imagine your child at 18.

Now look back: twelve summers, each a chapter of discovery, development, and direction.

What story will those summers tell?

Because at the end of the day, education doesn’t just happen in classrooms. It happens in moments of wonder, courage, and risk—most often, in the summer.

Make this one count.