Dear Teachers Please Don’t Ask Kids What They Did This Summer

“Dear teachers

Please when those sweet faces show up in your classroom for the first time and you want to give that familiar homework of “What I did this summer!!” , please consider the kid whose family couldn’t afford a holiday ☹️ the kid who took care of younger siblings because their grown-up slept all day, the kid who hid under the covers at 2 a.m. trying to escape the screaming and cursing 😞 the kid who is looking forward to lunch because they’ve only had the same sandwich all summer or haven’t been fed at all and have spent their Summer looking for ways to feed themselves.

The kid wearing last year’s clothes because their family couldn’t afford new ones .

There are kids dreading the first day of school because they have no good answer for what they did this summer when what they really did was just survive.

So please consider a different question. Perhaps “what I’m looking forward to about this school year,” . But please, don’t make them go around the room or write a paragraph telling about their summer. Sadly, for a lot of kids, the best part is that summer is over.”