Creating Time

Summer schedules can free up many hours. Here’s how to harness that time.

Time is strange. Sometimes one hour seems like forever (like when you’re sitting in the dentist’s chair). Sometimes an hour passes in a flash (like when you’re deeply absorbed in a good book). In all cases our task is to maximize time and use it wisely. And so the question arises each summer: “What can I achieve in this period of time?”

Summer Ambitions

Many people look forward to the summer as the time when they will finally be able to get things done. In some ways it is like the post-Pesach period when life resumes and projects are possible once again. However it can be even better than post-Pesach in that for some people the responsibilities of child care may be lighter than usual. Children who live at home during the school year may now be away at sleepover camps. Others who come home from school or yeshivah throughout the day for meals may now spend their entire day in camp. Some little ones may be having their first experience away from home in the care of others.

When changes such as these occur many homemakers plan grand projects in their minds: “I’m going to paint the house” “I’m going to write a book” “I’m going to attend daily shiurim to prepare for the New Year ” “I’m going to start my exercise program ” and so on. It all sounds credible and fabulous. And yet at the end of summer many will lament: “I didn’t get anything done! Where did the time go?”