This really made me think about how many systems we still live inside simply because nobody has redesigned them. When we lived in Italy, the school summer holidays were literally around three months long, which always felt completely disconnected from the reality of parents who work. What are families actually supposed to do with that? I really liked your point that we so often adapt ourselves to outdated structures instead of questioning whether the structure itself still makes sense. And the image of something “just keeps counting so it never has to stop” is such a good way of putting it.
Three months of summer holiday sounds intense and everyone just adapts around it. People are not questioning enough certain things in life, but let’s face it - school holidays are not set in stone. This is just tip of the iceberg, because there is so many thing we have inherited we are not even aware that things could work in a different way
Thanks Lucy, I do wonder what the alternative could be…I had the blessing to be able to leave my job when my first kid was born, but not everyone had that luxury…I also don’t think kids should be in school throughout the whole year! Maybe parents should get the same amount of time off at work but as a business owner, how do you keep a business running?
I really like the thread connecting the school calendar, Opałka, and workplace wellness programs: structures created for one purpose that keep operating long after the original context has disappeared. The final question may be the strongest part, because it brings everything back to the personal level: how much of what organizes our lives still truly works, and how much simply keeps going because no one has decided to stop it?
Glad the closing question did the work of bringing it back down to something personal rather than staying abstract! Not gonna lie, the childcare struggle when both parents ar eworking is very frustrating and I believe many can associate themselves with similar challenges over the summer.
This really made me think about how many systems we still live inside simply because nobody has redesigned them. When we lived in Italy, the school summer holidays were literally around three months long, which always felt completely disconnected from the reality of parents who work. What are families actually supposed to do with that? I really liked your point that we so often adapt ourselves to outdated structures instead of questioning whether the structure itself still makes sense. And the image of something “just keeps counting so it never has to stop” is such a good way of putting it.
Three months of summer holiday sounds intense and everyone just adapts around it. People are not questioning enough certain things in life, but let’s face it - school holidays are not set in stone. This is just tip of the iceberg, because there is so many thing we have inherited we are not even aware that things could work in a different way
Thanks Lucy, I do wonder what the alternative could be…I had the blessing to be able to leave my job when my first kid was born, but not everyone had that luxury…I also don’t think kids should be in school throughout the whole year! Maybe parents should get the same amount of time off at work but as a business owner, how do you keep a business running?
I really like the thread connecting the school calendar, Opałka, and workplace wellness programs: structures created for one purpose that keep operating long after the original context has disappeared. The final question may be the strongest part, because it brings everything back to the personal level: how much of what organizes our lives still truly works, and how much simply keeps going because no one has decided to stop it?
Glad the closing question did the work of bringing it back down to something personal rather than staying abstract! Not gonna lie, the childcare struggle when both parents ar eworking is very frustrating and I believe many can associate themselves with similar challenges over the summer.