Summer is Not the Time to Remove all Structure Part II
Executive Function · Summer Planning
Summer Is Not the Time to Remove All Structure
Independence isn't built by suddenly removing the support that helped a child function all year. Here's what to do instead.
Every June, parents tell us the same thing: "This is the summer they're finally going to become more independent."
Without the pressures of the school year — homework, sports schedules, early mornings — summer feels like it should be the perfect opportunity to take a step back. No more reminding. No more managing every detail. No more checking whether the backpack is packed or the assignment is finished. The intention makes sense. Independence is the goal.
The problem is that independence is rarely built by suddenly removing the support that helped a child function during the entire school year.
For many students, especially those with executive functioning challenges, summer isn't simply a break from school — it's also a dramatic reduction in external structure.
School provides hundreds of invisible supports every day: bells, schedules, teacher reminders, classmates moving from one activity to the next, due dates, routines, and predictable expectations. When those disappear overnight, students don't necessarily feel a sense of freedom. Instead, they're suddenly responsible for skills they are still actively developing.
Executive functions are still developing well into early adulthood, with the prefrontal cortex maturing gradually over time. Skills like planning, organization, task initiation, time management, and self-monitoring are learned through repeated practice — they don't simply appear once a child turns another year older.1,2
Summer isn't the time to remove support altogether. It's the time to shift what support looks like.
Independence Isn't the Absence of Support
One of the most common misconceptions we encounter is the belief that helping too much creates dependence. Sometimes it can. But removing support before a student has the underlying skills doesn't create independence either. More often, it creates frustration, conflict, and a cycle where parents feel compelled to step back in to manage the fallout.
Peg Dawson and Richard Guare, whose work has shaped much of today's executive functioning intervention, describe executive skills as learnable abilities — not fixed personality traits. Like reading or riding a bike, these skills improve through guided practice and gradually increasing responsibility.3
If a student struggles to start tasks independently during the school year, they probably won't suddenly become self-motivated in July. The goal isn't to disappear. The goal is to become less necessary over time.
Think Coaching, Not Managing
One of the most useful shifts a parent can make is moving from the role of manager to the role of coach.
Managers make decisions, monitor every step, and solve problems before they happen. Coaches stay nearby, ask questions, notice patterns, and gradually hand ownership to the learner. Those roles sound similar, but they produce very different outcomes.
The manager says: "Read for thirty minutes now. Did you do it? Don't forget — you need chapter four done by Friday."
The coach asks: "What's your plan for getting this finished before school starts?"
If the plan feels unrealistic, the conversation continues:
"What might get in the way?"
"How will you remember?"
"What will you do if you miss a day?"
In the coaching scenario, the parent isn't solving the problem. They're helping the student strengthen the kind of thinking that eventually allows them to solve problems on their own.
Rather than moving abruptly from adult-led to student-led, responsibility shifts incrementally as competence develops — what researchers call the Gradual Release of Responsibility.4
Look for the Next Small Step
Parents sometimes treat independence as all-or-nothing: either I'm reminding them, or I'm not. Either I'm helping, or I'm stepping away.
But successful independence almost always develops through small, deliberate reductions in support. Instead of asking "Can they do this completely alone?" try asking "What's one part of this process they can own right now?"
- Maybe you still help create the weekly schedule — but they check it without reminders.
- Maybe you still discuss weekend plans together — but they enter commitments into their own calendar.
- Maybe you stop reminding them to charge their laptop — but you continue talking through what happens if they forget.
These small shifts create opportunities for practice without overwhelming the student. Executive functioning research consistently suggests that manageable challenges — not overwhelming ones — are what strengthen self-regulation over time.5
Expect Mistakes
One of the hardest parts of building independence is allowing room for things to go wrong.
Parents often worry: "If I don't remind them, they'll forget." Sometimes they will. That is part of learning. That is part of growing.
Natural consequences can be effective teachers — but only when the stakes are appropriate. Forgetting sunscreen on a beach trip teaches planning. Forgetting a water bottle before tennis practice teaches preparation. Missing one library visit might teach time awareness.
Summer offers a unique opportunity because the consequences of most mistakes are much smaller than they are during the academic year. That makes it an ideal season for practicing new responsibilities while the risks remain relatively low.
The goal isn't perfection — it's reflection. Instead of "See? I knew you'd forget," try "What do you think happened here?" or "What would you try differently next time?"
Reflection is one of the most powerful ways executive functioning develops, because it strengthens metacognition: the ability to think about one's own thinking.6
Summer Doesn't Need to Be Hyper-Productive
It is also worth saying clearly: summer doesn't need to become another self-improvement project.
Not every hour requires enrichment. Not every day needs a color-coded schedule. Rest matters. Unstructured time matters. Boredom — real, uncomfortable, unhurried boredom — actually supports creativity and problem-solving in ways that scheduled productivity cannot.
The goal is to provide just enough structure that students can practice managing themselves without feeling abandoned. Often that means keeping a few predictable anchors in the day: a consistent wake-up time, one household responsibility, a regular movement routine, or a weekly check-in conversation.
Structure and freedom are not mutually exclusive. The most effective summer routines usually include both.
What Support Can You Remove?
Instead of asking how quickly you can step back this summer, try asking a different question:
What is one support my child no longer needs?
And what is one support they still do?
Those answers will change over time — and that is exactly the point. Independence is built through hundreds of ordinary opportunities to practice, reflect, adjust, and try again, with the right balance of support at each stage.
Summer gives us more of those opportunities than almost any other season. We use them best by stepping back thoughtfully, not all at once.
Looking for structured support that builds real independence?
Our SAT/ACT prep programs are built around the understanding that executive function is the real barrier for most of our students. We build the scaffolding — and then gradually hand the ownership to them.
Learn About Our Prep Programs →References
- Best, J. R., & Miller, P. H. (2010). A developmental perspective on executive function. Child Development, 81(6), 1641–1660.
- Center on the Developing Child. (2011). Building the brain's "Air Traffic Control" system: How early experiences shape the development of executive function. Harvard University. developingchild.harvard.edu
- Dawson, P., & Guare, R. (2010). Executive skills in children and adolescents: A practical guide to assessment and intervention (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
- Pearson, P. D., & Gallagher, M. C. (1983). The instruction of reading comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8(3), 317–344.
- Zimmerman, B. J. (2000). Attaining self-regulation: A social cognitive perspective. In M. Boekaerts, P. R. Pintrich, & M. Zeidner (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation (pp. 13–39). Academic Press.
- Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive-developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34(10), 906–911.
