I’ll say this for summer vacation: By the end of it, fidget spinners will likely be a thing of the past. Except, possibly, for kids who actually need something to keep their hands busy to allow their minds to focus. I’m sure teachers everywhere will be grateful to see the ubiquitous toys go the way of Rubik’s cubes, which were all the rage when I was in middle school. It’s not that Rubik’s cubes have disappeared — you can still buy them at Target, Walmart, or any other big box or toy store. But not every child between the ages of 6 and 14 has one, or several, and those children are not trying to solve the puzzle under their desks while their teachers go on about the intricacies of long division or the Treaty of Appomattox. The spinners, of course, aren’t really puzzles. They’re more like a variation on spinning tops, running on ball bearings and configured so they’ll spin on a desktop, between fingers or balanced on a thumb. I get the appeal. I like to (need to?) keep my hands busy as much as the next person. I take notes in meetings even when I know I’ll never look at them again. If there isn’t anything to take notes on, I doodle, making rows of circles or squares or interlocking geometric shapes. If I’m by myself, I’ll tap pencils or click pens. I rarely just sit and watch TV; I watch plenty of TV, but usually I’m doing something else as well (Candy Crush, anyone?). The fidgeting, for me at least, is a way of occupying that part of my mind that’s most easily distracted so that the rest of it can get on with what needs to be done. The problem is that fidgeting — especially with the constant hissing sound generated by fidget spinners’ ball bearings — can distract other people from their work. And when a child loses one, well, the resulting upset can distract a whole class. I think this need to fidget — to keep one’s fingers moving while thinking — is familiar to many Catholics. How else to explain the long-lasting popularity of the rosary, which gives people something tactile to hold on to while they pray? The beads do more than help keep track of prayers — tally marks would do that — they give the person praying something else to focus on, to touch and feel, to stay grounded in the moment instead of having their minds go haring off after any stray bits of fluff that go blowing by. But summer is a good time for kids to daydream and look for shapes in the clouds anyway. Or to spin the days away, if that’s what they want to do. But we all should take some time to pray, too. If we need help focusing, the rosary is there to help.