Can we get a teen check in re summer?

[erbear]

How are you keeping your young teens busy this summer? Mine are too young to get jobs (12 and 14 — they could babysit but they don’t like kids…) but too old for camps and stuff. We have some trips planned but there are 5ish weeks when they have nothing. DD1 is working on her referee class but that’s not going to take too long. They have some friends in the neighborhood but most are gone for the summer. I’m just trying to avoid hours and hours of screen time (I’m ok with some hours…)

[sugarbear1]

DS1 (13) plays travel baseball so fortunately that takes up many weekends and a few evenings a week through the summer. He has three travel tournaments (two are a week long and one is 3 days). It's a LOT. Otherwise he has a couple sports camps, but those are only a few hours a day and I think only three weeks total.

He has one neighborhood friend and hopefully will meet some others (new school for him). He does like to read so it's pretty easy for me to say, an hour of book / an hour outside / an hour of screen. Some days I'm guessing he'll repeat that cycle many times.

[calamity]

We have a 12 and 14 year old. The 12YO has swimming practices and two hours of mother's helper a week. My 14YO has football practice in the morning but nothing else.

DD will get together with her friends, but DS hasn't quite clicked with his group yet. I'm worried about him sitting in his room all summer.

I think we are going to give them chores and probably some allowance, but honestly I am not sure how to fill the rest of their time.

[eb777888]

I signed him up for some sport camps through his school, it's mostly running and weight lifting, but he's really been into fitness this year so he's enjoying it. We also get season passes for the water park every summer so I take him and one of his friends at least one time a week. School also assigned him summer reading and it's usually not too bad but this year it's a little heavier of a load. He also does coding, has done some master classes, plays with his friend from next door. He also does spend a lot of time on screens, TBH.

[fluffycookie]

DS (15) just got out of school yesterday. His plan is hockey 3-4x a week at night and going to the gym during the day. He has a tutor for algebra this summer, but I am not sure of the time yet since she is still finalizing the schedule. We have two trips planned - one in the beginning of July and the second towards the middle/end of August. Today is his first day home and he is currently watching tv and MH told him tomorrow he has to pull the weeds in the front walkway.

[jinkies]

11-15 are the hardest years for summer.

My 15 year is fortunate that he has a job he loves that is less than a mile from us. He worked pretty much full time last summer and plans to do the same this summer. But I know that's unusual. He is doing a 9-day sleepaway camp also.

My 11 year old says that she is fine going to a local township camp with friends. I think she is going to be bored after the first week, but last year they made friends with the counselors and just sat around and gossiped about which counselor had a crush on who, so... maybe that will keep her entertained for a while again this year.

By next year she will have aged out and I am dreading figuring out what to do with her. She has opportunities to do sleepaway camps with Scouts but she is scared to sleep away from home, which makes extra hard to find things for her.

[InBetweenDays]

Kids are in school for another 2 weeks.

DD is almost 17 and DS is 14. DD got a job at a local paddle/sail club and she's a captain for her high school lacrosse team and will be running captain's practices. So she'll be pretty busy.

We've told DS he needs to find a place to volunteer once a week. Gives him a bit of structure and gets him service hours for high school. He'll also be playing high school lacrosse next year so he'll be taking part in the boys captains' practices over the summer. We're going to have a reading goal for the summer and H is going to "hire" him to do some work at a rental property we have. He has a pretty tight knit group of friends so beyond that he'll likely just be roaming the neighborhood hanging out with his friends.

[mrsGreeko]

I have a 14 year old DD. We are in the third week of summer already. We were in Thailand for the first 2 weeks. Now she has a foster puppy she’s taking care of until it gets adopted (fingers crossed it gets adopted on Saturday or Sunday).

Her BFF is out of town now, but comes back on Saturday and she will likely spend most days at the pool with friends.

Our neighbor is also going to ask her to babysit fairly regularly.

And she and a couple of other friend started a book club so she will be reading and then having a weekly meeting for that apparently. And she likes writing so she spends some time most days writing short stories.

She will likely have another foster puppy in late July. Plus we volunteer at the puppy rescue where she gets the fosters fairly regularly, about once a week for 2-3 hours.

We are also going to Phoenix for a couple days in a few weeks to visit ILs. And I’m taking her to Santa Cruz, CA for a mother daughter long weekend in August before school starts. She will probably also have a day of high school orientation.

This is in contrast to my 17 year old who is just sleeping in as much as possible, working about 20 hours a week and hanging out with friends getting fast food. And my 11 year old who is going to overnight camp, 2 weeks of fly fishing camp, but otherwise mostly just sits around.

My middle is the most self motivated to do things. She’s also my only child without ADHD, which probably plays into it.

[dutchgirl678]

DD just turned 15 and DS just turned 12. They are getting out of school next Wed. We are going on a 2-week vacation almost immediately. DD has a 2-week sleepover camp at the end of July and 2-week non-sleepover marching band camp at school after that. That leaves only about 3 weeks of downtime for her. We volunteer at the local cat rescue so maybe we will put in some extra hours there. DS only has a 1-week STEM camp during DD's sleepover camp. I need to find him some other things to do, otherwise he will spend most of his time playing on his phone or computer.

[majique]

15 yo DD is taking drivers ed, swim practice, teaching swim lessons. She’s also taking a college course online. There’s a local community college that offers tuition and books for free to all high schoolers in the state, during the summer.

[candreco]

DD(14) really only has the first week and last week of summer break completely off. She'll be in online summer Health & PE starting the last week of June until the day before we leave on vacation at the end of July, it's two hours of synchronous instruction and a few hours (in theory) of independent work each day, and otherwise she and a friend are planning to walk to the pool and figure out the local bus system together so they can get to the library and friends who are nearby but not walkable. They're a good team- he's adventurous and she has common sense, and do a good job of balancing each other out. She'll also watch her little brother a few days here and there when he's not at camp and DH and/or I aren't teleworking.

[mcppalmbeach]

I am home alone with my 14, almost 12 and almost 6. I guess this is as good a time as any to admit I’m miserable.

Ds2 has 1 camp at the end of the month and is in a basketball with a practice and game a week in evening and ds1 has all-star baseball this weekend which was supposed to have two evening practices a week, but gets rained out more often than not and will continue if they win this weekend and not if they don’t. Basically all the older two want to do is screens and I’m sick of it. Because the 5yo is a great toy player, but all he wants to do is either watch his brothers play or play himself. when screens are around. I feel like I’m running around constantly trying to make all the kids happy. My dad had promised boat days for the older two and is failing to deliver on that and I don’t know how to occupy the older two besides spending money I don’t have or just video games all day. We have a pool and they don’t even care about it at all.

[leahcar]

Is your 14 yo close to 15? The classroom part of driver's ed can be taken at 14 here; you can't actually drive until you are 15 with a permit though. (That may be state specific)

My 15 yo is taking driver's ed this summer. Otherwise- she's just having a free range summer. She does take piano lessons year round, but that's exactly a huge time commitment.

My 16 yo is crazy busy. She's pet sitting, life guarding, and taking 2 college classes. She's also in band so band camp eats up the last 4-5 weeks before school starts.

[luckystar2]

Dd is 15. Our town has a camp for older kids M-Thurs. She’s been doing it the last few summers with her friends. They go swimming on Mondays and field trips on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It keeps her very busy. She has gymnastics practice in the evenings. She also will be starting working at her gym a little as well.

I feel like she is already way over scheduled! She does have a couple weeks off before her camp starts and a couple weeks off after camp is over before school starts at least. I wouldn’t mind if she didn’t do the camp at all but she wants to be with her friends.

[charlatti]

So far, a little more screen time than I’d like, but also some hanging out with friends, which is much better. We are lucky to have all friends in walking distance so it’s easy to make plans. The summer is reasonably divided up with a day camp week and a couple of trips. She’s also good at reading and doing artsy stuff on her own, so I haven’t felt like I need to curb screens yet.

[nsl]

My two are 12 and 15. Both have a few weeks of camp this month--DS 2's are through his school, and Kid 1's are both school and community college sponsored--and Kid 1 is also enrolled in online health and financial literacy classes to get those credits out of the way. Next month we'll be going on two weeklong trips, and between those we have season passes to the local amusement park so we'll probably go there a few times both just the three of us and with friends. We may plan a short third trip for August--Kid 1 is turning 16 and has requested to go visit the city where we lived when they were born--and then school will start up again shortly thereafter.

They also have daily chores they're expected to do--we're re-landscaping our backyard ourselves, and H has laid out a few tasks he wants each of them to do almost every day to kep us on schedule.

[abs]

DD is 12 and we are on our third week of summer. This is the first year I am not forcing anything on her. She worked her tail off this past year and really just deserves some downtime. So no camps, no workbooks. She begged. I did ask her to set some goals of things she wants to accomplish and she's been enjoying working towards those.

Her days are basically texting with friends, listening to music, making plans with friends, swimming, reading, practicing trombone, attempting different things in the kitchen, making more plans with friends, and working on fitness goals. There is a lot of screentime. A LOT of screentime. Whatever. It's no different than me in 1989 watching 12 hours of TV straight while my mom was at work and those are some of my best childhood memories.

We only have 7 weeks of summer left. There will be a vacation in there, a mandatory band camp at her school, and appointments. It will go fast and I am just not worried about keeping her busy. If she gets bored she will figure it out.

[midwestmama]

I have a 12 YO DD and 13 YO (will be 14 in July) DS. They have been out of school for about 2 weeks. They have more screen time than I would like, but they have to do some chores during the week and also have to do a math worksheet and read a book for at least 30 minutes each weekday.

DD also likes to paint, so she has been doing that. Both kids had a sports camp last week. DS will have a football team camp one week in July. DS is doing a strength & conditioning class 2x a week to get ready for football. He's also playing travel baseball, so we have 3 more tournaments this summer.

We are going to Europe (will be gone about 1.5 weeks, which includes travel days) in July, so we are all looking forward to that trip. Most of the time we'll be in Germany, with 1 day in Austria and 1 day and 1 night in France. Hopefully we can get up to our property up north for a few weekends in between when we get home from our trip and when school starts. It's near Lake Michigan, and we enjoy going to the beach nearby.

[cjcouple]

My 13yo is doing his last year of teen rec camp.
He is also on the Karate demo team so he will be doing extra practices for that and performances at the end of summer.

Next year, he wants to do HS matching band which is very busy

My 16yo is hopefully getting a job soon. He also joined a 2 night a week basketball league
He has chores and socializes a lot (park to play ball, working out at the gym)



When he was that age, I arranged for him to spend a day each week at his friends for socializing while we worked and the kids mom worked. He had chores and a 3v3 basketball league.

[somersault72]

No one in your area hires at 14? My 15 year old has worked at McDonald's since he was 14. (not my choice, he wanted to)

I'm surprised his non-mandatory, but still "mandatory" XC runs have not begun yet. Those were 3 nights a week last summer. He will also have soccer stuff over the summer and band camp the first couple of weeks of August.

His grandma (ex h's mom) likes for him to go stay at her house for a few days over the summer. Last year it didn't work out, but this summer since McD's has primarily been working him on weekends I'm hoping it will work out this year.

Currently his 2 closest friends are seniors this coming year (he's a sophomore this coming year) so they will come pick him up and hang out--bonfires, going out to eat, whatever. They're also in the same activities as him for the most part.

He goes and stays with his dad for a few days at a time here and there. He used to stay there a lot more in the summer before he had so many commitments in the summer.

He still fits in plenty of screen time though, don't worry.

[pinkdutchtulips]

Since she adamantly refused the STRONGLY suggested outpatient therapy from the doctors who oversaw her inpatient .... she's seeing a therapist starting next week once a week.  5th time is the charm right?

Otherwise she's sleeping, hanging out with friends, I have to figure out something for her bday in July bc she's turning 14 on the 14th, I don't have much else planned .... 

[devonpow]

My 11 year old does a variety of day camps (art, STEM, robotics etc) plus we are going on a few trips. He’s agreed to try overnight camp next year when he’s 12 - my older son started at 11 at overnight camp.

The 16 year old is working as a lifeguard (hopefully, still dealing with hiring paperwork and schedules), doing some volunteer work, taking drivers ed, and taking 1 summer school course (an AP prep class).

Around here most of the tweens either go to overnight camp (typically kids go through high school so you don’t really age out) or “work” as a CIT at day camps. Specialty camps like robotics etc also tend to be geared to a slightly older kid group

[Roc A Bee]

The first week we were in Santa Cruz.

My 16 year old is taking an online college class through a local community college. That’s 8 weeks and fully online. So should take a few hours a week. She has a soccer camp for 1 week (no idea on times as communication is lacking with a teen).

The 14 year old will volunteer at his old baby sitter’s house to help babysit. His mom is coordinating that so it’s only on his mom’s time.

DH is home in the summers. But I’m sure they will be lots of screen time, movies, some friend meet ups. And their mom schedules 50% of their time so whatever she plans. I don’t mind a lot of lounging around though.

Oh and this summer, we are gonna practice doing your own laundry and cooking a meal alone.

[textbookcase]

Mine are older and younger - 19, 16, and 11. The older two got summer gym memberships and are both taking summer classes (one is summer school not by choice 😅) and babysitting here and there.

My 11 year old is going to do a few day camps throughout the summer but we aren’t doing a crazy packed schedule this year. We normally have a lot going on and kind of want to chill for a bit.

[mysteriouswife]

DD 15 signed herself up for camps being held at her school. They are supplemental classes. She is wrapping up ACT camp this week. She is off a week then starts AP thesis/essay camp. She is also working at night and weekends. She also had a week of sleep away camp. The rest of the time she is a bed potato

[gardengal]

my 13yo has a few weeks of camps (sports, a gaming one) & then will either volunteer for a few hours a week at a local org that accepts teens without parents to supervise, just putter around the house, and be given a short list of things to help out around the house.

[laurack]

My daughter is 11 and begged me not to sign her up for the full day ymca camp they usually go to. So we have one week where she goes to a kayak camp that is just 10-2 for three of the days. Then she’s doing one week of Girl Scout sleepaway camp. We’re traveling for two weeks. And the rest I’m not sure. Maybe more kayak camp if the first week goes well. I told her that if I let her not go to the ymca camp she’s not allowed to just be on screens all day so she’ll probably ride bikes around and go to the playground with friends.

My 9yo is signed up for full day camp as he’s too young to be free range and he’s also loud and extremely energetic - so having him home all day while we work would be hard. My 11yo is quiet and would happily curl up with a book for hours.

[rootbeerfloat]

16 y/o old finished the classroom portion of driver's ed last week and will continue practicing. One of his friends is visiting from out of state later this month, so his group will be busy doing touristy stuff for a bit. We've also been strongly encouraging him to get a job, but he has resisted.

13 y/old skates a few evenings a week, has a couple baking mini-camps lined up, and is planning some sleepovers with her BFF. She cooks, too, but that isn't a summer thing. Honestly, she sleeps half the day, then stays up late watching Netflix.

[NewGirlNic]

I have no idea, but it's stressing me out. He's not done with school until next Thursday. (1/2 days from here on out for final exams)

He's 14, doesn't play sports, doesn't have a huge group of friends and LOVES his computer/video games. I was just talking to him at lunch about what he's going to do all summer and he shrugged and said "I dunno". 

His 2 close friends don't live close enough to walk or ride his bike to. And one of his friends mom doesn't drive, so it would be all on us to transport them. 

He's signed up for a summer chess program, but it's only once a week and in the evening. 

We'll go to our cottage a lot, at least every other weekend. But I'm worried about him sitting around all summer and fighting with him about it constantly. 

[jewel]

My kids are younger, but most of the camps they’ve attended have young teen helpers or leaders. One is at basketball camp this week, which is led by the high school, but they have a bunch of middle school basketball players as “assistant coaches.”

My older kid is signed up for a battle bots robotics camp later this summer and it is definitely geared towards middle/high school kids, with only a couple camps for younger intro classes.

Do you have any local camps where they could be jr leaders? Or any advanced type classes or camps?