Do younger teens really do nothing all summer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most lower middle class kids of two working parents either do nothing or do stuff around the house, like clean and cook dinner. Source: what I did.

That was true 30 years ago. Now the poor unsupervised kids are the worst screen addicts of all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a lot of people are mentioning boys. Do girls similarly do
Nothing?

Girls don’t play video games, which seems to be the main complaint of boys. One of my daughters is prone to laziness and will scroll Pinterest or Instagram for too long. My other is much more motivated and likes to keep busy and active.

I have to say, I watched TV for hours on end during summers. I remember it fondly! Thinking about Love Boat, Laverne & Shirley, and I Dream of Jeanie makes me sentimental 35 years later. I somehow think social media & video games are different? Maybe I am biased, I don’t know.

[Anonymous]

No they are busy full time for at least nine of the ten weeks off from school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 14 year old (almost 15) claims that we are being unfair because we require him to be a CIT at a half day camp (9-1) and volunteer one evening per week this summer. He claims most of his friends are either doing nothing, or a 2 hour per morning crew team thing and then nothing. Could this be right? I feel like we are leaving him with ample free time, which he generally wastes playing video games.

Parent your own child. Of course, your kid is going to say that. All kids do. Were you never a kid?

Just carry on

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a lot of people are mentioning boys. Do girls similarly do
Nothing?

Girls don’t play video games, which seems to be the main complaint of boys. One of my daughters is prone to laziness and will scroll Pinterest or Instagram for too long. My other is much more motivated and likes to keep busy and active.

I have to say, I watched TV for hours on end during summers. I remember it fondly! Thinking about Love Boat, Laverne & Shirley, and I Dream of Jeanie makes me sentimental 35 years later. I somehow think social media & video games are different? Maybe I am biased, I don’t know.

My girls play video games. How sexist of you. They are currently playing Batman . My kids work hard all school year and I think it is perfectly fine to do nothing once in a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a lot of people are mentioning boys. Do girls similarly do
Nothing?

Girls don’t play video games, which seems to be the main complaint of boys. One of my daughters is prone to laziness and will scroll Pinterest or Instagram for too long. My other is much more motivated and likes to keep busy and active.

I have to say, I watched TV for hours on end during summers. I remember it fondly! Thinking about Love Boat, Laverne & Shirley, and I Dream of Jeanie makes me sentimental 35 years later. I somehow think social media & video games are different? Maybe I am biased, I don’t know.

Yes, you are biased. So many of you have forgotten the fears of the “idiot box.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a lot of people are mentioning boys. Do girls similarly do
Nothing?

Girls don’t play video games, which seems to be the main complaint of boys. One of my daughters is prone to laziness and will scroll Pinterest or Instagram for too long. My other is much more motivated and likes to keep busy and active.

I have to say, I watched TV for hours on end during summers. I remember it fondly! Thinking about Love Boat, Laverne & Shirley, and I Dream of Jeanie makes me sentimental 35 years later. I somehow think social media & video games are different? Maybe I am biased, I don’t know.

You should check out the stats on the numbers of girls/woman who play video games. You missed even on this thread the parent who seemed to exempt her daughter playing Roblox.

[Anonymous]

14 year old boy. Swim practice every day, coaching pre teamers 4 days a week. Meets twice a week, chores…and yeah a lot of down time.

[Anonymous]

My 14 year old (almost 15) claims that we are being unfair because we require him to be a CIT at a half day camp (9-1) and volunteer one evening per week this summer. He claims most of his friends are either doing nothing, or a 2 hour per morning crew team thing and then nothing. Could this be right? I feel like we are leaving him with ample free time, which he generally wastes playing video games.


He is probably right. And he doesn't get to sleep in, which would make my 14yo very unhappy

He never sleeps in. He's always up by 8 at the latest, often by 7. If he slept in I would be more inclined to let him have a week or two completely off.

[Anonymous]

13 year old boy--didn't want to do camp this summer and we agreed, but he has baseball team practice/games and training sessions. He is also doing some HS prep courses/tutoring for a couple hours a day sprinkled over the course of the summer. He has a few weeks of volunteering type activities. He is underscheduled and we are okay with that as long as he balances video games with reading and time outside/at the pool/with friends. We will go away for a few weeks in August to a second home for a change of scenery. So far it's working out alright as I think he needs the break from his typically hyperscheduled life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a lot of people are mentioning boys. Do girls similarly do
Nothing?

Girls don’t play video games, which seems to be the main complaint of boys. One of my daughters is prone to laziness and will scroll Pinterest or Instagram for too long. My other is much more motivated and likes to keep busy and active.

I have to say, I watched TV for hours on end during summers. I remember it fondly! Thinking about Love Boat, Laverne & Shirley, and I Dream of Jeanie makes me sentimental 35 years later. I somehow think social media & video games are different? Maybe I am biased, I don’t know.

My girls play video games. How sexist of you. They are currently playing Batman . My kids work hard all school year and I think it is perfectly fine to do nothing once in a while.

I’m not pp but I did say earlier that girls don’t play video games like it’s their jobs like boys do (usually) and I do think that’s true. They are more likely to scroll social media for hours on end than boys

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many of you are clearly so uncomfortable with the idea of just letting your kids be. Exist. They have to always be busy, busy, busy with some outside structured activity. Then you can pat yourselves on the back for being such great parents without ever actually having to parent.

The DMV is a sick area. 14 years olds don’t need jobs or volun(told) hours. Just let them be kids for awhile.

I had a summer job when I was 14 back in the olden days - and I see plenty of younger teens working at places like ice cream shops, stores, etc when we go to other parts of the country on vacation, so it's not just this area. You can work 4 hours a day at an easy summer job and still be a kid.

Written by someone who does not have a 14 year old looking for a job in the DMV.

I was responding to the PP who said DMV parents were terrible for making their kids have summer jobs or volunteering. Just pointing out that there's still plenty of time to do fun summer stuff and have a part-time job, and that it's not unique to the DMV area that young teens have summer jobs.

[Anonymous]

My 15 and 17 yo kids are working. It’s good experience for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many of you are clearly so uncomfortable with the idea of just letting your kids be. Exist. They have to always be busy, busy, busy with some outside structured activity. Then you can pat yourselves on the back for being such great parents without ever actually having to parent.

The DMV is a sick area. 14 years olds don’t need jobs or volun(told) hours. Just let them be kids for awhile.

I had a summer job when I was 14 back in the olden days - and I see plenty of younger teens working at places like ice cream shops, stores, etc when we go to other parts of the country on vacation, so it's not just this area. You can work 4 hours a day at an easy summer job and still be a kid.

Written by someone who does not have a 14 year old looking for a job in the DMV.

I was responding to the PP who said DMV parents were terrible for making their kids have summer jobs or volunteering. Just pointing out that there's still plenty of time to do fun summer stuff and have a part-time job, and that it's not unique to the DMV area that young teens have summer jobs.

SYEP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a lot of people are mentioning boys. Do girls similarly do
Nothing?

Girls don’t play video games, which seems to be the main complaint of boys. One of my daughters is prone to laziness and will scroll Pinterest or Instagram for too long. My other is much more motivated and likes to keep busy and active.

I have to say, I watched TV for hours on end during summers. I remember it fondly! Thinking about Love Boat, Laverne & Shirley, and I Dream of Jeanie makes me sentimental 35 years later. I somehow think social media & video games are different? Maybe I am biased, I don’t know.

My DD is working this summer. She has two part time jobs.