Summer at home—how would your teen feel?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would absolutely do it. My kid is 15 and I WFH with a flexible schedule. Last year, he liked that I could drop him and his friends places that weren't Metro-accessible.

+1 I WFH and dial back in the summer. I'm basically the Uber driver for any plans with DC and friends. I was happy to drive and DC was happy to have the option.

[Anonymous]

I have always stayed home in the summer (teacher also). My teen knows I’m always up to take him places but I let him lead. My condo has a pool so I often go in the afternoons and he’s welcome to join me. I run errands, take an exercise class. Basically I make sure he has plenty of alone time. Our summers are great!

[Anonymous]

Plan to go to the beach or to a lake or national park a couple of weeks if you can. Maybe check not college towns if they’re old enough? We also do not have solid plans for much of this summer. The younger one (13) will go to 3 wk sleepaway camp for her passion. My older one 17 will get a summer job and study for the SAT (to take a second time in the fall). We will fit in a roadtrip in the beginning of the summer and probably a trip to the beach, but our funds are drained and so are we.

[Anonymous]

Works if your kid has friends around in the summer. Most of my kids' friends are gone in July. DD therefore prefers to be busy in July but we keep most of June and August before her sport starts fairly open and flexible.

[Anonymous]

I’m a teacher and my youngest is 15. I’ve never worked in the summer. Temper your expectations. This totally depends on your kid and they change, quickly, during the teen years.

I’m all for your kid having lazy summer days and you staying home if you can afford it. Mine never went to full summer sleep away camps and stopped going to full day summer camps well before 14.

But no, they didn’t want to spend days with me doing day trips at that age. It’s great if yours does! I definitely spent a lot of time driving one and friends back and forth to the pool.

Neither was able to get a job at 15 but had better luck at 16. Still, having the time home and time off of work was well worth it! Just don’t be too suffocating and go with it!