Leaving tween/teen home over summer

[Anonymous]

13+ I would be fine with 3 weeks at home.

[Anonymous]

I’m really afraid of this with RTO. Mine is almost 17 but has ADHD and ASD and can’t use an oven safely, forgets to close (not lock, close) the front door, and wouldn’t be able to handle an emergency. You can’t get an exception for telework based on your CHILD’s disability and FMLA is only unpaid leave (and not enough for the amount of time I’d need to be home).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:13+ I would be fine with 3 weeks at home.

Agree, but I also have the type of kid who sleeps until 10:30, and spends most of the rest of the day eating, working out and reading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. One day? Sure. Two hours each day? Probably. But three weeks? No, that’s asking for trouble.

Lol. What generation are you? My sister and I stayed home alone after school and the summers; we were in 4th and 6th grades. OP’s kid will survive at home for 3 weeks. She may even love the freedom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. One day? Sure. Two hours each day? Probably. But three weeks? No, that’s asking for trouble.

If you can afford camps great, but most people do leave teens home over the summer because they can't afford hundreds of dollars a week in camp fees. Life has still continued for those kids.

If they're too old for camp then they're old enough to get a job. They can work while their parents are working.

What job employs a 13-14 year old from 9-5 all summer?

Why are people so afraid that their kids have unscheduled time? You all need to chill out. My summers from age 10-15 or so involved the following: sleep until 11am, watch The Price is Right while eating sugary cereal. At noon, I rode my bike about 20 minutes crossing major streets to get to the pool. I'd lather up with baby oil and spend my afternoons tanning and reading. If I had any money, I'd buy a snowball and candy at the snack bar. I'd go home at 5pm and start (or make) dinner for everyone. Once a week, I'd mow my lawn and my neighbor's for $10.

[Anonymous]

Yes. They have swim practice, pool with friends, online classes, and jobs to keep them busy. Luckily they can walk or bike to all of that - or take the bus. They cook a lot for in the summer and even prep dinner.

I do WAH a lot but am pretty much ch on the phone all day long so ignoring them completely. On weeks I travel they are 100% on their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. One day? Sure. Two hours each day? Probably. But three weeks? No, that’s asking for trouble.

If you can afford camps great, but most people do leave teens home over the summer because they can't afford hundreds of dollars a week in camp fees. Life has still continued for those kids.

If they're too old for camp then they're old enough to get a job. They can work while their parents are working.

What job employs a 13-14 year old from 9-5 all summer?

Why are people so afraid that their kids have unscheduled time? You all need to chill out. My summers from age 10-15 or so involved the following: sleep until 11am, watch The Price is Right while eating sugary cereal. At noon, I rode my bike about 20 minutes crossing major streets to get to the pool. I'd lather up with baby oil and spend my afternoons tanning and reading. If I had any money, I'd buy a snowball and candy at the snack bar. I'd go home at 5pm and start (or make) dinner for everyone. Once a week, I'd mow my lawn and my neighbor's for $10.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. One day? Sure. Two hours each day? Probably. But three weeks? No, that’s asking for trouble.

If you can afford camps great, but most people do leave teens home over the summer because they can't afford hundreds of dollars a week in camp fees. Life has still continued for those kids.

If they're too old for camp then they're old enough to get a job. They can work while their parents are working.

What job employs a 13-14 year old from 9-5 all summer?

Why are people so afraid that their kids have unscheduled time? You all need to chill out. My summers from age 10-15 or so involved the following: sleep until 11am, watch The Price is Right while eating sugary cereal. At noon, I rode my bike about 20 minutes crossing major streets to get to the pool. I'd lather up with baby oil and spend my afternoons tanning and reading. If I had any money, I'd buy a snowball and candy at the snack bar. I'd go home at 5pm and start (or make) dinner for everyone. Once a week, I'd mow my lawn and my neighbor's for $10.

Parents fear unstructured time, it's really sad and not good for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. One day? Sure. Two hours each day? Probably. But three weeks? No, that’s asking for trouble.

If you can afford camps great, but most people do leave teens home over the summer because they can't afford hundreds of dollars a week in camp fees. Life has still continued for those kids.

If they're too old for camp then they're old enough to get a job. They can work while their parents are working.

What job employs a 13-14 year old from 9-5 all summer?

Why are people so afraid that their kids have unscheduled time? You all need to chill out. My summers from age 10-15 or so involved the following: sleep until 11am, watch The Price is Right while eating sugary cereal. At noon, I rode my bike about 20 minutes crossing major streets to get to the pool. I'd lather up with baby oil and spend my afternoons tanning and reading. If I had any money, I'd buy a snowball and candy at the snack bar. I'd go home at 5pm and start (or make) dinner for everyone. Once a week, I'd mow my lawn and my neighbor's for $10.

+1

+1 I had the best time. There was a video store I could walk to so I would get a movie and a snack at the convenience store then meet up with friends in the afternoon

[Anonymous]

Tween and teen? Absolutely. Find a sports camp or camp for older kids for the tween if they are on the younger side. That’s what all of us have been doing.

I understand this is stressful but as I told someone today, in the early Covid days, some of us left our much younger kids when we went back to work. I left my 10 and 13 yo home alone during virtual school because we had to work in person. They were okay. Your kids will be okay too. It’s a good time to teach independence and your kids may surprise you and like it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. One day? Sure. Two hours each day? Probably. But three weeks? No, that’s asking for trouble.

If you can afford camps great, but most people do leave teens home over the summer because they can't afford hundreds of dollars a week in camp fees. Life has still continued for those kids.

If they're too old for camp then they're old enough to get a job. They can work while their parents are working.

What job employs a 13-14 year old from 9-5 all summer?

Why are people so afraid that their kids have unscheduled time? You all need to chill out. My summers from age 10-15 or so involved the following: sleep until 11am, watch The Price is Right while eating sugary cereal. At noon, I rode my bike about 20 minutes crossing major streets to get to the pool. I'd lather up with baby oil and spend my afternoons tanning and reading. If I had any money, I'd buy a snowball and candy at the snack bar. I'd go home at 5pm and start (or make) dinner for everyone. Once a week, I'd mow my lawn and my neighbor's for $10.

I mourn this too, but the summer you describe was in the pre-smartphone era.
I would love to give my teens an unscheduled summer, but they will be on YouTube/social media/games 10 hours a day. Yes, we lock down devices, but it's whack a mole to really lock things down that they can't get around. Much easier to just schedule them so they have to be out of the house and around other people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. One day? Sure. Two hours each day? Probably. But three weeks? No, that’s asking for trouble.

If you can afford camps great, but most people do leave teens home over the summer because they can't afford hundreds of dollars a week in camp fees. Life has still continued for those kids.

If they're too old for camp then they're old enough to get a job. They can work while their parents are working.

What job employs a 13-14 year old from 9-5 all summer?

Why are people so afraid that their kids have unscheduled time? You all need to chill out. My summers from age 10-15 or so involved the following: sleep until 11am, watch The Price is Right while eating sugary cereal. At noon, I rode my bike about 20 minutes crossing major streets to get to the pool. I'd lather up with baby oil and spend my afternoons tanning and reading. If I had any money, I'd buy a snowball and candy at the snack bar. I'd go home at 5pm and start (or make) dinner for everyone. Once a week, I'd mow my lawn and my neighbor's for $10.

I mourn this too, but the summer you describe was in the pre-smartphone era.
I would love to give my teens an unscheduled summer, but they will be on YouTube/social media/games 10 hours a day. Yes, we lock down devices, but it's whack a mole to really lock things down that they can't get around. Much easier to just schedule them so they have to be out of the house and around other people.

I posted about my fun summers. Here’s an idea. Don’t give your kids these devices at those ages. If they don’t have them, they won’t be addicted to them. It’s very much under your control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. One day? Sure. Two hours each day? Probably. But three weeks? No, that’s asking for trouble.

If you can afford camps great, but most people do leave teens home over the summer because they can't afford hundreds of dollars a week in camp fees. Life has still continued for those kids.

If they're too old for camp then they're old enough to get a job. They can work while their parents are working.

What job employs a 13-14 year old from 9-5 all summer?

Why are people so afraid that their kids have unscheduled time? You all need to chill out. My summers from age 10-15 or so involved the following: sleep until 11am, watch The Price is Right while eating sugary cereal. At noon, I rode my bike about 20 minutes crossing major streets to get to the pool. I'd lather up with baby oil and spend my afternoons tanning and reading. If I had any money, I'd buy a snowball and candy at the snack bar. I'd go home at 5pm and start (or make) dinner for everyone. Once a week, I'd mow my lawn and my neighbor's for $10.

I mourn this too, but the summer you describe was in the pre-smartphone era.
I would love to give my teens an unscheduled summer, but they will be on YouTube/social media/games 10 hours a day. Yes, we lock down devices, but it's whack a mole to really lock things down that they can't get around. Much easier to just schedule them so they have to be out of the house and around other people.

I posted about my fun summers. Here’s an idea. Don’t give your kids these devices at those ages. If they don’t have them, they won’t be addicted to them. It’s very much under your control.

Yes, this. I won't go blaming parents because it is a struggle, but parents are so quick to hand over devices, social media whatever it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. One day? Sure. Two hours each day? Probably. But three weeks? No, that’s asking for trouble.

If you can afford camps great, but most people do leave teens home over the summer because they can't afford hundreds of dollars a week in camp fees. Life has still continued for those kids.

If they're too old for camp then they're old enough to get a job. They can work while their parents are working.

What job employs a 13-14 year old from 9-5 all summer?

Why are people so afraid that their kids have unscheduled time? You all need to chill out. My summers from age 10-15 or so involved the following: sleep until 11am, watch The Price is Right while eating sugary cereal. At noon, I rode my bike about 20 minutes crossing major streets to get to the pool. I'd lather up with baby oil and spend my afternoons tanning and reading. If I had any money, I'd buy a snowball and candy at the snack bar. I'd go home at 5pm and start (or make) dinner for everyone. Once a week, I'd mow my lawn and my neighbor's for $10.

I mourn this too, but the summer you describe was in the pre-smartphone era.
I would love to give my teens an unscheduled summer, but they will be on YouTube/social media/games 10 hours a day. Yes, we lock down devices, but it's whack a mole to really lock things down that they can't get around. Much easier to just schedule them so they have to be out of the house and around other people.

I posted about my fun summers. Here’s an idea. Don’t give your kids these devices at those ages. If they don’t have them, they won’t be addicted to them. It’s very much under your control.

PP here. They didn't get smartphones until 8th grade, and that was on the late side compared to friends. And I didn't give it to them - they saved allowance, babysat, did odd jobs, and paid for them.
I don't know if you have a kid in high school, but by that age it's not practical to not have a smartphone - sports teams use apps to communicate, clubs use Instagram, the kids use certain apps to text. We lock it down, have time limits, etc. to the extent possible, but it's not like they can use just use the landline and have an OK social life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. One day? Sure. Two hours each day? Probably. But three weeks? No, that’s asking for trouble.

If you can afford camps great, but most people do leave teens home over the summer because they can't afford hundreds of dollars a week in camp fees. Life has still continued for those kids.

If they're too old for camp then they're old enough to get a job. They can work while their parents are working.

What job employs a 13-14 year old from 9-5 all summer?

Why are people so afraid that their kids have unscheduled time? You all need to chill out. My summers from age 10-15 or so involved the following: sleep until 11am, watch The Price is Right while eating sugary cereal. At noon, I rode my bike about 20 minutes crossing major streets to get to the pool. I'd lather up with baby oil and spend my afternoons tanning and reading. If I had any money, I'd buy a snowball and candy at the snack bar. I'd go home at 5pm and start (or make) dinner for everyone. Once a week, I'd mow my lawn and my neighbor's for $10.

I mourn this too, but the summer you describe was in the pre-smartphone era.
I would love to give my teens an unscheduled summer, but they will be on YouTube/social media/games 10 hours a day. Yes, we lock down devices, but it's whack a mole to really lock things down that they can't get around. Much easier to just schedule them so they have to be out of the house and around other people.

I posted about my fun summers. Here’s an idea. Don’t give your kids these devices at those ages. If they don’t have them, they won’t be addicted to them. It’s very much under your control.

PP here. They didn't get smartphones until 8th grade, and that was on the late side compared to friends. And I didn't give it to them - they saved allowance, babysat, did odd jobs, and paid for them.
I don't know if you have a kid in high school, but by that age it's not practical to not have a smartphone - sports teams use apps to communicate, clubs use Instagram, the kids use certain apps to text. We lock it down, have time limits, etc. to the extent possible, but it's not like they can use just use the landline and have an OK social life.

It's really good that you had them at least wait til 8th. The real problem is kids are addicted to screens. The longer you can wait the better, kids are missing out today.