Older kids —no summer camp options

[Anonymous]

Do the 'let your kids stay home' people actually have teens?
I don't fully schedule my child's whole summer but she would be more than content to sit at home literally all day and watch tv and play video games and talk to friends on her phone. Occasionally she'd go with a friend to the pool or the beach. I want her to have a more enriching summer than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the 'let your kids stay home' people actually have teens?
I don't fully schedule my child's whole summer but she would be more than content to sit at home literally all day and watch tv and play video games and talk to friends on her phone. Occasionally she'd go with a friend to the pool or the beach. I want her to have a more enriching summer than that.

Yes. If I left my twin 13y old home alone from 7am to 5:30pm (the hours I am out of the house for work) 5 days/week x 10 weeks they would play 500 hours of PS4 (not counting the weekend.) They have swim team practice M-Th at our local pool from 6p-8p so they aren't interested in spending all day at the pool with their friends. I don't want a hoard of 13y boys in my house every day all day (nor do their friends parents), we don't live in close proximity to public transportation, and I don't need them loitering at Target/McDonalds all day. Therefore I have to find something for them to do that they enjoy, that I can afford, and won't allow them to play 500 hrs of Overwatch. It's a challenge.

[Anonymous]

ITA with the PP. I think the "let the kids be kids and roam in packs on their bikes around the neighborhood" posters are remembering their idyllic childhoods when smartphones, streaming TV, the Internet and all its distractions, and videogaming didn't exist.

In the Dark Ages when we got an Atari and could play Space Invaders and Pac-Man, we would have gotten bored quickly and there would be nothing on TV to watch, so we would read a book, go outside or go to the pool because there was nothing else to do. Not so these days. My kids are very active, but once they go down the rabbithole of electronics, they can easily kill the entire day.

[Anonymous]

Your riggt and it is idyllic. I wish kids could have that childhood today. Nut, what I don't understand is why let your kid waste all their time on electronics. Make them go and play with their friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your riggt and it is idyllic. I wish kids could have that childhood today. Nut, what I don't understand is why let your kid waste all their time on electronics. Make them go and play with their friends.

The point is, if I am at work I can't make them "go and play with their friends."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your riggt and it is idyllic. I wish kids could have that childhood today. Nut, what I don't understand is why let your kid waste all their time on electronics. Make them go and play with their friends.

The point is, if I am at work I can't make them "go and play with their friends."

Just rig up a system of cameras for every room in the house so you can monitor Larlo and Larla in real time, and if necessary, take control of the Sonos speakers to yell, "YOU TWO STOP BICKERING! GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY, NOW!" just like you would if you were actually there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the 'let your kids stay home' people actually have teens?
I don't fully schedule my child's whole summer but she would be more than content to sit at home literally all day and watch tv and play video games and talk to friends on her phone. Occasionally she'd go with a friend to the pool or the beach. I want her to have a more enriching summer than that.

I don't have teens, my experience is based on babysitting kids with older siblings or kids I babysat who grew up into teens. But with that said, I actually don't care if they spend the entire day playing video games and talking to their friends on the phone. They're in that middle zone between needing structure and being able to be left alone and getting jobs to fill their time and earn money. I assume it's only a couple summers that would be like this, so small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. At that age, I spent the summer in my friends' pools or playing video games, reading or watching TV or going to the movies and then went on to work during the summer starting at 15 in retail. I don't understand the tv and video games are death mentality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your riggt and it is idyllic. I wish kids could have that childhood today. Nut, what I don't understand is why let your kid waste all their time on electronics. Make them go and play with their friends.

Not exactly what you say to a 16 year old...go outside and play... The are making their own decision at this point (mostly)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the 'let your kids stay home' people actually have teens?
I don't fully schedule my child's whole summer but she would be more than content to sit at home literally all day and watch tv and play video games and talk to friends on her phone. Occasionally she'd go with a friend to the pool or the beach. I want her to have a more enriching summer than that.

I don't have teens, my experience is based on babysitting kids with older siblings or kids I babysat who grew up into teens. But with that said, I actually don't care if they spend the entire day playing video games and talking to their friends on the phone. They're in that middle zone between needing structure and being able to be left alone and getting jobs to fill their time and earn money. I assume it's only a couple summers that would be like this, so small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. At that age, I spent the summer in my friends' pools or playing video games, reading or watching TV or going to the movies and then went on to work during the summer starting at 15 in retail. I don't understand the tv and video games are death mentality.

I think people just don't want the entire summer to be like that for their tween/teen. The electronics are much different than when were growing up--YouTube, Netflix, social media,texting. They are much more addictive and potentially harmful than what we were exposed to.

[Anonymous]

I didn't say a 16 year old. 13, 14 even 15. I 100% believe that they are still kids and that they should go out and play. Older teens 16+ yes they should have jobs and such. Furthermore, you can make them go play, take the electronics, set limits. Who's in chatge here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do they need to do anything? At 13 they are old enough to stay home alone, I assume in this day and age they have a phone and we have a good public transit system. They can go hang out with friends or hang out at home.

Because at 13 many kids don't want to stay home alone all day for 8-10 hours/5 days a week for weeks on end.
Their friends are either on vacation or at summer camp. And if they are not, no parent wants their kid coming over to a house where there are no parents for more than an afternoon.

I didn't mean they had to stay alone all day, just meant they don't require an adult at home. They can come and go as they please, depending on transportation. I spent most of my 13-14 year old summers at my friends' houses, sometimes there were parents sometimes not, we biked up to shopping centers, parks, the beach, etc. and hung out. I'm assuming they are in the DC metro area so there's transportation options for most of the area or they can bike to things, that's how I got around my town before I had a car (my hometown had little public transit). I understand the issue of 'all their friends' are away, but I can't imagine EVERY single kid they know are away at the same time for the entire summer. Plus, it's probably not a bad thing for a kid to learn how to be idle and how to pass time without being governed by a schedule or camp or their parents.

It may be true that you did all that at 13 and 14 and so did I but now that I am actually a parent of a teen I see that times have changed and changed quite a bit.

I thought my child would get a summer job at 15. Now most retail around us state 18 and over to apply for jobs. I worked at the mall. The malls are dying and again they want those 18 and over and it's pretty easy in this area to get those applicants.

I thought my child could babysit in the summer like I did. Parents have nannies or they get college students who can drive.

I thought my child would hang out with friends at the pool. Actually all her friends are away in the summer at the same time. And if they are around, their parents only want them to come over when another parent is around.

I thought my child would be able to go to the pool alone by 13. Nope. Our pool raised the age to 14 last year and this year it will be 16.

[Anonymous]

Well all of that is sad and just a shame. Kids really just can't be kids anymore. Especially during their last free summers.

[Anonymous]

I don't know where you're located, but KID Museum in Bethesda has camp options for kids through 7th grade at least. It's awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't say a 16 year old. 13, 14 even 15. I 100% believe that they are still kids and that they should go out and play. Older teens 16+ yes they should have jobs and such. Furthermore, you can make them go play, take the electronics, set limits. Who's in chatge here.

Not OP, but I'm one of the PP above. My 12 yo (will be rising 7th grader) is doing a mix of camps and weeks off. I think I will actually have to disengage the XBox for the weeks that he's home, but he will presumably need his phone if he is to communicate with friends or me (plus, it gives me a way of tracking him while I'm at work).

[Anonymous]

A phone for communication is great. But, I agree with disabling the Xbox. Especially at age 12.