Leaving tween/teen home over summer

[Anonymous]

You buy camps like the rest of us. Shame on you

[Anonymous]

Lots of out of touch boomers and Genx boomers, kids have new iPhones by age 11 and get them refreshed every 2 years unless you are in a poverty striken area

[Anonymous]

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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.

Yep and they all use Apple Pay in hs

My kid in college doesn’t even use Apple Pay. Stop spoiling your kids. Not all teens are rich.

Rich? Are you confused as to what Apple Pay is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of out of touch boomers and Genx boomers, kids have new iPhones by age 11 and get them refreshed every 2 years unless you are in a poverty striken area

And you act like that's a good thing? Kids no longer have an opportunity to be kids. That's sad.

[Anonymous]

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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.

Yep and they all use Apple Pay in hs

My kid in college doesn’t even use Apple Pay. Stop spoiling your kids. Not all teens are rich.

Rich? Are you confused as to what Apple Pay is?

Where are teens getting the money to spend? Their parents. Stop giving them money to blow on Starbucks and other junk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yep and they all use Apple Pay in hs

My kid in college doesn’t even use Apple Pay. Stop spoiling your kids. Not all teens are rich.

Rich? Are you confused as to what Apple Pay is?

Where are teens getting the money to spend? Their parents. Stop giving them money to blow on Starbucks and other junk.

Or go old school and just give them cash

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of out of touch boomers and Genx boomers, kids have new iPhones by age 11 and get them refreshed every 2 years unless you are in a poverty striken area

No need to be rude. There is no way that kids/teens are better off in today's world, constantly attached to screens and no freedom.

[Anonymous]

Sigh. All the parents of 10 year olds are weighing in again. I wish we could have a forum for actual real teens separate from “tweens.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sigh. All the parents of 10 year olds are weighing in again. I wish we could have a forum for actual real teens separate from “tweens.”

I have a 17yr old and a 15 yr old. They've been home every summer since they were 10/11. No camps. Only the pool which is a 30ish minute walk. No wifi password until I got home around 5:30pm. They had to have done their chores and summer reading to get the password.

The older one got a job at age 15 as a lifeguard at another pool. I paid our college aged neighbor to drop him off at his job and I'd pick him up. My 15 yr old is taking a lifeguarding course now and hopes to get a job this summer. They both pet sat and moved lawns before age 15. My older son wrote about rescuing a kid from the pool who was drowning for his college essay. He wrote that he was terrified and incredibly focused at the same time and he never knew you could experience such two powerful and opposing emotions at the same time. Consider how much your kids aren't doing when they are on devices all of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You buy camps like the rest of us. Shame on you

Shame on the OP for not wanting to spend thousands when it's not necessary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sigh. All the parents of 10 year olds are weighing in again. I wish we could have a forum for actual real teens separate from “tweens.”

I'll agree with you on the need for separate forums. "Tweens" and full blown teens are so different. But, with both tweens and teens screen addiction is a very real thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sigh. All the parents of 10 year olds are weighing in again. I wish we could have a forum for actual real teens separate from “tweens.”

I have a 17yr old and a 15 yr old. They've been home every summer since they were 10/11. No camps. Only the pool which is a 30ish minute walk. No wifi password until I got home around 5:30pm. They had to have done their chores and summer reading to get the password.

The older one got a job at age 15 as a lifeguard at another pool. I paid our college aged neighbor to drop him off at his job and I'd pick him up. My 15 yr old is taking a lifeguarding course now and hopes to get a job this summer. They both pet sat and moved lawns before age 15. My older son wrote about rescuing a kid from the pool who was drowning for his college essay. He wrote that he was terrified and incredibly focused at the same time and he never knew you could experience such two powerful and opposing emotions at the same time. Consider how much your kids aren't doing when they are on devices all of the time.

Thanks for the details. When your kids were on the younger side (like 10-14) how much time did they spend with other kids? How did you keep track of who they were with and where they were?

[Anonymous]

Hahaha many of you would have never survived the 80s.

Being home alone during summer, without camps was standard and completely normal.

When I open the thread, I thought you were taking a summer long vacation and leaving your kids here. You’re just going to work during the day and coming home at night. They will be just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hahaha many of you would have never survived the 80s.

Being home alone during summer, without camps was standard and completely normal.

When I open the thread, I thought you were taking a summer long vacation and leaving your kids here. You’re just going to work during the day and coming home at night. They will be just fine.

+1 kids need a little freedom, even a small sliver of what we had would be great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You buy camps like the rest of us. Shame on you

Shame on the OP for not wanting to spend thousands when it's not necessary?

When you want to lean in to your career and have kids, yeah. Either you take care of your kids yourself or you pay someone else to do it. This isn’t new. If you want a job during school hours and to be home when your kids are home, find something temporary and flexible, like Starbucks, setting crafts on Etsy, etc.