Older kids —no summer camp options

[Anonymous]

My teen does not turn 16 until August..no idea what she is going to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Completely relate to the last PP. I don't know what to do with my 14 yr old and 11 yr old this summer. I am starting a new job and won't have much if any time off to travel/visit relatives. I think they are going to be staying home most of the summer. So much for the "affluent" kids getting enrichment activities all summer. They don't want to go to camps and aren't sporty. They will literally stay home playing computer games ALL summer if I don't come up with something.

[Anonymous]

I know that I will sound old, but din't kids know how to entertain themselves without devices anymore?

[Anonymous]

So what do you do to force them not to use devices? Take away their phones, ipads, gaming systems while you are at work? Or if you just say, don't plug in, then they won't?

[Anonymous]

No, but if they use them constantly something needs to be done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know that I will sound old, but din't kids know how to entertain themselves without devices anymore?

Honestly, even adults in our society can't go without their phones for ten minutes. It's a lot to ask a 12 yo who has no scheduled activities, no car, and limited funds to self-regulate re: devices, when the games/apps are made to be addictive. Maybe my kid could control himself for the first week but after a month of unstructured time? Two?

[Anonymous]

I. Definately agree that it's hard for everybody to regulate these days. It's just so different from my growing up. We had video games, but I can't remember it being that hard to enter tain ourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what do you do to force them not to use devices? Take away their phones, ipads, gaming systems while you are at work? Or if you just say, don't plug in, then they won't?

They'll just go to a friend's house and play there, while rolling their eyes at clueless mom.

[Anonymous]

I'm not so worried about the "entertain themselves" aspect. I simply don't think it's appropriate for kids in middle school to be home alone. Maybe not even until 11th grade.

[Anonymous]

You didn't have to say I was clueless. I was just adding to the topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not so worried about the "entertain themselves" aspect. I simply don't think it's appropriate for kids in middle school to be home alone. Maybe not even until 11th grade.

wow.

Back in the day, 13 yr olds took a babysitting course and then they were in charge of other kids for the whole day, week, summer. So, now you are saying 13-14 yr olds can't take care of themselves?

[Anonymous]

You can't just treat them and assume that they will be troublemakers. That's not fair to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not so worried about the "entertain themselves" aspect. I simply don't think it's appropriate for kids in middle school to be home alone. Maybe not even until 11th grade.

HAHAHA. How old are your kids?

My 11y and 12y old are perfectly fine being home along for 2-3 hrs after school until DH and I got home. Junior in HS? By then, they are 17 - often with jobs, cars, and a life outside of your home. When I was 17y, I was not only home alone, but spending the night alone when my mother needed to travel for work (and getting myself to school) and babysitting the neighbor's kid when they went out of town for a weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's symptom of the times, kids are way overscheduled.

Kids used to work all summer on family farms and for other family businesses. I have no problem with teenagers being productive. Kids are out of school a minimum of ten weeks. That's a lot of time to sit around. Productive does not equal overscheduled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not so worried about the "entertain themselves" aspect. I simply don't think it's appropriate for kids in middle school to be home alone. Maybe not even until 11th grade.

wow.

Back in the day, 13 yr olds took a babysitting course and then they were in charge of other kids for the whole day, week, summer. So, now you are saying 13-14 yr olds can't take care of themselves?

Uh, back in the day my mom (a single working mom) paid a nanny to come in the afternoons so that we had an adult in the house until she got home. She did this until we were in high school. But hey, you do you.