The ones who don't lifeguard do summer group workouts for their sports, work at the pool snack bar, do maintenance at our club or others, etc. We have some kids who are under 16 volunteer coach for dive and tennis, which are in the afternoon and don't conflict with swim team.

Last summer, my kid took a summer class to get it out of the way. This summer, he’s still too young to lifeguard but isn’t taking a class. He will swim at the pool with friends in the afternoons, and we do things like hikes or museums or have friends over. Stuff at home like reading, gardening, etc. We will travel for 2 weeks, and marching band camp takes up 3 weeks. Nothing really structured besides swim team and band camp.

My teenagers had a retail job and if they were scheduled during practice, they would miss practice. Our team is a middling division and by the time they were 15-18s, the roster of teenagers was so small that every teenager swam in A meets. We also would usually have an empty lane. So it wasn't critical that they attend practice in order to swim in the meets.

Anonymous wrote:Our team’s teen practice starts at the latest time and then many stay to help with the preteam. So 9:15-11:00am they are busy. They are finding it hard to figure out how to schedule the rest of their days. It’s hard to be a camp counselor or get a job with hours that start after noon and would have to leave early on Wednesday for B meets... Lifeguarding is a no go for them for various reasons. One kid will take health over the summer. The other is not.

What do your teens do during summer swim season BESIDES swim team obligations? If it’s unscheduled down time I would love to hear that.

Lifeguarding is the easy answer.

But hang out at the pool with their friends. Go outside with friends and play sports. Bike, walk around. Go to the mall. Go to the high school and sneak in the building and walk around. Go to a sporting event. Go downtown for a day to museums.

You don’t need structured programming. Let them enjoy being kids and taking ownership in their own schedule. By teenage years mommy should be scheduling their every activity

Either life guard or jr coach. If not, they hang at the pool all day with their friends. Most of time they are in the water playing games so I’m happy they are outdoors and getting exercise.

When my kids were younger, I set up a summer "curriculum" of next year school workbooks. I had my kids do 2-3 worksheets a day. It didn't take them that long, and it maintained their edge so that they didn't need the first 2-3 weeks of the school year to get back into academic mode.

If your teen doesn't have a summer job during swim season (and especially thereafter), and isn't going to or working at a camp, then some sort of academic track isn't unreasonable. For those who think that teens need downtime during the summer - they get plenty of it. If anyone needs downtime during swim season (and definitely thereafter), it's parents....

A lot of the swim team kids at my pool seem to work as lifeguards or as the kids who check people in.

It's kinda annoying honestly because they aren't mature enough most of them and they don't enforce the rules their swim team buddies break

A lot of teenage swimmers just go to club practice which ends at 7am or maybe 7:30.

It gives them plenty of time to get to most jobs.

My son will likely take a class and do SAT Prep.
I refuse to have him give up his summer for some low paying job. I'd rather he take a class.

He gives some swim lessons too.

Mine just spends the rest of the day at the pool. Sometimes he comes home for lunch. He can easily walk to our house from the neighborhood pool.

We have evening practices for kids that do camp or have work. Club swimmers have early practice and don't do summer practice every morning.

My kid has had a host/waiting job most summers which works well with keeping mornings free. They just don't work on Monday or Saturdays.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My older kid is a junior coach and teaches lessons on the side. He also does some summer theater programs that start at noon.

My younger kid, who is 13 this summer so too young to coach or lifeguard, will miss a few weeks of swim for sports camps, and will otherwise putter around at home, because he is an old man in a teenager body.

Laughing at your last line 😂 my 14 year old is similar. If he puttered around like my FIL by fixing things and doing yard work, I would be fine with this. However his puttering includes too many screens and snacking when bored, not hungry. Interspersed with some reading, practice music, and putting together puzzles and legos. But way too much screen time!

Which theater program starts noon? Is this Va or Md?

Mine does Theater Lab in DC but there are a bunch of options in MD. Probably in VA but I haven’t looked.

Anonymous wrote:My older kid is a junior coach and teaches lessons on the side. He also does some summer theater programs that start at noon.

My younger kid, who is 13 this summer so too young to coach or lifeguard, will miss a few weeks of swim for sports camps, and will otherwise putter around at home, because he is an old man in a teenager body.

Laughing at your last line 😂 my 14 year old is similar. If he puttered around like my FIL by fixing things and doing yard work, I would be fine with this. However his puttering includes too many screens and snacking when bored, not hungry. Interspersed with some reading, practice music, and putting together puzzles and legos. But way too much screen time!

Which theater program starts noon? Is this Va or Md?

My older kid is a junior coach and teaches lessons on the side. He also does some summer theater programs that start at noon.

My younger kid, who is 13 this summer so too young to coach or lifeguard, will miss a few weeks of swim for sports camps, and will otherwise putter around at home, because he is an old man in a teenager body.

Sorry about the poor grammar in the title. I wish we could edit posts…..(op)

Our team’s teen practice starts at the latest time and then many stay to help with the preteam. So 9:15-11:00am they are busy. They are finding it hard to figure out how to schedule the rest of their days. It’s hard to be a camp counselor or get a job with hours that start after noon and would have to leave early on Wednesday for B meets... Lifeguarding is a no go for them for various reasons. One kid will take health over the summer. The other is not.

What do your teens do during summer swim season BESIDES swim team obligations? If it’s unscheduled down time I would love to hear that.