I also agree, although i don't think kids should spend too much time in front of a screen. But why must kids be so busy all the time? Ee were never this busy growing up

Anonymous wrote:This may be the unpopular opinion, but I don't see any big problem with him sitting at home with a ton of screen time for one week. You did say he would take breaks for workouts, eating, etc. Why not plan some fun family activities for the evening after work and just let him use the week to relax? I can tell you that when I get a couple days off of work, there is a heck of a lot of HGTV time. I say this assuming he is doing well in school and a hard worker the rest of the time.

+100
I agree completely. When I asked my son if he wanted to do anything over spring break, he looked very serious and said, “NOTHING.” These kids are like hamsters in a wheel most of the time. They *need* a week to just be.

My kids generally wanted to do absolutely nothing. They needed a break from the constant deadlines and activities. I was fine with that.

I agree with the PP who is fine with just DC just vegging out for the week. My kids have a lot going on in their lives and an unscheduled, unproductive break is not a bad thing. I do telework 2x a week so on those days we may go out to lunch, or for an early evening hike, but otherwise my DS will be on his own...and doesn’t necessarily have the presence of mind to tear himself away from YouTube or whatever to eat or work out

Drive's ed might work if he is really free all week

When I was 15 my friends and I spent our spring break taking our lifeguard training course. I think it was Mon-Fri 8 hours a day which kept us busy.

This may be the unpopular opinion, but I don't see any big problem with him sitting at home with a ton of screen time for one week. You did say he would take breaks for workouts, eating, etc. Why not plan some fun family activities for the evening after work and just let him use the week to relax? I can tell you that when I get a couple days off of work, there is a heck of a lot of HGTV time. I say this assuming he is doing well in school and a hard worker the rest of the time.

Sign him up for an online coding class

I give my kids (15, 13, 11) a list of chores to do. If there's a group task, the identify which one of them is the 'project manager'. The project manager is responsible for ensuring the task (like cleaning the main living areas or cleaning up dog poop in the yard) is done to a satisfactory level. The project manager still has to work but the other kids have to listen to her/him. The tasks take a couple hours. On the list for next week:

Clean out refigerator
Clean out coat/shoe closet by front door
Clean kitchen cabinets
Clean out shelves under bathroom sinks
Pick up twigs/branches/debris in yard
Clean up poop from backyard
Wash sheets on all beds/make beds

I need some ideas for 15 year old DS to do during spring break week. Both parents are working but available at home periodically during the day. Just don't want him sitting in front of laptop and phone the whole day. He does take break to do some body workout, eating, etc. but it will be a lor of internet, tv, and phone time. Kid is pretty smart knows bit of computer programming but do not want to build anything. Volunterring options are all closed. Any other ideas?