My 13 year old in has a few weeks of sport camps, is in an evening sport league, and otherwise has free time. We also had 2 weeks away on family vacation.
I wish kids would hang out in the neighborhood but not many kids seem to do that out area. We make our DC do reading every day and some other non-screen activities.

My kids didn't do much at that age. No one was available to drive them all over the place in the middle of the work day. It was hard enough navigating band camp in the eweeks leading up to 9th grade.

In our experience, camps typically wanted CITs to be former camp attendees anyway. They never did local day camps.

Neither one was barred from attending the college of their choice due to having a lazy summer at age 14.

Anonymous wrote:So many of you are clearly so uncomfortable with the idea of just letting your kids be. Exist. They have to always be busy, busy, busy with some outside structured activity. Then you can pat yourselves on the back for being such great parents without ever actually having to parent.

The DMV is a sick area. 14 years olds don’t need jobs or volun(told) hours. Just let them be kids for awhile.

+1

So many of you are clearly so uncomfortable with the idea of just letting your kids be. Exist. They have to always be busy, busy, busy with some outside structured activity. Then you can pat yourselves on the back for being such great parents without ever actually having to parent.

The DMV is a sick area. 14 years olds don’t need jobs or volun(told) hours. Just let them be kids for awhile.

I was happy at those ages because I didn’t have to shell out $$$ for camps all summer. Mine volunteered at a summer camp for a month each summer at that age. He also did his summer reading and math assignments and hung out with his friends at the pool. He also did plenty of gaming but it’s summer so I didn’t care.

Anonymous wrote:I guess a benefit of living in DC is they have the MYSEP program which guarantees a paid job to anyone 14+ that applies to the program.

When my kid was 14 they did this with friends and all were assigned to the same day camp as counselors.

Others managed to find either paid or volunteer work with various sports camps (that they often attended themselves when they were 6-12) for the sport they play.

I would not want to send my little kid to a camp staffed by 14 year olds who didn't even have to meet any standards or criteria to be hired. SERIOUS YIKES.

My kids aren't doing much.

15 year old rising sophomore: Swim team, football morning workouts, and is reffing 2-3 basketball games per week.

13 year old rising 8th grader: 2 weeks of 9-3 soccer camp and summer basketball league (7 games).

I guess a benefit of living in DC is they have the MYSEP program which guarantees a paid job to anyone 14+ that applies to the program.

When my kid was 14 they did this with friends and all were assigned to the same day camp as counselors.

Others managed to find either paid or volunteer work with various sports camps (that they often attended themselves when they were 6-12) for the sport they play.

When he's doing his college applications in a couple years, he'll be thanking you. I'm all for down time and being bored in the summer, and I want my kids to spend time with friends and have fun. You have him busier than most, but I don't think it's unreasonable and if you prioritize a fun thing (vacation? a random day to kings dominion?) then this sounds like an amazing summer

Anonymous wrote:My 14 year old (almost 15) claims that we are being unfair because we require him to be a CIT at a half day camp (9-1) and volunteer one evening per week this summer. He claims most of his friends are either doing nothing, or a 2 hour per morning crew team thing and then nothing. Could this be right? I feel like we are leaving him with ample free time, which he generally wastes playing video games.

Define ‘nothing’!

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t allow it. My young teens volunteered many hrs a week age 11-13 then worked 14 yo on. Preparation for the working world.

Do you live in the DMV?

We make our kid do camps, odd jobs for neighbors and of course we take some vacations too. "Do nothing" is not an option for them, but plenty of their friends actually do nothing.

CIT half day camp sounds perfect. It's something that will last their entire lives.

I wish my DC had done it but it was not in the blood for them.

There was no such thing as CIT when i was that age so my parents bought me a horse and boarding at a big active stable where I could hang out all day- all summer.

My much-older siblings were so resentful but I see what my parents were doing now.

It was not that extravagant -- it sounds super posh but it was not. It was bargain basement and probably the same $$ as going to "camp" all summer long and I never ever did NOT want to go. I learned responsibility and had to negotiate many social and physical situations. I had a spreadsheet and a budget. It was just a good situation that lasted many summers.

Anonymous wrote:

Two hour crew team every morning is far from nothing. If that’s all my kid was doing outside the house every day, I’d be totally fine with that.

No one is knocking the difficulty of crew. The point is that it still leaves a lot of hours free during the day.

So what? Give them some chores if you must. Turn off the wi-fi for a bit and let them experience the tension of screen-free boredom.

No, my DS would probably be willing to do that all summer but DD wants to out of the house. Notthing wrong, it's just the age. She's outward focused now.