Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine mainly plays video games, to be perfectly honest.

This is what lots of boys like to do on the weekend. And watch football.

I love how no one complains on this thread about the way this kid spends his weekend but busy kids are given a hard time.

Because it isn't the kid's choice to be that busy. It was the parent's decision.

No it isn't. The parents agree to it, but it's not our passion, it's theirs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine mainly plays video games, to be perfectly honest.

This is what lots of boys like to do on the weekend. And watch football.

I love how no one complains on this thread about the way this kid spends his weekend but busy kids are given a hard time.

Because it isn't the kid's choice to be that busy. It was the parent's decision.

Anonymous wrote:Son is 14. Great kid, enjoys school, has nice friends, does his chores etc. This is the first time since he was much younger that he isn't going a travel sport and he seems to have too much time on his hands on the weekends. He gets his chores done, does homework and then what else? He sometimes babysits and does odd jobs for neighbors (weeding etc), reads a little, and hangs out with friends a bit. We often will do things as a family but overall he needs more to do.

I know this is an odd question and I'm not looking to over schedule him but I also don't want him playing video games all weekend. Thanks for your input.

What did you do as a kid on weekends? Because what you said above sounds like a normal teenager weekend. And yes, playing video games for a few hours to destress from the week is okay. It isn't normal in most of the country to have back to back to back activities for a teen all weekend. Travel sports and 10 other activities is a small niche that just seems to play a dominant setting here on DCUM. He has just a few years left of childhood and little responsibility. Let him enjoy it. He will find things he likes to do instead of a Mom or Dad dictating it.

Anonymous wrote:Son is 14. Great kid, enjoys school, has nice friends, does his chores etc. This is the first time since he was much younger that he isn't going a travel sport and he seems to have too much time on his hands on the weekends. He gets his chores done, does homework and then what else? He sometimes babysits and does odd jobs for neighbors (weeding etc), reads a little, and hangs out with friends a bit. We often will do things as a family but overall he needs more to do.

I know this is an odd question and I'm not looking to over schedule him but I also don't want him playing video games all weekend. Thanks for your input.

I don't honestly know what our 13 year old would do without travel soccer. He never reads (unless we made him), has no interest in computer games. He is only interested in sports. So, on Saturdays he goes to the tutoring center, and plays soccer on Sundays.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine mainly plays video games, to be perfectly honest.

This is what lots of boys like to do on the weekend. And watch football.

I love how no one complains on this thread about the way this kid spends his weekend but busy kids are given a hard time.

+1.

I do spend time planning our kids' weekends.

I find everyone is happier (kids and parents alike) when we have some structure to our weekend.

So we have 3 kids (ages 6-13), and each of them does 1 sport and 1 music lesson on the weekends. They seem to like that. If they ask to quit a sport, we're fine but just ask them to choose another physical activity (like even a family bike ride but then they can't complain when it's time for us all to go on the bike ride).

I also like how it gets us out of the house. We have a small house and I really prefer to be out and about rather than in the house.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS football game
Fantasy league with friend
Referee soccer
Homecoming dance
Fishing
Basketball with neighborhood friends
Watch football with family
Practice lacrosse
Walk dog
Nationals game with friends
Capitals game with friends
Movies

We can't afford movies for professional sports.

Neither can we. However, there are so many great things to do for free or nearly free in this area:

http://www.moneycrashers.com/fun-free-things-do-washington-dc/
http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/visitors-guide/guide-to-washington-dc-parks-and-outdoor-spaces/
The Kennedy Center offers free performances almost every day at 6 pm:
http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/
http://culturecapital.com/feature/9/free-events-in-metro-dc

http://dc.about.com/od/baseball/tp/Minor-League-Baseball-Washington-DC.htm
Caps practices used to be free and open to the public.
Try Washington Mystics for basketball.
Gen'l admission for Washington Spirit (soccer) is $25.

Ain't we lucky?

I agree that movies and professional sports are expensive.

Students get into Nats game for $20 and you can get nose bleed seats at the Capitals game for $25 on StubHub.

Still expensive but my son is a referee for soccer and gets about $35 per game.

They probably only go to 2 Caps games and 2 Nats games per year... it's just something to do and teaches them to use the metro. Also Chipotle is right outside the Caps game and cheaper than eating in the stadium.

My kids ask for movie gift cards and Chipotle gift cards from Aunts/Uncles/Gparents for Xmas.

I still think it is important to go to HS sports/plays because it is cheaper and you can see your friends.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine mainly plays video games, to be perfectly honest.

This is what lots of boys like to do on the weekend. And watch football.

I love how no one complains on this thread about the way this kid spends his weekend but busy kids are given a hard time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS football game
Fantasy league with friend
Referee soccer
Homecoming dance
Fishing
Basketball with neighborhood friends
Watch football with family
Practice lacrosse
Walk dog
Nationals game with friends
Capitals game with friends
Movies

We can't afford movies for professional sports.

Neither can we. However, there are so many great things to do for free or nearly free in this area:

http://www.moneycrashers.com/fun-free-things-do-washington-dc/
http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/visitors-guide/guide-to-washington-dc-parks-and-outdoor-spaces/
The Kennedy Center offers free performances almost every day at 6 pm:
http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/
http://culturecapital.com/feature/9/free-events-in-metro-dc

http://dc.about.com/od/baseball/tp/Minor-League-Baseball-Washington-DC.htm
Caps practices used to be free and open to the public.
Try Washington Mystics for basketball.
Gen'l admission for Washington Spirit (soccer) is $25.

Ain't we lucky?

I can't afford tickets and fees either but my child's friends can and they are often doing all kinds of activities. My DD is 12 and we live in a small apartment. If she doesn't get out on the weekend we are on top of each other so as a family we do a lot of free events and also use all the deal sites to get discount tickets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine mainly plays video games, to be perfectly honest.

This is what lots of boys like to do on the weekend. And watch football.

+1
And sleep. I'm just fine with all of that, since he isn't allowed to play video games during the school week and absolutely needs to sleep in and recharge on the weekends. We don't schedule anything (or very little), for exactly that reason.

Anonymous wrote:Mine mainly plays video games, to be perfectly honest.

This is what lots of boys like to do on the weekend. And watch football.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS football game
Fantasy league with friend
Referee soccer
Homecoming dance
Fishing
Basketball with neighborhood friends
Watch football with family
Practice lacrosse
Walk dog
Nationals game with friends
Capitals game with friends
Movies

We can't afford movies for professional sports.

Neither can we. However, there are so many great things to do for free or nearly free in this area:

http://www.moneycrashers.com/fun-free-things-do-washington-dc/
http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/visitors-guide/guide-to-washington-dc-parks-and-outdoor-spaces/
The Kennedy Center offers free performances almost every day at 6 pm:
http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/
http://culturecapital.com/feature/9/free-events-in-metro-dc

http://dc.about.com/od/baseball/tp/Minor-League-Baseball-Washington-DC.htm
Caps practices used to be free and open to the public.
Try Washington Mystics for basketball.
Gen'l admission for Washington Spirit (soccer) is $25.

Ain't we lucky?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD 12 has 2 hours of dance on Sat followed by a two hour math class. She rarely gets together with friends (except birthday parties) as most of her downtime is spent on homework, reading or playing with her brother. We very rarely allow TV on weekends though she watches short clips on Youtube and loves her radio.

This sounds a bit repressive to me. Four hours of instruction every saturday plus homework? I'm glad I don't live at your house!

Repressive..really? That's a strange word for her schedule. She loves to dance and I don't control the homework. I'm guessing you just have a problem with the 2 hour math class. She really needs it and it's helping her a lot.

That's fine but since she's getting exercise & being productive/studying for so much of her weekend why not loosen the reigns & allow her to veg for a bit & watch TV, too, if she wants? (NP here, BTW)

I'm not the PP, but screen time--TV, video games, etc. is actually stimulating for the brain and the opposite of "vegging" out even though it seems like a passive activity. (Just like alcohol is actually a depressant, which seems counterintuitive.)

Screen time doesn't affect everyone's sleep, but it does effect everyone's brains:
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/power-down-better-sleep

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD 12 has 2 hours of dance on Sat followed by a two hour math class. She rarely gets together with friends (except birthday parties) as most of her downtime is spent on homework, reading or playing with her brother. We very rarely allow TV on weekends though she watches short clips on Youtube and loves her radio.

This sounds a bit repressive to me. Four hours of instruction every saturday plus homework? I'm glad I don't live at your house!

Repressive..really? That's a strange word for her schedule. She loves to dance and I don't control the homework. I'm guessing you just have a problem with the 2 hour math class. She really needs it and it's helping her a lot.

That's fine but since she's getting exercise & being productive/studying for so much of her weekend why not loosen the reigns & allow her to veg for a bit & watch TV, too, if she wants? (NP here, BTW)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD 12 has 2 hours of dance on Sat followed by a two hour math class. She rarely gets together with friends (except birthday parties) as most of her downtime is spent on homework, reading or playing with her brother. We very rarely allow TV on weekends though she watches short clips on Youtube and loves her radio.

This sounds a bit repressive to me. Four hours of instruction every saturday plus homework? I'm glad I don't live at your house!

Repressive..really? That's a strange word for her schedule. She loves to dance and I don't control the homework. I'm guessing you just have a problem with the 2 hour math class. She really needs it and it's helping her a lot.

It depends on the teen. My older child always wanted to lots and lots of weekend activities -- sports, volunteering, get togethers with friends, music classes. My younger child, now a teenager, likes a lot of downtime just hanging out at home, messing around on the computer, even listening to music while cleaning her room. If she has one planned activity with a friend on the weekend she's generally happy.