This is the first summer ever that my kid is officially old enough that I don’t have to plan for daily childcare. Also new this year – I’m working a mostly remote job. Which means that we will both be home, I can sleep in until something crazy like 8:30am on workdays, and we are not spending THOUSANDS of dollars on summer camp.
Which is a total winner. But also, kind of confusing. Because while we’ve now entered the “no more camp drop-offs” era, we are not exactly in the “see you at dinner, Mom” phase either. The kid is 13. Independent-ish, but not feral in the woods like a GenX kid level of self-sufficient.
He still needs some structure to his days to keep his brain from turning to mush from endless Fortnight games and Netflix marathons. But also, I kind of WANT his brain to get a little mushy, because it’s summer. And after 10 months of non-stop school and homework, he deserves a break.
Which makes me wonder… what do people do with teenagers all summer?!
Here are my thoughts so far:
- Daily chore list – Each summer I typically give him a daily chore list on days that he’s home with me and I’m teleworking, so this is pretty normal for him. Things on the daily chore list include actual chores – like emptying the dishwasher, cleaning his room, and vacuuming – and also ‘annoying mom chores’ like read for 20 minutes and create art with something.
- Volunteering – He’s too young to get an actual job, but I’m keeping my eyes open for any volunteer opportunities that might be a good fit. Maybe there will be something at the library, or at the local animal shelter?
- Sneaky Learning – The local community college has some half-day class options for teens, so I signed him up for a couple video game animation courses.
- Lending Him Out – I have 6 nephews and nieces between my 3 siblings and they are all pretty much obsessed with Jack. I may lend him out as a helper for a day here and there to help keep an eye on the little kids at the park or splash pad.
- Learn a Life Skill – Sure, he’s only 13 but I’m trying to raise an awesome dude, so maybe we should start with learning how to cook something? Or how to do laundry properly from start to finish?
Suggestions welcome! If you’ve figured out how to keep teens reasonably productive, relatively social, and only mildly screen-addicted during summer break… let me know.
Here’s what I’ve done with my daughter in the past. She’s in college now, so I can’t remember what kind of fees there were.
She did a two week math camp during the day at a local university. I know their library also had some kind of history or political themed day camp.
Some of the local museums here had day camps. There was also a local arts day camp, and possibly something through our local library.
Is he into sports or other extracurriculars? There might be some camps associated with those.
If you’re religious, or even if you’re not, there might be vacation bible school day camps. I can’t remember the age range, he might be too old to attend, but he could volunteer. My daughter led a class one year and a different year she assisted with the arts and crafts.
And of course – spending a week at the grandparents!
I also went to summer camp because my parents both worked. This was a long time ago… We ended up in the same situation. My mother didn’t want me doing nothing. I became a “junior counselor” at my camp. I got paid a paltry token of appreciation, but basically, I went to camp for free and it was a lot of fun. Hope he has fun whatever he does.
Around here, we have a recreation center type building, that has a big gym. In the summer, theyhave athletic kind of things kids can join. Also, basketball games they put together. But they also have all sorts of classes for kids who want so.ething else. Crafts, science, art, all kinds of classes. They sign up, and I don’t think classes are all that expensive. Check and see if you have a rec center, or somewhere that is used for that kind of thing. Food pantries can always use kids like yours, to help. Maybe a science museum could use volunteers to relate to younger kids. Day camp, maybe a science camp, or Lego camp? would be fun. Good luck! I have no kids except for my fur babies! But this is what people around here (Pembroke, MA ) do.