The last days of school are counting down quickly and soon our teens will be underfoot everyday – ALL day. What’s a mom to do? If they don’t have summer jobs, get them out there, NOW! There’s got to be some jobs still up for grabs in June. If all else fails, here’s RSG’s list of ideas for keeping teens busy during the summer months:
RSG’s Save the Summer, Your Sanity & Your Relationship with Your Teen
Make Your Life Easier – Hire A Teen!
Create a list of jobs around the house that you need done and can pay your teen to do. This will have you both feeling like you’re getting something out of the deal!
- Do you need the older sibling to drive the younger one to practice or camp? Why spend your valuable time in the car when you have a capable driver close at hand?
- Lawn mowing, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, dishes and walking the dog come to mind at first.
Incentivize Summer Reading/Math Work.
Let’s face it, summer math/reading packets suck! The summer is short enough without having to hound your teen every week about school work. Help them get it done early and enjoy the time off! Others may argue with this approach and say that they should do a little every week, but I disagree. Just get it done. If you can create a reward system for making progress or achieving goals, even better.
Summer Ain’t for Sleep and Screen Time.
Give them a week to catch up on sleep and then wake them up by 10:00. Tell them they need to find ways to keep themselves busy that don’t include staring at a screen all day long – large or small. If they can’t do it, they lose it (take it away).
Get Fit.
Many gyms offer a three-month membership so that teens can stay in shape for sports over the summer. Try to identify a good cross training activity that will help build strength or power in an area where they might have weakness.
Grandma Camp!
Is a change of scenery in order? Sending them to a relative’s house for a visit is a great way to give you some peace, them some independence and your family an opportunity to get to know your children a little better.
Cross off Fall “To Do” List Items.
Do they need volunteer hours for school? Identify summer volunteer opportunities or other educational programs like driver’s ed, to make the school year schedule easier to manage. Driver’s ed programs offer week-long classroom programs a couple times over the summer that enable your teen to complete in one week what would take them four months in the fall! Don’t forget our first bullet above – if you have an older teen at home who can drive — even better! Here’s a site that could come in handy for finding the perfect volunteer opp for your teen: https://www.volunteermatch.org/search/?l=United+States&k=summer&searchOpps=
