Teens This Summer: Whatcha gonna do? By Jacqueline Bodnar

Summer is upon us and school is out! Kids have been looking forward to these weeks but now what? Young kids can play outside without much encouragement. You can give a six year old a clean paintbrush and a bucket of water, and he’s good to go for hours. However, 13, 14, and 15 year olds are not so easily “entertained.” They are old enough to get into trouble but not old enough to get a “real” job. So what can they do this summer with all of their time?

Parents can sit down with their young teens and discuss all of the different options that are available to them. “Summer activities that encourage certain values that parents want to instill in their teens for example, hard work, compassion, learning about other cultures, can be investigated,” offers Dr. Jim Taylor, author of Positive Pushing: How to Raise a Successful and Happy Child.

Volunteer
Volunteering teaches leadership skills, how to deal with the public, and provides the teen a chance to focus on other people’s needs. Servenet is one of Youth Service America’s, online resource for youth ages 11 - 25 looking for ways to volunteer. Your child puts in their zip code and a list of volunteer choices in your area comes up. Use this list to start a discussion with your teen about organizations that they would like to support. Check out www.GetUrGoodOn.org, an online community partnership between YSA and celebrity Miley Cyrus, where teens can support each other in their mission to “do good.” Teens are posting blogs, photos, and videos of what they’re doing to make their communities a better place.
Look out for your neighbors and see if an elderly widow needs her grass cut over the summer or if a couple down the street need some yard work. Maybe there is a young couple with a baby in your neighbor that could benefit from some babysitting. Talk and listen to your kids about the importance of volunteering their time versus getting paid for their work. When is appropriate to provide a service for free to someone who can’t afford it?

“I think manual labor or mundane labor is a great learning experience for teens, particularly in the privileged and insulated world in which many kids are raised. It shows the value of
hard work, the value of a buck, the direct relationship between earnings an hourly wage and producing something, how most people in America work and a set of lifelong skills,” says Taylor.

Start a Business
Your teen can also use this opportunity to learn how to start and run a business. “Running a business teaches important skill sets that kids will need throughout their lives, such as decisionmaking, strategic-planning, calculated risk-taking, creativity, financial management, communication, teamwork, etc,” says Melissa Rose, MBA, president and owner of Bizinabox.
You can discuss with your kids different jobs that they can come up with around your neighborhood. If you live in a rural area, your kids can sell eggs or buck hay. Kids can become the summer pet sitter and or be hired to weed someone’s garden. Your
daughter may teach music lessons to younger children.

Do you have a budding computer geek in your midst? Can she teach a class? Help your child design a four week beginning computer class for seniors. She might confess that it’s all too
simple but remind her that there are grandparents out there that still don’t know how to “cut and paste” web addresses so they can see pictures of their grandchildren.

More Educational Choices
Baby sitting classes provide knowledge, skills and training for 11 - 15 year old youth. Contact the Red Cross in your area to see if they provide this valuable class. Any child old enough to babysit, should look into taking a CPR class. Local community pools offers lifeguarding classes to kids 15 years old and older. In certain states kids can take driver’s education over the summer to get it out of the way. Both boys and girls can take selfdefense classes through parks and recreation department. Some students may need extra help in the school and summer time may be the time to hire a Math tutor to work weak Math skills. On the other hand, you may have a student that loves learning and wants to excel in a certain area and hiring a tutor may help them exceed in their school endeavors. You might have a retired engineer living next to you that you could make arrangements for extra tutoring lessons.

Boredom is Good
“Mom, I’m bored” strikes fear in some parents because they think it’s their responsibility to entertain their child. As a parent, you can offer your child the reassuring words that you have
faith in them that they can handle boredom. And ask your child what are you going to do about it? “A part of summer vacation should be devoted to down time, meaning just hanging out at
home and taking it easy. Kids need time to rest and recharge. So much of kids lives are go, go, go,” says Taylor.

What If?
What if your child doesn’t want to do anything but play video games, text, and hang out with friends. Taylor suggests, “I have a saying, “Doing nothing is not an option.”’ Talk with your kids and ask them why do they not want to try something new. Is it scary? Is your child fearful she will fail at it? Remind her that trying something new is all about trial and error. She’ll learn
something that she didn’t know before. While summer break means no school work, it doesn’t mean learning has to stop. Plan some fun activities with your kids and encourage them to try something new.

Jan Udlock is a freelance writer and a homeschooling mom of 5.She loves both jobs most of the time.