What do you teens do with themselves over the school holidays?

[JustlookingNotbuying]

I do quite like the summers holidays as it’s not such a mad rush in the mornings but I wonder if 6 weeks is too long for older kids.
My 14 year old dd has a few friends but they are either on holiday, visiting the other parent in different parts of the country or out with family on day outs etc.
When my dc were little they spent time with grandparents, at the park and played for hours in the garden but now dd is that bit older she’s just hanging around at home which will be particularly tough from now as our darling dog passed away on Monday and she would normally walk him and spend time with him whilst I was a work, she is really struggling with the grief.
What do your teens do over the 6 weeks?

Yes , that sounds a good solution! Definitely something to consider for the future

Watching stranger things in a darkened room...

DS 13 nearly 14 has so far been to the beach with friends a few times, continued football training, stayed 2 days at a friend's, had a friend to sleepover approx 5 times so far, took his little brother to the park to mess about with a football a couple times, been to cinema once, bowling with DH and spent a day at a Sports Village near us with friends. He goes for a 2 mile jog every few days.

Between that a mix of sleep, Netflix and PlayStation. Oh and eating... Never stops eating ha ha

My 12 yo is very much at a loose end. She doesn't seem to be able to make plans on her own. We both work from home so I'm trying to finish work early to do stuff with her. My 15 and 17yos are great though. They're both making their own plans and out and about a lot. The older one works too which helps.

My 14 year old spends most of her time knitting and sewing!

My 11 year old is mainly on his switch, not good!

Mine is
-gaming
-seeing friends every other day
-watching Netflix
-doing some DIY projects in his room like painting and replacing the carpet with laminate
-cooking/baking

Apart from 2 study periods a day for maths (as his marks are not good) nothing. I am going to him out to the local shops and out for lunch a couple of days next week but I think that will be it

DS15 is working 6 hours a day, hanging out with friends the rest of the time.

DS12 is still swimming although it is a reduced training timetable. The rest of the time he is with friends either in person or on the Xbox.

Residential camp, help at residential camp, holiday with us, hang out with friends, bake, music practice, volunteer with my work, babysitting to earn money. Lie ins. Tv. Sort out clothes.

When not away on holiday DS13 hangs around in his room a lot on youtube and xbox. Sometimes he'll go to the shed to play keyboard and drums for a while.

I encourage him to make plans with friends but they're either not interested in coming out of their own bedrooms or on holidays with their families. We're in a village so he can't get anywhere independently but I offer to give him lifts to town so he can go swimming, play badminton, go to cinema etc. I've got some time off work coming up so planning some days out with friends and their kids.

TBH the long holidays have never been good as DS is an only child and we both work full time. At least now he can chat to friends on his xbox.

My 17yo is currently at work.

Yesterday she went for a picnic with friends. Tomorrow, she is going to her boyfriend's house in the afternoon and then they're going to a party. Last week she was away for a couple of days with friends. Next week, we'll be away on holiday.

I don't think dd is struggling to fill the time, and she is enjoying the long break!

My 16 year-old is working a lot but otherwise out with friends or chilling in her room.

DS (14) has been away on Scout Camp and is now spending time gaming/fishing/football/tennis/biking. He is also getting into gardening and he just made lunch for DH and me with some of his home grown tomatoes! Apparently he also has plans to rearrange his room and do some little bits of decorating.

Mine are both adult teens now so a combination of working and partying

At 14 mine used to go to the local council gym which ran sessions for teenagers (no adults and the instructors had had a course on what they could and couldn't do). They also went on council run "summer university" activities like a weeks street dance or customise and recycle clothes courses. Plus orchestra courses etc. Worth looking on your local council website to see what is on - the libraries round here also had a scheme for teens to go in and help younger children.

If they're interested in history then London Metropolitan Archives have a scheme where you can volunteer online to go through old photographs, describe them in terms that will be useful for data base searches and GPS them - good for university applications later and not just for history. Mine enjoyed this.

I also had an ongoing project to get them "university ready" where they cooked a meal once a week, shopped for it using the cash I gave them and put together a recipe book - one made an online book and one a paper one.

Mine has the house full of teenagers. Driving me nuts!

It's a nightmare with older DC and teens in my experience. There's really not a culture in most places now of playing out or hanging around outside with other kids. My ds 14 is pretty popular but his friends never seem to meet up. He spends a lot of time indoors...way more than I would want.

I definitely miss them being younger and taking them to the park every day

This age group lost out on learning how to hang out because of Covid, at least that's my theory,

Hanging around, learning touch typing (needs it for school as will be doing exams on laptop if she gets her speed up) and this week is a theatre course. We've been on holiday so not sure what's going to happen for the rest of the time. Sims I suspect...

I wish my Ds would invite his friends round. Apparently I'm hideously embarrassing and can't possibly be around them. I thought I was relatively normal...

DS1 nearly 18 is working alot, (wedding venue), at the skatepark, in the gym, out with mates or sleeping.

DS2 16 on Monday is hanging out with mates, sleeping, skatepark, playing his PS4.

We are on hols all together for 2 weeks in a week's time which I can't wait for.

Mine is 16 and is spending a fair amount of time applying for jobs. She’s been out to a local funfair a few times with friends, had a day at a theme park with a friend, and several days at various seaside towns on the south coast, travelling by train on the cheapest tickets she can find! She has also had friends over to visit and been over to their houses. She is going to stay with my friend next week for 3 nights and the week after that we are going away to a holiday park with a big group of friends and their kids of varying ages. Luckily she still quite enjoys hanging out with me as well, so we’ve watched a lot of Netflix together and done a lot of cooking, finding new recipes to try. I’m a teacher so also off for the summer.

I think it's a hard age. Too old to be visiting farms and zoos etc, too young to be doing stuff independently. My 13 yr old has had a couple of friends round but they don't really know what to do with themselves. He does play VR with his mates sometimes. And we have a week's holiday coming up. Otherwise I just leave him to it, he's quite good at entertaining himself.
I do miss the younger years though.

@Comedycook honestly it drives me insane, up and down the stairs, ordering takeaways, coming down to chat to me, in and out, so tired of it. There is being the cool Mom and then there is being the fucking idiot...I am the latter :)

You DS sounds very normal, my teenagers friends see me as a very wrinkled version of themselves so I get all the problems and tears aswell.

I would swap with ya!

It’s nearly end of holidays in Scotland. The first week we had family visiting. Second and third weeks were hardest as my ds14, his friends were on holiday. So we went swimming, beach and trampoline park.
Since then, he’s had a friend stay for a week, swimming in the local river and train to the city. Still have a few family day trips planned and I’d imagine he will want to camp with his friends one night.

Oldest is 14 - they are spending two weeks in a summer camp at the mo, but when home about 50:50 seeing friends and quiet days at home when they cook stuff, film tiktoks, experiment with makeup and watch telly.

I'm hating it. Full time working lone parent with a 13 yo.
I know there are millions like me out there, but god I feel alone with no support. I dream of someone calling me saying they'll take him out for the day...like my friend who is a TA, husband a teacher and one child. I know that's completely self centred of me, they have their own lives, but the constant being on duty has turned me into someone I don't like. I resent that his arsehole of a father gets Every Single Night off, but I can't remember the last one I had.