To be shocked at how many teenagers do absolutely NOTHING on the weekends

[MrRected]

I reckon teenagers should be put to work - whether it be sport or actual work (waiting tables/supermarket checkout etc).

I think that letting them do absolutely nothing, doesn't help them in the long term and am surprised at how many people I know who think it's entirely normal for their little darling to hide in their bedroom for days on end.

Op comes back failing to have read a single post. Yawn. Klaxon! Troll alert....

And a poor effort.

I also do bugger all at the weekends if I can get away with it

Is it lazy? I don't actually care if it is

Well I let ds2 stay in bed until 12 noon if he wants at the weekend. Once he is up he goes mountain bike riding for hours and then goes either indoor climbing or ice skating.

The reason I let him rest is that aster a week of school and after school clubs he is playing hockey 4 nights. He is tired and also growing.
If he can't have down time as a teenager when can he?

I don't really know any teenagers.

I would imagine their school load must be pretty fierce?

I'd love to know where all these jobs for teenagers fare anyway!

Stupid thread. You don't know what's going on in people's lives and what they actually do and when they do it.

OP get back to your Daily Mail and ridiculous assumptions of young people!

If adults cant find work how can teenagers?
After a busy week at school why shouldn't they veg out?
I like a lazy day every now and again, so ehy shouldn't my sons do the same?

I do fuck all at the weekend.

I work bloody hard during the week and use the weekends to do as little as possible. I sometimes dream about DH and DD (and the dog) going away so that I don't even have to get out of bed. For me that would be bliss.

There are days when we have to force DD to do nothing - and she's only 9. We can see in her face, her demeanor, her appetite, that she is absolutely knackered and needs a lazy day. I can absolutely see that teens work even harder in the week/evenings than she does, so probably need the time to recharge.

Very judgemental and goady thread....and frankly pretty boring.

I have a baby and a pre-schooler so can't comment from a parent's perspective just yet.

However, as a teen I did debating, athletics, music, mentoring, fundraising, volunteering while studying to get straight As. Even writing it down makes me tired. I have no idea how I managed it all (I wasn't a complete pain in the arse, promise).

Funnily enough, I didn't have a Saturday job as I was either studying or being told to relax by my parents. Thank goodness they could see how hard I was working.

Instead of making sweeping generalisations about all teenagers based on anecdotal evidence, why not appreciate that everyone is different and that you have no idea how empty or full the life of a "little darling" is.

Patronising and goady op with no effort to back up your opinion with solid evidence. i'm ignoring the fact that I have also used my own personal experience as opposed to researching this thoroughly but really the onus is on you to provide the evidence I'm quite cross now!

Agree Minnie. Very disappointing. But I always find it heartening (genuinely) to see how many Mumsnetters nevertheless put themselves out to engage, patiently and positively, with such idiotic views.

Nb I did NOT call the op an idiot just now. Definitely not. Uh-uh. Not me.

In 2004 DS1 managed very easily to get a 12 hour a week job in our local Sainsburys store along with quite a few of his friends. He was 16 and worked all day Sunday and one evening.
He did this through his 6th form until he went to university.
Moving on to 2008 and DS2 could not get a job in Sainsburys or any other shop. There just weren't the jobs in shops going for 6th formers at that time.
He did though manage to get a waiting job at a local race course which moved onto bar work when he was 18 in the same place (and at another couple of local race courses). He was able to always get work here during his university holidays too.
I have to say that DS2's hours were more erratic than 12 regular hours a week, some weeks there was no work and quite often many less than 12 hours a week but he could also choose whether or not to take the work on offer according to his exam schedule at that time.
On the back of this work he managed to get work at Wimbledon and at the Olympics in summer 2012.
I think that employers are interested in work experience that may have been picked up and it could help in job applications, but I also realise that there are very few opportunities for teenagers of 16+ and very little except for a paper round or baby sitting for younger teenagers (and yes mine did a weekly free paper round and a bit of baby sitting for their cousins and next door neighbour).

Well you do don't you? I did too. Then they come back and just don't even make an effort.

Where's all the decent trolls gone? I just want an intelligent troll to discuss with. What's the point otherwise? This is just laziness....

;)

Mine are doing homework and sports and catching up on sleep. Yes there's gaming and idling about too but they have years of working ahead of them so I'm happy to cut them some slack and let them relax. I'd complain if someone made me work all weekend as well as all week. Their week at school is pretty regimented. What's wrong with switching off and idling about a bit?

Twaddle.

Some teens do nothing, but maybe they are lazy all the time.

Some teens do nothing at weekends because they are so busy during the week, it's downtime.

Some teens fill their weekends with sports, pt jobs, homework and, you know, family time/socialising.

My DD falls in the middle group. She has 6 dance classes during the week, has early starts including getting up at 4am one day. She averages a total of 400 miles travelling to/from school every week. If she wanted to stay in her pyjamas all weekend I would let her.

You're a better person than me Minnie, I totally cba I'm afraid

Ds plays football at wkend but wants to give up. It's a dilemma because I know he just wants to stay in his room on the pc all weekend.

I don't want him to do that, but yeah many of the kids round here do.

I wish mine would do a bit bloody less at the weekends! It would mean that I could happily sink a bottle of claret in front of the telly on a Saturday night without having to do multiple taxi runs all evening.......

What on earth has it got to do with you how other people choose to spend their free time? Why do you even care?

YABU.

Mine are never in. They're out clubbing, take road trips, have friends round, cook, hang out, have a few drinks with us if they're in, it's great.

As for put to work they're at uni- my dd works 12 shifts and nights in her nursing degree, so needs some downtime.

YABU for 'on the weekends'.

HTH.

MrRected Fri 28-Mar-14 08:22:17
"The job comment was just a point of reference - rather than an absolute direction. Insert , if that's better. I remain surprised that so many people think it's okay for young people to do bugger all with their lives besides gaming and sitting around."

How do you define bugger all?

Does going for a walk that hasn't been organised by an adult count as doing bugger all? (that's how I used to spend a lot of my Saturdays and ds does the same. It's just as good for you if it isn't an organised sport, you know.)

Does reading a book count as bugger all? (in which case I wish more undergraduates had spent more time doing bugger all)

Does thinking count as bugger all? (again, some undergraduates would benefit)

Does talking to friends count as bugger all? (if so, why are social skills so prized in our society?)

Does watching the news and following world events on the internet count as bugger all? (ds' history and geography teachers are always talking about how well informed he is compared to his peers)

Dd often does spend her Saturdays asleep. But given her commute to and from college, and the work she puts into amateur theatricals, she often has a weekday that stretches from 7 o'clock in the morning, when she has to leave to catch the bus, until 10.30 at night, when she gets home- and then she may still have coursework.

I don't get all this 'doing nothing' stuff. Resting, relaxing, socialising, procrastinating is all part of life and an important part. My sil drags my nephews round all over the place at the weekend and they never have an unplanned un micro managed day, and they seem happy but tired and unable to relax properly.

Some of my best teenage memories are those which involved sleep until 4pm, getting up for a roast dinner and then pottering. I is a very emotional time, and with exams etc there is a lot of pressure n teenagers.

My memory of being a teenager was that compared to now, thought processes took about a million times longer as I was having to figure everything out, all those emotions, expectations etc let alone going anywhere. I needed, desperately, those un pressured times

My teenagers don't do much at the weekend, My DD does have a job but its not every weekend, my DS despite looking for a job for over a year cant find one. They will go and see friends and have friends here, they watch tv, do course work, eat me out of house and home. Their 'job' in my opinion is to get good grades in their college courses, I could care less if they want to sleep until after lunch sometimes.

Sadly there are no jobs for the under 16's anymore, people don't want to employ them because there's so much red tape now.

That kind of attitude can actually be potentially very harmful for teenagers. By forcing them to be active all weekend you will instill in them a desperate desire to relax and do nothing as they become adults.
There is also a chance they will internalise your views and feel constantly ill at ease and lazy whenever they relax. This is not a good way to 'encourage' your teen and I speak from experience.