To let dd15 simply read all summer

[OhLaDiDaDiDa]

Aibu to be okay with dd15’s plan to spend her entire summer reading?

She has GCSEs next year, and I strongly suspect she won’t follow up her plan of studying a few hours very day this summer.

She gets good grades and is a nice girl.

She updated her TBR (“to be read”) list of 100 books and that’s her plan! Some of them are non fiction and the fiction is a lot of “good quality” stuff (not junky AI romantasies!)

Then let her read as much as she wants to.

No it's not.
Just very hard for 15 year olds to be employed because not many places take them on.

If she's getting good grades I wouldn't make her study a year before her exams. Let the girl enjoy her holidays. I would make sure she's getting out once a day a but of fresh air and encourage to meet with friends but most parents would like a child that doesn't cause them chaos so think yourself lucky

Because I’m an over-anxious mother expecting to be battling social media addiction and dd being out with friends god knows where and I’ve been wrong-footed?

Last summer she spent her time on Netflix and out on the lake kayaking and paddling.

Shes totally changed!

I guess I am trying to understand that’s all

Amongst other activities like exercise.

I used to do this all summer and I don't have a single regret. I had friends, studied hard and took part in family plans, but I loved the absolute luxury of reading all summer. I still went to uni and had a wild social life afterwards. Once she's an adult and has to work, she'll never have time to do it again, but the reading habit will stay with her forever. Just make sure she also gets some exercise in (I used to walk to the library twice a week - parents gave me some money to take younger siblings to the library and to get lunch, also helped instill reading as an exciting thing to look forward to for them).

That wouldn’t be as much as she wants.

I agree she's probably just excited and being ambitious planning her 6 weeks of freedom (same as the several hours a day studying she also probably won't stick to).

But also some people can read really fast! I read 100 books over a few weeks as part of a reading challenge in Year 7 or 8. Some of them were short and easy but I remember the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy being on the list. I was like OP has described though, my brothers still laugh about how they'd find me stood up in the middle of a room reading. I maxed out my brother and my library card every week which was 20 books and took a book everywhere as this was pre phone reading! My mum would bribe me to wear my brace by buying me a book every week.

I will admit it didn't make me a lot of friends though, I still remember the older girls pointing me out to each other like a curiousity on the way home that day.

The hyper focus and sudden change of interests do sound a bit ND, OP.

A lot of catastrophising about reading on this thread. Who knew there were so many hidden dangers.

OP’s daughter seems to have friends (many of whom are away over the summer) and another that enjoys reading.
Previous Summers she has been active, this one has only just started and maybe she will read 24/7, maybe not.
Next Summer it maybe another hobby.

@noworklifebalance that’s true! Next summer she Has To Get A Job. That’s my aim for her anyway.

In a bookshop😊

Brilliant way to spend the summer in my opinion. And when will she ever have that luxury again?!

You sound like a great mum OP ❤️

You would get very different replies if you’d said OP only wanted to spend the 6 weeks gaming stuck behind a screen all day, every day.

Unfortunately some posters are quite fixed in their mindsets.

Of course it’s unhealthy to just go one thing for 10+ hours a day and nothing else.
Life is about balance and she’s at an age where she should have much more freedom to choose what she wants to do but also still a child that needs to be guided and encouraged to have a balance.

The holidays are primarily there for young people to relax and do what they want to do but I really like your update saying that she’ll also be doing some other things too.
It sounds like a wonderful 6 weeks.

My dream!

'Dd has now agreed to make dinner a few times a week and also says she might go paddle-boarding with a few girls from school next week. So I think I can coax her out of her room a bit!'

Sounds better! Life's all about balance isn't it.

I bet she has no 'mental health issues' like the kids who are online all day long.
Maybe the reason my generation didnt have mental health issues was because we read books. We didnt have social media. We had imaginations and could escape to a fictional world.

Baby sitting is good for shy kids. Yes, it can be stressful dealing with parents initially but most kids to be babysat are a piece of cake.

she needs exercise. As does everyone. Lots of gyms offer reduced membership fees for 16-18 year olds, OP @OhLaDiDaDiDa

In light of your update you are expecting her to work next summer I do think you need to be encouraging something working towards that. Otherwise she’s 16 and competing with girls who have volunteering on cv and a referee and she has nothing. Mine used her guide leader (she was a young leader) as a reference for her first job in McDonalds at 16. A friend volunteered in library on their summer reading challenge, a few hours doing that would help with confidence.

Hearing a teenager wants to read is music to my ears. Maybe if she's in england see if her local library has a reading challenge on. Perfect way to spend 6 weeks

your generation didn't have mental health issues? Sorry what?😂

Reading should not be the excuse for not having a life, and we are not designed to be sedentary. A 15 yo NEEDS to be physically active too.

If reading does not exercise your brain, you are doing it all wrong!

Sounds great to me. That's basically what I did when I was that age and I have fond memories of lazy summers reading some classics in the garden. Was brilliant.

Yeah I'm also not sure what that poster is on about. Watching TV and reading aren't in the same category. Reading is much less passive than TV.