How are your 18 year olds spending the summer?

[UntamedWisteria]

DS should have started his A levels last week. Starting Uni in September

I have tried to gently encourage him to at least try and find a job (I suspect it's going to be very difficult) and also offered him (well-paid!) work at home.

But he's done very little. Seen some more of his friends since the rules were eased (walks, football in park, etc) which I'm encouraging, and has some cooking & cleaning chores to do. But less since my cleaner returned to work 2 weeks ago.

The rest of the time he gets up at lunchtime, works on his tan, then plays Xbox with his friends until the wee small hours.

He can't go on like this the whole summer - but I'm wary of nagging him too, as I do think this situation is crap and his age group is the worst off in many ways.

It's making me depressed, I don't know what to do.

Socialising online, eating, cooing over cats, watching videos, daily workout with friends, planning for a better future. She had a WFH job but that's gone. I'm going to talk to her about trying to do some temp care work. Wish me luck.

Some school work , although he’s not hugely motivated by what’s on offer , a lot of sleeping and COD and looking for some casual work.

He had been keen to defer but now seems keen to go this year , after all he will have been stuck at home for 6 months by then . He can’t plan a year off there is unlikely to be opportunities for work or travel so it seems the best option. It will be the same for everyone I suppose but it’s hard to see how university as we know it will work especially the social and extra curricular stuff

bumping from a couple of weeks ago!

just interested to know what pre university students are doing now. Are any thinking travel looks more possible now, or having success in the somewhat competitive (!) temporary job market?

DD was furloughed and is hoping that her very cushy weekend/holiday sports job will be back soon. In the meantime her plans to Interrail across Europe have been put on hold indefinitely as none of us feel confident for her and her best friend to tackle 8 countries with probable quarantine restrictions in place & Brits generally unwelcome. She has a huge stack of books to work through from her uni reading list and is counting down the days to Aug 13th.

Looking sadly at his interrailing cities written into our diary with such optimism.

Earning as much as he can coaching cricket.

Some cooking, some running, some cycling.

Chatting up pub staff over their take away counters in the hope of picking up some work when they re-open (and in future vacations).

DD4 is another one having to cancel the three week interrailing trip planned with five friends, supposed to finish in Croatia with multiple groups congregating in the same resort. Such a shame - they were due to leave on July 1st after the end of exams and Prom. She booked her driving theory test for June and that's deferred. Things are beginning to loosen up and she's met up with various groups of friends here and there to have picnics etc on the beach (they swam today - water still freezing). We have a family trip to Provence planned for the whole family at the end of Aug so that will be a good change of scene if it goes ahead. Meanwhile uni has been incredibly (possibly over) enthusiastic in sending reading lists - masses to do there. All seasonal jobs round here have dried up for now but things may pick up very soon by the sounds of it. I think the young people round here are very conscious that they've at least been in an idyllic place in idyllic weather for lockdown - could have been far, far worse.

I wish I could take down the wall planner in DD's bedroom. It has all of her exams listed, then the places we were going to on a cruise, after that it was Interrailing with dates for meeting friends in Krakow & Prague. Perhaps I should get her to apply for her prov licence though.

DS1 has been applying for jobs (no luck) but has picked up some tutoring work - mainly year 10s. He's playing some tennis and doing (not) secret press ups. His driving theory has been postponed again - now in August. He's doing a bit of cooking.

He's got a reading list and course notes for his Chemistry course. He's just started teaching himself FM AS as he's worked out it will be useful prep. He's Ok but a bit bored. He's looking forward to opening as he turned 18 just before lockdown.

Mine gets up late too but does quite a bit of gardening (v big garden which takes lots of time), he looks after our toddler a lot and does some art (going to art school next year). The rest of the time is spent chatting online to friends or watching you tube. In fairness theres not that much they can do this year.

Commiserations to all the cancelled interrailers - perhaps that's something that can be revived next year?

Interesting about the tutoring - round here the agencies are only taking on graduates (or at least part of the way through degree) - maybe yours got his through existing contacts rather than agency Sandybailey? Or of course they can advertise themselves...

Interesting that your local job market looks as though it might pick up Goodbye - I've assumed that when the pubs and restaurants reopen the furloughed staff will be back, but maybe some have now moved on so perhaps there'll be some new vacancies.

Provisional licence a must for id at uni if she intends to drink or go to clubs Hoghgyni - replacement is far cheaper and loss far less problematic than with a passport.

Yes, hoping to interrail next summer instead - it would be sad to let all the planning and poring over airbnbs go to waste!

Our area has mostly seasonal workers Thenicknamesarerunningout (we live in a tourist village on the coast), so a bit different to restaurants in towns with furloughed workers - nothing had opened from the winter before lockdown.

@Thenicknamesarerunningout - DS1 has picked up tutoring via local Facebook groups and Nextdoor. He's also going to do some flyers as well amongst our neighbours.

With tutoring it is often word-of-mouth from Mum to Mum. He's also picked up a couple of siblings from existing clients. SW London has a tutoring culture anyway (let's not debate that - it just does) and I think parents are now looking for more support. All good for DS1!

DD is still furloughed from her fast food job but hoping to get 6-8 weeks of shifts before she leaves for uni. She'd been looking forward to a consultancy internship and glad it's still going ahead albeit online. She's also got 2 other online internships lined-up. She tutored within school last this year but hated it so much (so I guess teaching is out as a career).

So interrailing will continue after end of transition period then?

Yup - looks like Mr Interrail (Dutch, I think?) is still happy to take our money. And just think - they’ll probably have their lovely blue (made in Poland) passports!

Mine is attending lots of performing arts classes and talks on zoom. She was supposed to be teaching at a summer school but that’s cancelled.

Similar story to many others. D1 had it all planned out - lots of hard work revising for exams, then A levels (already on the planner) then a long blissful summer full of leaving parties, her 18th, school prom, 3 weeks interrailing, driving lessons and test, results day... The only thing left is results day!

She was distraught at finishing school so abruptly and it took quite a while to adjust with no school work to do. She did a lot of knitting and watched films with her mates on Netflix party and was feeling quite disconnected from the idea of university. She's now on a few offer holder WhatsApp groups, and they're doing a bookclub, have shared reading lists and have regular chats. She's getting a lot of reading in and listening to podcasts. The university have been emailing and have sent some course information so it feels a bit more real.

She didn't want to get a job (I'm shielding) and some of her friends have struggled to find work anyway. She's meeting up with people in gardens and parks now that's possible. Anxious about grades as it's all out of her hands - but they're all in the same boat. Never considered deferring, although a couple of her friends are.