do you do outings every day in the summer?

[descovy]

Ugh, my kids are bleeding me dry!

The girls are 13, 11, 9 and think that every dang day needs to have an outing. Summer is almost over, and I've about had it! I am running out of ideas, and they complain that we "do nothingggg"

This summer we had a 15 day family vacation, they each went to a week of overnight summer camp, they got to participate in a week at "radio school" (daycamp at a local radio station) went to see Wicked, went to a water park. Pretty awesome summer if you ask me.

We have 9 neighborhood pools in our community, a nice library, and even a neighbor who owns a fro-yo shop and gifted us with a gazilion free coupons. I even signed up for free bowling, all I have to pay for is shoe rental. They're bored with all that. They just want to spend my money. Go to a movie! (but have no idea what they want to see) Go roller skating (but not on the cheap Tuesday) If a friend comes over, they want to go out to eat. Everything like the free bowling they think requires a snack and drink.

I'm feeling broke and unappreciated today. Next week comes the "fees" (yearbook, extra curriculars, dance class, drill team) Ugh... Summer needs to come to an end and give my wallet a break. My dh is the main breadwinner, but I have a p/t job where I work 6am-11am daily. I kid you not, I spent my entire salary this summer on keeping them occupied.

And dare someone ask them about their summer... They claim they did "nothinggg"

 

[wishesuponastar]

Sorry your kids are giving you a hard time. I would tell them No. We spend our summers doing almost nothing. We have a pool but don't go every day. We just don't have the extra money in the budget to be taking our girls places every day. Weekends we try to go to the beach with DH which we bought a season pass. So far, our girls have had sleepovers and one volunteered at a camp for a month. We also went on a 3 day camping trip.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Ugh, my kids are bleeding me dry!

The girls are 13, 11, 9 and think that every dang day needs to have an outing. Summer is almost over, and I've about had it! I am running out of ideas, and they complain that we "do nothingggg"

This summer we had a 15 day family vacation, they each went to a week of overnight summer camp, they got to participate in a week at "radio school" (daycamp at a local radio station) went to see Wicked, went to a water park. Pretty awesome summer if you ask me.

We have 9 neighborhood pools in our community, a nice library, and even a neighbor who owns a fro-yo shop and gifted us with a gazilion free coupons. I even signed up for free bowling, all I have to pay for is shoe rental. They're bored with all that. They just want to spend my money. Go to a movie! (but have no idea what they want to see) Go roller skating (but not on the cheap Tuesday) If a friend comes over, they want to go out to eat. Everything like the free bowling they think requires a snack and drink.

I'm feeling broke and unappreciated today. Next week comes the "fees" (yearbook, extra curriculars, dance class, drill team) Ugh... Summer needs to come to an end and give my wallet a break. My dh is the main breadwinner, but I have a p/t job where I work 6am-11am daily. I kid you not, I spent my entire salary this summer on keeping them occupied.

And dare someone ask them about their summer... They claim they did "nothinggg"

I think a lot of parents are right there with you about this time of the summer!

 

[descovy]

Sorry your kids are giving you a hard time. I would tell them No. We spend our summers doing almost nothing. We have a pool but don't go every day. We just don't have the extra money in the budget to be taking our girls places every day. Weekends we try to go to the beach with DH which we bought a season pass.

Yeah... that's my issue, I keep telling them "no."

Then when dad gets home, I get to hear how awful bored they are, and how I never take them anywhere

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My kids were perfectly fine staying home save for our vacation. My parents are taking them to Branson today and the oldest one whined when it went from 2 nights (original plan) to 4. Kind of the opposite problem

 

[java]

I am Scrooge. Money is tight so we choose our outings sparingly. We did some great things this summer, includingfreebies the boys fished a lot. We hiked, and went to the library. Today we hit up a playground. My friends are the super activity kinds and I spen most of the summer saying sorry no can do. ( this week was a trip to a water park, drive in movie and. Hershey trip. And yes it's only Wed!) but we also did go to Knoebels, science center, baseball game, mini golf, beach this summer.plenty of fun.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

We go to the pool almost every day (community pool for residents only - we pay for it via HOA dues so no extra cost). When I say almost I mean as long as it's not actively storming.

One movie per month - firm rule at our house. We live to save our "extra" money for Disney trips so that helps. Other things we see when they come out on Redbox.

Eating out - we try to be good here with once a month but sometimes fail in an epic way. If we get into a habit of eating out (more often than that) we find it hard to break. Usually I have to be the 'firm' one.

Asking to do things like eat out extra times earns DD either running time or extra pool laps (she swims laps every day). I'll tell you she's an in shape 13 year old!

Good luck - I feel your pain but your kids "do" a lot more "extra" things than mine does so I think you rock !

 

[brymolmom]

I think you need to set ground rules before NEXT summer...Something like - One (or two if you're ok with that) outings per week.
OR
Set an outing budget per month and once it's out - it's out - Great budgeting experience.

Not only about money but I think it is CRUCIAL for kids today NOT TO BE ENTERTAINED EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY. The 'instant gratification' of today's generation will bite them in the butt in many instances. So I think it's up to us as parents to make sure that kids know how to 'lay low' and make their own fun sometimes without being hand-held.

My kids actually like hanging at the house sometimes. Mind you - we're very busy so they don't get the down time at home every day (I work 3 days a week so on those days they're all over the place for child care, etc). And then on the days I'm home - sometimes we have errands or other things to do that day.

On the days we're home - I DO let them veg (TV, computer, Wii) some of the time...but then they have to have some outside time and some time reading and usually a chore or two (very small ones though). They do complain some of the time when it's time to turn the electronics off - but they usually find something to occupy themselves....DD will call a friend for playing...DS will read his book or play in his room.

My kids are ds11 and dd9.

I do hear 'I'm bored' on occassion...But not too much.

I would encourage them to call friends...Assuming you don't mind having them over - That likely will push them into making their own fun.

Good luck.

 

[Southernmiss]

Nope. 4 kids who are so busy during the school year they beg to stay home and stay up late and sleep all day or play video games or use the computer. When they were younger and said they were bored I would find them chores to do. That nipped everything in the bud. You don't have to be their event planner.

 

[AquaDame]

Yes, daily - I go to work, that counts as an outing, right?

Ugh, my kids are bleeding me dry!

The girls are 13, 11, 9 and think that every dang day needs to have an outing. Summer is almost over, and I've about had it! I am running out of ideas, and they complain that we "do nothingggg"

This summer we had a 15 day family vacation, they each went to a week of overnight summer camp, they got to participate in a week at "radio school" (daycamp at a local radio station) went to see Wicked, went to a water park. Pretty awesome summer if you ask me.

We have 9 neighborhood pools in our community, a nice library, and even a neighbor who owns a fro-yo shop and gifted us with a gazilion free coupons. I even signed up for free bowling, all I have to pay for is shoe rental. They're bored with all that. They just want to spend my money. Go to a movie! (but have no idea what they want to see) Go roller skating (but not on the cheap Tuesday) If a friend comes over, they want to go out to eat. Everything like the free bowling they think requires a snack and drink.

I'm feeling broke and unappreciated today. Next week comes the "fees" (yearbook, extra curriculars, dance class, drill team) Ugh... Summer needs to come to an end and give my wallet a break. My dh is the main breadwinner, but I have a p/t job where I work 6am-11am daily. I kid you not, I spent my entire salary this summer on keeping them occupied.

And dare someone ask them about their summer... They claim they did "nothinggg"

That's the problem right there - all of that and they say they did nothing? That would drive me bonkers. I would write it out and pin it to their bedroom door to remind them! Sounds like they are lacking in creativity to entertain themselves... a skill that will prove invaluable once it is their dollars! A week or two of truly doing nothing should fix that up a bit.

Just so you know, I would have LOVED to do any of those things when I was a kid! An awesome summer indeed... both my parents worked so we fended for ourselves June-September! No one to drive us anywhere... an outing was taking the bus to a movie (after we earned the money/spent our $5 a week allowance on it back when a movie was $3.25) or to the library.

 

[patsal]

When my children were the ages of your children we did two outings per week. Local amusment parks with annual passes, the zoo with a membership, the movies on a rainy day, mall for some shopping a time or two, back to school shopping at dept store for supplies only and out to lunch, picnic at a local park, drive to a playground, roadtrip to Niagara Falls w(we live an hour away) and some ice cream, a daytrip to Canada and mini golf plus a few musuems and arcade, lunch and ice cream, nothing over the top, but ways to keep them entertained, the beach, etc.
I felt that it was their responsibility to learn how to keep themselves entertained as well. If m children to complained to my hubby about things and he didn't back me up I just answered with "you can feel free to stay home and do this if you really feel you can do a much better job than me!"

 

[MSSANDRA]

This Summer is history, but think about next year. I would not even bring it up right now as that is way to far out to have much meaning to them.

For us, it's about balance. I want us all to have fun, but three months of pure fun is not good for anyone. They need chores and responsibilities too. You can link these to the outings if you wish. Find them a place to volunteer. This is big in our home and even young kids can go to the nursing home and talk to lonely seniors. Require them to read. Set a reading time each day. Make library a weekly required trip. When we were young, my mom would give us a dollar bill to use as a book mark. When the book was done, the dollar could be used to buy a new book. Might need to be a 5.00 bill now. Learn a new skill together. This summer we cut out all convergence foods. We tried so many new recipes and learn to bake pound cakes. We limit TV, but bedtimes go out the window, we allow a bit more wii and spend more time together. We spend a ton of time at the pool, hit up the local parks, and only do one or two regular movies. We do the free or 1.00 kid movies a few times and red box sometimes. We do have the free bowling, but maybe go 4 or 5 times a Summer. We love Summer. If money is the biggest issue, maybe let them use your budget to plan what they want to do most. I would have the conversation about a month before school is out and set your guild-lines and be firm in them!

 

[disykat]

I think you need to set ground rules before NEXT summer...Something like - One (or two if you're ok with that) outings per week.
OR
Set an outing budget per month and once it's out - it's out - Great budgeting experience.

Not only about money but I think it is CRUCIAL for kids today NOT TO BE ENTERTAINED EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY. The 'instant gratification' of today's generation will bite them in the butt in many instances. So I think it's up to us as parents to make sure that kids know how to 'lay low' and make their own fun sometimes without being hand-held.

My kids actually like hanging at the house sometimes. Mind you - we're very busy so they don't get the down time at home every day (I work 3 days a week so on those days they're all over the place for child care, etc). And then on the days I'm home - sometimes we have errands or other things to do that day.

On the days we're home - I DO let them veg (TV, computer, Wii) some of the time...but then they have to have some outside time and some time reading and usually a chore or two (very small ones though). They do complain some of the time when it's time to turn the electronics off - but they usually find something to occupy themselves....DD will call a friend for playing...DS will read his book or play in his room.

My kids are ds11 and dd9.

I do hear 'I'm bored' on occassion...But not too much.

I would encourage them to call friends...Assuming you don't mind having them over - That likely will push them into making their own fun.

Good luck.

Great post!

I would let the kids know that it's your job as a parent to teach them to entertain themselves and how to budget and that this past summer showed that they haven't mastered either. Then start setting some guidelines and give them some responsibility to figure it out.

Since I've either been a SAHM or a teacher all their lives, we've always had lots of down time in the summer. My kids know that saying they are bored just means getting to pick a chore from the list. We never really had a problem with the whole money issue geared around entertainment because they don't miss what they never had and we've always had a free or cheap mindset in that regard.

My guess is that your 13 year old is probably leading the pack on this one. That's sort of a notorious age for feeling the world owes them entertainment!

 

[stayhomemom77]

When I was a kid, if we told my mom we were bored...she gave us chores to do.

We quickly learned to find something to do to occupy ourselves or she'd find us something very unpleasant to assign us.

I'm all ready to do this with my own kids (10 and 8) but they never tell me they are bored, so I'm lucky for now, I guess.

 

[worm761]

I found a great site that gives me a list of local places. I didn't know that some of them even existed. http://www.familydaysout.com/

What you need to do is have the kids write out a bucket list of things they want to do. My best advice is to have them involved in the planning process and also the budgeting part. Let them see how much this stuff costs and set a budget for outings. Refuse to go over the budget. I bet they get real creative!

You say they want to go to the movies. Why not rent a movie at Redbox and have make your own pizza/taco/whatever bar.

Find cheap/free things to do. We often pack lunches/snacks with us. DH was furloughed this year and I am a stay at home parent. We bought a zoo membership before the furloughs started and we pack a lunch when we do go. That makes the cost of the trip gas money and a lunch we would have eaten at home anyway. We found nature trails to hike. We found historical sites to visit. Both very low cost. Like $3 for parking and a packed lunch. I found new parks to visit too. DD loves playing at the park.

 

[crisi]

Right now, I have a hard time getting mine out of the house. I have a fourteen year old boy who thinks he should sleep until noon, eat a frozen pizza, take a shower and then start his day. And a thirteen year old girl that has her nose in a book and if you suggest going somewhere wants to do it "when she finishes her book."

They really wanted to go to the local amusement park this summer, but it isn't going to happen because they haven't chosen to make it happen. Tough cookies for them.

 

[texasroni75]

I'm a SAHM and we are a one-vehicle family. My oldest is 18 so she finds her own things to do during the summer with her own friends. We have a pool in our neighborhood but it's 1.5 miles from our house - too hot and far for us to walk to regularly (especially since it hits 100 degrees most days in the summer here!). So, I am home with the 3 other kids and without a vehicle most days of the week. They, too, will complain they have NOTHING to do all day, despite my attempts to find something at least 3-4 days a week to get them out of the house. A walk to the local park in the mornings. I've had numerous friends of theirs over, entertaining and feeding and cleaning up after them. Several movie nights at the dollar movie theater. A few "day trips" with the whole family for a special meal/outing. They've gone to their friends' houses too. Several birthday parties, minor-league baseball games ($7 for bench seats - DH takes them on Friday evenings). They have access to TV/Computer/Wii/Playstation. We use Redbox to try out new games. They have bikes, scooters, etc.

My mom used to make us walk "around the block" if we complained we were bored. If we still had an attitude when we returned, she sent us back around again - until we returned compliant and quiet and too TIRED to complain anymore - LOL. I don't do that with my kids, but I can see now why she did it. It can be maddening trying to keep everyone entertained the whole summer. Less than 2 weeks left for me before they go back to school. HOORAY!!!

 

[runsandjumps]

When asked what my son has done thus far he Replies: I played video games. Forget about the camping, swimming, beaches, BBQs, parks, museums, shopping..... I guess I am right there with you.

Ana

 

[3boymthr]

I like the idea of a fun budget.

I totally feel your pain. It's so hard because we are also in the money is tight camp and it makes it very hard to keep the kids busy. We've also done the summer camps and vacations and free bowling and community pool still they kids complain.

I don't know where you are but here are some ideas for things we do/did/plan to do to save money and still make summer fun:

Regal Cinemas offers $1 movies every Tuesday & Wednesday AM. Showcase cinemas does the same on the the movie is free with a book report. Older movies but still fun when on a budget. Other theater companies may offer the same program.

We bought a State Parks pass ($35/yr) which allows access to all state parks and since this is MA - also beaches. The state parks around here also have great hiking trails.

If you own a bike - bike paths make for a great (and FREE) and healthy day out. They are also often good walking paths.

My kids know that all trips that take all day mean a picnic because I just can't afford to buy food out. But just going out for a picnic can also be fun.

Check with your local library and see if they have passes to local museums or activities or Buy a Museum Membership (this may actually be cheaper in the long run). Many museums have a reciprocal agreement. Look at the museums in your area and evaluate. The museum of Science in Boston has enough reciprocal agreements in our area that I was able to go to one museum a week for the whole summer and only visit the same one twice! Again, we do the picnic when we go to the museum.

 

[TwistGrl101]

OP, seriously I have the exact same problem as you, and I am going crazy here. I went to Five Below and bought a whole bunch of workbooks, and now when they are bored they earn themselves 2 pages in a workbook.