Dear Prudence,
When I’ve given my kids the option to stay home rather than attend camps, they spend most, if not all, their time on their computers playing games or watching YouTube and TikTok. To my older son’s credit, he will take some time to cook and my younger son does try to sneak in books past bedtime. My younger son also says he’d do more biking but he can’t while I work because I can’t go with him. They have suggested that I should allow them to do absolutely nothing for the summer and just veg out because I work from home.
They also pointed out that they are straight-A students who have a busy extracurricular schedule during the year. My older one added that it would be his last free summer before high school. Study after study shows that kids often fall behind during the summer academically because they aren’t engaged mentally. As a result, I encourage them to find camps that interest them. Most of the time though, they don’t make an effort to search so I end up researching all the options and highlighting the ones available. I let them choose. Still, they want a summer where they can do absolutely nothing. I already know it’ll involve me prodding them to do something other than play on their iPad (because they manage to find ways to get around screentime limits). Should I let them enjoy, “Summertime, when the living is easy…” or be saved by a camp bell?
—Camp Mom