As a therapist, I’ve found that many parents reach out for advice on how to keep their teens engaged during the summer months that they are off from school.  Work for parents doesn’t always stop when the kids are out of school, which can be a stressful time for parents to find adequate supervision. Parents are often scrambling to find summer camps, vacations, time with family members, and more. Keeping your teen busy or engaged can sometimes mean keeping them out of trouble. However, finding the activities to fill their days can be challenging at times. The following are some tips to filling your teen’s time during the summer time:

1.      Keep them on a somewhat regular sleep schedule. Just because it is summer doesn’t mean their sleep routine needs to go out the window.  They can stay up later than they would during the school year, but not anything outrageous. Have them also wake up at a somewhat normal time.  Again, doesn’t have to be their typical time they wake up for school.  For example, if your teen is going to bed at 9:00 pm and waking up at 6:30 am during the school year, you might want to push back their bedtime in the summer to 10:00 pm and wake up time between 8:00 and 9:00 am.  If teens are staying up extremely late and waking up in the afternoon hours, like many would like to, the transition back into the school year will be extremely tough for them.  It’s important to monitor their sleep schedule so things don’t get too out of control. I understand they might want to stay up and play video games with their friends, but putting healthy boundaries on this schedule will be helpful in the long run.

2.      Finding activities to fill their day. This can be the challenging part.  It can be helpful to find summer camps for them to participate in, but where do these camps exist?  You have to do your research.  Many times, the public school system will have extracurricular camps offered at a discounted rate available to students with focus areas in Art or STEM. If your child is behind in a particular core academic subject, they might benefit from enrolling in summer school.  Summer school in our local county was for 3 weeks this past summer, with most of the extracurricular camps at one week.  I’ve heard of superhero camp, craft camp, sewing camp at a local sewing store, horse camp at a local stable, gymnastics camp, and more. Swim team is also a great activity to get involved in during the summer months because it’s usually cost effective and great physical activity for teens.

3.      Activities outside of the house. Let’s face it, many teens could probably sit in the house for hours on end watching Netflix, playing video games, sleeping in, facetiming friends, and so much more.  Teens spend excessive time on social media and technology as it is, even with a full day of being at school.  Just as adults need to get out of the house, so do teens.  Some ideas include: playing outside in the neighborhood with a friend, going on a walk, running errands together, going out to a trampoline park, going to the pool, walking around the mall, hiking, have a picnic, etc.

4.      Prioritize mental health.  You know your child more than most. If your child has a tendency to isolate themselves and withdraw during the summer months, it might be helpful for you to seek professional help. Getting them set up with a therapist can be a helpful tool for them to prevent isolation and depression-like symptoms from occurring.

Are you interested in Therapy for Teens?

I hope you found some helpful tips for keeping your teens busy and engaged this summer. If you would like to learn more about prioritizing your teen’s mental health, let’s set up a consultation to chat more about therapy for teens.