Summer means a lot of free time, even if your tween has plenty of plans like summer camp, a part-time job, or helping around the home. It is great if your tween has a few activities planned where they have to be responsible and accountable. But it is also important your tween has a space of time where they get to take a breather, and do not have to worry about homework, grades and achievement for a few weeks. Here are a few things you may see your tween doing this summer, and why you shouldn’t worry about it.
1) Sleep late – Your tween may really start to prioritize sleeping late this summer. You may get annoyed because there are things to be done. Don’t sweat it. Let the kids sleep. Remember those early days when you just wished your kid would sleep later than 6 a.m. – those days are here. Enjoy the quiet time.
2) In front of as many different screens as possible – Chances are you may find your teen watching TV while surfing the internet on the computer and texting friends on their smartphone. And if you try the old ‘GO OUTSIDE’ you may just find them hovering under a towel watching their iPad (been there, done that). Try to find a manageable screen time rule for the summer and look at your own behavior as well. How much time do you spend in front of screens. Are you willing to put one down? Maybe now it is time to make family wide rules about screen times or face some tough battles.
3) Eating junk – You may have spent the last ten years feeding your child only organic, home-cooked food, but the tween years mean that their interest in junk food may start to grow and that they don’t really care why you made the organic choices you made in their youth. Continue to feed them the food you prefer during family meals, but realize that a few Doritos or extra sodas are not going to undo all that you have done. Give them a few years and they may also pick up your organic values.
4) Staying up late – Without having a time to be up in the morning, your tween may want to stay up later. If you don’t feel comfortable letting them stay up later than you, come up with a plan to let them stay up late a few nights a week. But otherwise, give them this time to realize how much sleep they need and getting to know what happens when you stay up too late.