Summer is over

So today is the last day of school for our oldest boy to be a Junior in HS. He is a good kid. No, he's a great kid. I never have had a real problem with him. He's a kid so I get on him once in a while but not too much, really. He's setting a good example for the underlings. However I came to the realization that today is the 1st and last day of his summer... Stacy always says that kids need "down time". Especially ours since we keep them so so busy. Vance is like me a bit that "down time" isn't so fun. So he's scheduled his whole summer. He's off to eager today to play with his friend Shawn, then off to work in Eloy for a week (5 days of 6:00 AM - 10:00 PM), once he gets home it's YM encampment, more work in Eloy, Trip to Utah for CC Camp then school starts! However it's what he wanted. I admire it I guess. I remember day after day as a teenager of "Mom, What is there to do"...

I heard that if you keep kids busy it keeps them out of trouble. However I think that a side effect is they can't relax. All of the kids are so busy all the time that when they have a day to do nothing they can't do nothing. I'm the same way. I hated being alone as a kid, which I was a lot. So I don't want my kids to have to feel that. So I make sure we do stuff. I mean camping, trips, vacations, activities etc. There would be weeks upon weeks that I'd go without ever getting out of the routine when I was kid. I don't really remember any cool vacations except trips to see family, which is fine, but I've tried to force memories upon my kids in a positive manner. So now what I've done is just that. We have some GREAT memories even just a weekend camping trip they can talk about and laugh about (and they do). It's something positive. BUT now if we do have a weekend with nothing or a week during summer vacation with nothing planned they whine about it. "Dad, What can we do". so I guess with all my efforts I still have same result. Kids need to learn to entertain themselves. I did. My parents both worked and we lived where mostly it wasn't convenient to hang out with friends. So I'd have time to do nothing. I learned to entertain myself. My kids will have to do the same... but not Vance, at least not this summer PEACE!