My 20 year old son will turn 21 in August. He just completed his junior year at FSU in the dorms after TF’ing from the local community college and he had no transition problems. He plans to work to “restore his bank account” and work out. He doesn’t have much college planning to do because he will either stay at FSU for grad school or got to the U. of Miami for grad school. He has a passport but hasn’t used it yet so he might go somewhere nice like … I don’t know I’d suggest the Virgin Islands but it is up to him. I’m just hoping his car makes it through the summer in one piece.
My only other child is 17.
He will be a senior in high school next year. He plans to relax all summer. I have different plans in mind. The fireworks should begin about two weeks after the summer starts. I’d suggest you pull up a chair and get popcorn because it should be good. His mom, my wife, will completely back him up so it will be me versus the two of them. I intend to win but I’m willing to compromise as needed. He is learning to drive. His car is ready, it is in the garage. I made both my kids wait a little longer than normal to drive. It is amazing how “wrong” I am/was about that. The arguments were interesting but now my older son admits I was right. Of course I was.
Oldest one will continue to be a working stiff, 1 year out of college. Middle one has a paid internship. Youngest one will be getting ready for college, attending his orientation, going on a summer trip abroad for incoming freshman at his U, and working at the same job he’s had for the past 4 summers.
On the car front, I just picked up my daughter from college, yesterday. She didn’t need a car as a Freshman, but we plan on picking one up for her this summer. However, she’ll find (hopefully) a job over the summer to help pay (something) for it.
My son is 15 (a “young” 10th grader), and will be doing driver’s ed over the summer. He’s also scheduled to do some volunteer work (twice a week), and run/train daily with his cross country team (which includes a week long summer camp in Georgia, where he’ll be able to run up and down a mountain…what fun…). The earliest we plan on getting him a car is his senior year (when he turns 17).
S will be a rising college sophomore and is going to europe for language immersion. If all goes as planned, he will be able to test into advanced level.
My 24 year old daughter has just wrapped up her coursework in her PhD program at Notre Dame and will spend the summer studying for her comprehensive exams and working on her dissertation proposal. She plans to spend May in Philadelphia where many of the archives she is consulting are located. The younger daughter will substitute teach until she leaves in late June for an unpaid internship as a lab assistant at an archaeological site in Italy. She says she will begin studying for the GRE this summer also! We’ll see.
Wow, interesting replies so far thank each of you so much for sharing. On the car battles, two of the kids my oldest son’s age totaled first cars which has helped me immensely in terms of evidence that just because the law says you can’t drive doesn’t mean that your wise old dad says you can drive. I am, literally, saving lives. I do what I can.
If you want them to work over the summer, then say that you expect them to work/volunteer over the summer.
My graduating HS senior is going to work at the local amusement park…
My graduating with a Masters degree DD…not sure. She is applying for teaching positions for the fall but hopefully she can find a summer job.
Good luck with getting your HSer a job if he waits until school ends. My son had a hard time finding a job last year, and ended up doing some minimal work (scanning) in my office. He is a graduating senior and will hopefully get a good number of hours at his food service job, attend orientation and go on vacation with us along with, I am sure, trips to the beach and hanging out with his friends.
Younger son who graduated last May is doing a second internship. This one has modest pay - interesting IR work. He’d rather have a real job, but this will keep him busy for six months. Older son (26) has been working since he graduated.
My D, who is finishing first year of grad school, will be doing one of the most prestigious internships in her field. An absolute dream come true.
My S, whom many posters may recall as the PreciousBabyKing, is a rising high school senior (!) and he will be mopping floors and busing tables at a local ice cream shop until he works his way up to serving customers. I am hoping this will be the best thing that could have happened to him.
My oldest just turned 18 in March. He didn’t get his license until the week before he left for college. I have always told my kids that they had to wait till they were 17. Oldest doesn’t have a car on campus and won’t have one next year.
Oldest will be finishing up his Freshman year shortly. He’ll be coming home for 3 weeks and then returning to campus to do his summer internship. He’ll live in summer housing and receive a stipend. The internship will include some travel and should be a wonderful experience for him. The end of the internship will lead into the school’s pre-orientation service program, where he is the AD of the community “kid’s camp”. The end of that puts him into the start of school.
He’s 10 hours away from home on campus. We haven’t seen him since Winter break and the three week he’s home will likely be all we’ll see him till next Winter. He stays on campus during short breaks and uses to the time to make extra $$ as a tour guide. He is thriving at school and while we miss him like crazy, we are so happy for him.
She will be working, we are taking a road trip to Montreal, and she will be attending a week of intensive vocal instruction at her voice teacher’s summer music program.
Well, kid #1 has been working for 3 years since graduation but this summer she is moving to a corner office near one of the beach community. I was jokingly asking her if she has view of the ocean but she told me she can’t have window reflections because of her work. But darn, I lost my bragging right.
Kid #2 will be working in Silicon Valley and we will take a summer vacation in the Bay Area as we will be helping her to move in. Honestly, I was not sure what to do if she didn’t get this internship. My husband and I were dreading the possibility that she would stay up late in the wee hour and get up at noon. A big relief, less stress for us.
Interesting discussion. Both of my children, a graduating high school senior and a rising high school junior are driving. We have not purchased either of them a car so this summer will be interesting. We have a third car available for their use which I am sure will be fought over all summer. But I am not giving in - no car until they can at least afford their own gas and insurance.
My older D who starts college in the Fall wanted to take an unpaid internship this summer with a very well known company in the tech industry. I have never been a big fan of unpaid internships and basically told her she needed to find paid employment so she would have spending $ for her first year in college. Low and behold she did find a summer job in the tech field that pays pretty well and is within 30 minutes of our home. This is really her first summer job as athletic commitments during her high school summers have prevented her from working. It’s time.
My younger son has to do prep for the SAT/ACT this summer and wants to learn to code. I am encouraging him to find a part time summer job but so far that suggestion has not produced any results. We’ll see.
My graduating senior will summer swim (and coach) and lifeguard as much as she can :D. That will take her almost up to college orientation. We have asked that she cover “personal expenses” and most of her book costs, if possible. Not that we aren’t planning on the books regardless, but we’d like her to think about it before she spends any of her earnings willy nilly.
Like many of your families, she wasn’t in a hurry to get her license, but did just prior to her senior year. It has taken a load off of me as she drives herself and her brother to the HS and most activities (sports, clubs). We didn’t by her a car; we had a third vehicle that she can use at will. She pays for gas.
First, though, she has to get through the IB exams. Most of her friends are already or nearing total senior blow off mode but not those IB kids. It’s about to get real, LOL
Wow, OP, sounds like you really rule the roost in your home! It comes off as more of a battlefield than a happy family, but that’s the problem with words on an anonymous forum.
In any case, we sent our kids to driver’s ed, but Seattle has such good public transportation that neither of the older kids got their licenses until after they were 18, no longer living at home and owned their own cars. We didn’t force this on them, they just had no need. My youngest turns 16 in October and will be a rising junior in HS this summer. She’ll take driver’s ed but we don’t buy cars for our kids so that problem is solved. We will encourage her to get her license, though, because I want to be able to send her to the store or driver her aunt someplace (aunt doesn’t drive), or to get herself to church or choir. Let’s just say I have far fewer reservations about this than I would have with the other two.
As for what she’s doing, she’ll be on her third summer volunteering as an assistant at a summer camp for low-income kids for the 6 weeks it runs, attending an intensive academic camp at one of our directional U’s, and putting together a workshop about education for minority students. This is her passion (she wants to teach) and she’s already got guest speakers lined up. Add in the driver’s ed and I think she has the summer pretty well covered. She likes to keep busy.
That’s the truth Cathatmc…D just got her IB exam schedule, PHEW! WOOZERS!! “about to get real” is an understatement lol. They start Monday and finish up May 22nd, three solid weeks. Maybe its the same for every IB student?
D will go back to her breakfast waitressing job where she has worked now for five years, starting in the kitchen that first summer buttering toast for min wage. Because school gets out so much earlier as a senior she will travel a bit before she starts working ~ 9 days to London with her girl scout troop and one week she and 7 friends have rented a lake cabin in Vermont. She will also do a four day long weekend with another friend, most likely to Newport, RI but they are having issues with being able to rent a hotel room due to being only 18 so we’ll see. Works starts July 2nd.
Both my kids work(ed) full time summers since 13 years old and my son also worked part-time during the school year because his schoolwork didn’t interest him enough to provide him after-school entertainment lol. After months of hearing how he didn’t have any homework his sophomore year, I gave him a choice ~ homework at least 90 minutes a day (or 10 hours/week) or get a job, he got a job. He’s now a successful E5 Staff Sargeant in the USAF working cybersecurity.
Both had cars at age 16 which they had to pay half for and then maintain themselves. D makes about $4000 summer, plenty for insurance, gas, spending $$, and all the clothes she just has to have! Beginning this summer, she is obligated to hand me $3000 on September 1st to help out with college expenses so she’ll get a second job for those short 10 weeks before leaving for college.
It’s fun to read what others have going this summer! My HS freshman son will be teaching sailing classes and sailing on the race team. He also hopes to fit in early morning practices with his HS rowing team as well as practicing 2-3 times per week with the drumline. He needs to practice driving as well, although he can walk/bike everywhere so it’s not a priority for him. Honestly, he’s much busier in the summer than I’d prefer, but he usually fills his downtime with video games. He really enjoys his activities, so the busy schedule works for him.
My 13 year old daughter will be swimming with her club team, taking a photography class, and doing a bit of volunteer work with our rec. department. In August, she’ll begin practicing with her HS swim team. She needs a lot more downtime for reading and hanging out with friends, so we try to make sure she gets that in the summer.
Both kids will be self-studying for the required HS health class, hoping to test out in August. Oh, and DS will need to study for the PSAT!
