Parenting Middle School teens gets harder in August, just before they go back to school. Summer vacation has melted the kids into blobs and towards September they will splat against the hard wall of School discipline. Here's how you can make the transition back to school easier for your kids.
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Vacations are healthy
Everyone deserves a vacation, right? But when a Middle School teen gets 2 and a half months of summer vacation; to do just what they want and defer everything that isn't fun-what I find is this:
They wake up towards noon and stay up past midnight
They resist doing almost anything except sleep, eat, and indulge themselves in pleasures
They leave a mess all over
They are less cooperative, less considerate, less giving and less cheerful than during the normal school year
Isn't that the opposite of what you'd expect when a kid gets to do pretty much whatever she/he likes?
What's going wrong?
Giving my kids so much freedom during summer vacation was a mistake! My experience clearly indicated that I was not helping my kids by letting them hang loose for a whole summer.
What were my Middle School teens expecting vacation to be?
no schedule!
no responsibilities!
do whatever you feel like and someone else pays and cleans up after you!
I thought: "This formula isn't good for me or them. I'm unhappy seeing them unproductive, uncooperative, and selfish. And they're not enjoying their freedom. In fact, with every passing day, they're more sleepy, bored, and aggressive." I confess I was a surprise.