How To Keep Your Kiddo’s Entertained This Summer

Here we stand at the beginning of another summer break season and kids everywhere are already complaining that they have nothing to do. Weak! Kids today are too soft. Back in my day, we didn't have all this technology to distract us from life but I remember waking up as a kid with "nothing" to do also. The difference between then and now is that back then the kids worked on finding stuff to do.

The summer the neighborhood cronies and I all turned 13, out of boredom we decided we would scour the neighborhood for wood and build a multi-level practical condo-complex tree house in Thomas' backyard. Every scrap was picked up and we managed to build a poorly tossed-together treehouse with whatever screws and nails we could scavenge.

It was unsafe, unsanctioned by the parents, and could have gotten one of us seriously injured, and it was awesome. Whether is the hovering parents or a lackluster addiction to Playstation, kids today don't seem to have a thing like this in them.

Example: I distinctly remember a conversation with my fourteen-year-old nephew this time last year. He was sitting on the beach in Clearwater, Florida and texting me about how bored he was and how he wanted to come home.

At first, I thought "Well, he just doesn't know how to relax..." and then I had a more legit thought... in his pampered and spoiled life, he's never had a reason to learn how to relax.

Even while sitting at one of the most beautiful American beaches, how is it possible to be bored while holding a smartphone? Honestly, you can play games with your friends, access every piece of information in the world, watch movies and shows on-demand and he's still bored and sulking. Then it hit me...

Now is the perfect time of year to start a mass migration to get kids back to outside for some real fun and games.

A week later I showed up at his house with a motorcycle. He's been absolutely hooked ever since, which I'm super proud of since most youths will pick up a hobby for a week or two before losing interest in it.

He literally eats & sleeps motorcycles still, a year later. He's also hit his growth spurt and discovered girls and cars as he gets close to legal driving age, but motorcycles are still the thing. Maybe that's the thing that will get your kids outside too.

"But that costs money!"

Yeah, welcome to every day where everything literally costs money. That being said, with a small investment to get you started, the upkeep of outdoor fun is relatively low if you stay on top of regular, easy maintenance.

Things like motorcycles, four-wheelers, skateboards, and activities like fishing are so popular in the poorest rural communities across the state because they're mostly one-and-done when it comes to cost. You pay upfront to get started, but then it's just a gallon of gas here or a box of worms there for years to come.

Sure, there's a lot of free outdoor stuff to do too with the mountains and various city parks... but let's be honest with each other... it takes a pretty hardcore will to hike the same trails more than a few weekends each year. Those who love it enjoy it, but most kids and people think once or twice is enough... been there, seen it, got the t-shirt.

That's not a dig to anyone who enjoys such things, it's just that not everyone shares that kind of passion.

Kids used to complain about being outside all the time, constantly begging to come in and play video games... after the pandemic years of "stay inside" & "stay away" they're now complaining and craving to get outside, you just have to put your own parent/aunt/uncle/grandparent effort into it too.

We can do this. We can release kids back into the wild. Time to take advantage and not waste this golden opportunity.