How can I make my daughter's summer holiday be interesting?

China
July 20, 2011 9:06am CST
My daughter, 11 years old, is in her summer holiday now. Since my wife and I have to go to work every day, we have to leave her at home alone. She will be in Grade 6 at primary school after the holiday,and one later she will become a middle-school student. I hope her summer holiday will be interesting and relaxing. My friends,can you give me some advice?
1 person likes this
8 responses
@youless (112123)
• Guangzhou, China
20 Jul 11
I feel the same like you. My husband and I also have to go to work in the daytime. And therefore, my parents take care of our child. He is 7 years old. Sometimes I wish I could be a housewife, so that I would have more time to be with my child and I am sure we will have a good time together. I hope my dad can bring him to swim now and then. At least it is good for his health. Everyday I give him very little bit "homework". Such as a few calculation questions and writing several words. I just hope that his handwriting will be improved during the summer vacation. Besides, I will ask him to play the piano for a while as the practice. And he needs to read the book within half an hour. And besides these, it's all his free time. I don't want him to have a pressure, and he needs to enjoy the summer vacation. Next week I will have my annual days off work and we will go to a travel for a week. My child is quite excited to it. I love China
@youless (112123)
• Guangzhou, China
21 Jul 11
You must be so proud of your daughter. She is great to be No.1 And she has a good habit of reading, keep on it and she will be a good student. I am quite sure about it
• China
21 Jul 11
Thank you. Almost each family has only one child,so the children are the whole of us. Actually I hope my daughter will be happy and enjoy her doing. We,parents,should not give them too pressure. What I do is to encourage her to solve the problem herself,sometimes I help her with her homework.
• China
21 Jul 11
I think you are lucky, to be exact,we are so lucky. Though both my mother and my wife's parents can not take care of my child because they are all in rural village. My daughter does not feel lonely,she can call her classmates, read the books she likes. I have plans to take her out for some trips also, in the past two weeks,I travelled Chengde and Baiyang Lake, of course during the weekends. My daughter likes reading very much,I bought 15 books for her, within two days,she completed all the books! I have booked another 10 books on the Amazon,most of them are selected by herself. I am so proud of my daughter because she is always excellent in her school. You know in our China,many mothers and fatehrs are eager to hope their children can enter a good school,even when they are still babies. My daugher is always the No.1 in her class from Grade 4. She likes dance too, she has 7-year experience of dancing. Every Sunday,I will take her to children's palace to practise dancing. It is good for you to make such a arrangement for your son. I can feel he is a very smart,handsome boy. We are so lucky!
1 person likes this
@Soleil05 (136)
• United States
20 Jul 11
How many hours will she spend alone each day? Are there friends in the area that she could be spending time with? Perhaps you can give her some tasks to do each day to make her day a bit more interesting? Assignments for her to fulfill.. research something? Practise a musical instrument? Are there summer camps through organizations that she could attend? I'd think it is quite boring for an 11 year old to be spending all day alone at home... I have a daughter that is the same age and I could not imagine her spending all day alone :) Hmmm.
• China
20 Jul 11
She has to be alone at home for about 9 hours, but do not worry,my friend. From when she was nine,she did like this. These two weeks,she is busy doing her holiday homework. She will finish all the homework within this week. She usually calls her schoolmates,watches TV,does some reading,or look up something via internet(this must be permitted in advance). I think this may be good for her independence. My wife and I call back home often. She also calls us at any time when she meet some problem.
@Soleil05 (136)
• United States
21 Jul 11
Is that the length of her summer vacation, two weeks? That's not long at all :)
• China
21 Jul 11
No. not two weeks,it is two months. During the past two week,she almost finished her homewrok.
• China
21 Jul 11
Maybe you can let Your doughter get along with her friends who live in the same area or the near area.They can play whith eath other and do other interesting things.I think they will be very happy!
• China
21 Jul 11
Good idea! We have asked some of her good friends to come to our home next week. Some of them may be stay with her two or three days. I think they will be very excited.
@thatgirl13 (7294)
• South Korea
21 Jul 11
My parents sent me to winter camp every winter holidays when I was little. I enjoyed a lot there. Some of my school friends were there too so it was a plus point. We had lots of fun and learned some things too!! So how about sending your daughter to some summer camp?? She might like it there better than being home alone.
• South Korea
21 Jul 11
If she likes being home alone then i don't think there's any need to worry I used to go crazy staying home when i was a kid
• China
21 Jul 11
I have talked with my daughter and we tended to ask her good friends to stay with her. In that case,they can play,study and read together. Thanks for your care for my daughter. I think her summer vacation will be more interesting than ever.
• China
21 Jul 11
Last summer vacation,I sent my daughter to the summer camp which indeed she liked very much. However,the camp only last one week. So I do not send her to it this summer. Although my daughter stays at home alone,but she does not feel lonely at all. Please don't worry. She can do many things by herself.
@diala84 (138)
• United States
20 Jul 11
Maybe there are friends she would like to stay with during the summer for a couple days at a time. She would get some interaction and be able to do things with her friends even if she had to stay in the house it would be more interesting than being alone for so many hours. You could also drop her at a friends house before you leave for work or have a friend come over for the day to your house. Another idea is that there are often summer courses through the park and rec of your city that teach many things from arts and crafts to gardening, etc.. Maybe she would like taking a class and meet other people her age at one of these classes. Also if you have some vacation time to use you and your wife could schedule a time to take off and take a little vacation together during the summer. Or if that is out of the question maybe she could visit relatives for awhile. There are lots of possibilities but I would suggest talking with your daughter to see if she is interested in any of the ideas. For all you know she really enjoys just staying home by herself for the summer.
• China
21 Jul 11
Hi,Diala. Thank you so much for your such good ideas. I have just talked with my daugher. She is willing to stay with her classmates. I think it may bring some inconvenience to my friends if I drop Lily(my daughter's English name)at their house or her classmate's. We would like to invite her classmates to our home. They can play,study,chat together. Her many classmates like playing and studying with her because she has good relationship with them. She is very excellent in her school. I am so proud of her. Thank you for your good suggestions again!
• United States
20 Jul 11
When I was 11 all i wanted to was be outside. I'd go swimming at the lake or to the park. My parents never really had to do anything. My best friend also lived two houses down from me. I would ride my bike all day and just play play play. I also had a trampoline, those are fun too!
• China
21 Jul 11
You had a wonderful childhood. In our city,I dare not let my daughter go out by herself because it is not safe enough outside. In different conditions,there are different ways. If my daugter is in countryside,her grandma's,there is no problem for her to play and play. Because she has to go to her dance class every Sunday,I can only leave her at her grandma's after middle Aug.
@lady1993 (27225)
• Philippines
24 Jul 11
Since both of you are rarely at home, you should spend quality time with her or at least bond with her when you're at home. You can go malling on weekends.. Do you have neighbors that are kids? She could play with them too.
29 Jul 11
I believe that kids have their needs and doing these constant activities might let her feel tired of it.At her age,she's on the stage where she needs her parents to be with her, well if you can get a week leave just to be with your child so you can spend the summer holiday together then do it, let her feel that she is more important than anything else. I guess that is more interesting and relaxing.