My back was hurting so I am taking a break.
DD9 has finished her charter school assignments FOR THE LAST TIME.
DS12 came home for lunch. He ate and then immediately fell asleep. He woke up and asked us for a ride to return to the job site. DS12 will be assisting his boss to pour a concrete pad this afternoon. DS12 has no idea how physically hard pouring concrete is.....but he will know by the time he gets home in a few hours. It is another life skill that he will be learning today.
I'm not totally okay with DS12 working this hard and facing these struggles at his age. However, this is something that is self-driven and self-directed by him. DS12 went to his boss by himself and asked for this work. IMHO we would have a better chance of stopping DS12 from riding his bike, stop talking on his phone or stop playing video games than to get him to stop working.
I wonder if I am overthinking this or in denial? There are several of DS12 friends that played 6 ball games last Saturday and again that many games on Sunday. They are in travel teams that spend 10-12 hours playing sports both days of their weekend "day off". During the week they go to school and then practice sports afterward so they are occupied 10-12 hours during the weekday. So that leaves me wondering ....should kids be forced to relax more? Is it okay to let them work or play sports so much at this age? hum.... I just don't know. I suspect there is no right answer for every kid and circumstance.