I'm over these #12yearoldproblems.
I get that you're bored in the summer. I get that you have nothing to do and spend all your time on facebook, texting, piknik-ing photos, playing on your ipod, riding your bike, reading, watching tv, and NOT doing the chores I asked you to do. Add to that the theme park season passes, swimming at friends' houses and sleepovers, and that makes for one dull summer.
Do you children realize that back in the '80s, I was at home during the summer? Mom worked, so I was stuck with my big sister all. day. long. We didn't have cable, so we had to watch one of, like, 5 channels. Which meant News, Soap Operas, Sesame Street or I Love Lucy/Andy Griffith. We learned to love Ricky Ricardo and Opie Taylor. We read books and comics - the Archie/Betty/Veronica love triangle was downright spicy. If we went outside, we sprayed each other with the hose, cuz who needs a swimming pool? And we begged for a slip n slide and that clown thing that you attach to the hose and the water made his little hat spout up. Never got it, so it was back to shooting each other's eyes out with the green garden hose. We MADE our own popsicles with juice or kool aid. We ate PB&J or hot dogs every single day, without fail, because in my house, we didn't have food. We had ingredients. If you wanted to eat it, you better make it. And wash the dishes after. NOT load the dishwasher, you had to actually wash dishes with a dish cloth and soap. There was no gameboy, PSP, computer, ipod, movie channel to watch, channels that were nothing but kids programming or texting. We could call our friends, but if they were on vacation or away at camp, we just had to miss them. Simple as that. And forget it if they were on the phone because you got a busy signal. For much of my childhood, there was no call waiting or voicemail. We had an "answering machine," which required a tape, and a phone that you had to spin the dial on. We had to wait until September to find out what people did all summer. Those were the days that you could transform yourself over 3 months and come back to school in the fall as a new person - nobody was kept updated on where you had been every minute of every day.
I get that I had it better than my mom, even, but quit your bitchin', kids. It's not that bad.