Money, Money, Money

It’s summer time! School’s out, so we have all the time in the world to go to interesting places and do exciting things. But with every place we go there is one thing that we almost always need to have with us; that’s money. Even just going to the beach to hang out can cost money because you need gas for the car. The county fair costs ten dollars just to get in, and then you need extra money if you want to ride the rides. Sure, you don’t have to go on the rides but if you get hungry or thirsty and want to get something, that’s going to cost more money. I’m not saying that it’s not good to go to the fair- I love the fair and am going next week. I’m just saying that it is hard to find something to do that doesn’t cost a lot of money.

There are things to do and places to go where we don’t have to spend a lot of money. You can go to the pool, go for a walk, or go to a park and have a picnic, but most teenagers are used to high-energy activities. But, we should remember, it is fun to just play games with your family and friends. I remember in past summers I would play with my dogs and it the back yard with the out door hose spraying them as much as I could without getting myself to wet. But that never worked out so well I ended up getting wetter than the dogs. And when I was little my loving parents bought a kiddy pool and would put me in it with the dogs. I think the pool was just for the dogs but they felt bad for the toddler sitting in the heat so they just stuck me in there with the dogs. The point of telling that is to show that memorable moments don’t require expensive activities.

But we can’t spend the whole summer at the pool or running through the sprinklers. So we need to find a way to get money because parents are only so wiling to give us cash and then they aren’t so willing to provide us with a continuous flow of monetary support. So what do we do? Well if you’re like me you have parents giving subtle hints that they would like you to “GET A JOB!!!”. Well, I’m not sixteen yet so I can’t go work at Safeway or Barnes and Noble or even Round Table Pizza. But I can get a babysitting gig and other non-official jobs. In fact most of my friends who don’t have a job either because they aren’t old enough or they just can’t find one, have taken up babysitting and even done extra chores around the house just to help get some extra money and pay for their next outing.

There are so many things to do during the summer. When we really think about it summer doesn’t last forever. Summer is a nice break from school, but sadly to enjoy all that summer has to offer, you have to work just as hard to earn money in order to go places with your friends.