Our Tuesday series today features how bored teens can take full advantage of the freedom that summer brings! The upside of summer for most teens is the benefit of more free time, but the downside of that can be boredom. To spotlight some of these ideas, we'd like to blend our thoughts with those of an articulate teen who has studied this time of year very well and who offers some excellent ideas on how best to enjoy this treasured time of year.

The teen writer we are referring to lives in Southern California and her name is Lily Sanz. Lily has already experienced her share of summers and has culled her own experiences along with those of her friends to come up with some relevant, topical suggestions for how teens can keep busy during the summer while also having some well-deserved fun along the way.

Lily points out that although most students count down the hours until the school year ends and summer begins, once summer finally arrives it can be overwhelming! Here are her suggestions and our comments on how today's teenagers can enjoy a fun, busy and active summer vacation:

—A good start is for teenagers to use their extra free time to journal and document their lives. It's also a great time to make lists of what they would like to do with their lives. What dreams, aspirations, interests and adventures might any individual teen wish to pursue? This is a great time of year to daydream and scratch out some notes that capture current thoughts about these topics. It will be quite interesting to look back on these notes as the years roll by. In fact, it sounds to us like this form of documenting thoughts would be worth some time each summer going forward.

—Speaking of lists, Lily recommends that teens sit down early in the summer and make a few quick lists of some of their short-term goals for the summer. Here we are referring to having fun, attending social events, taking vacations and so forth. This list is the opposite of the long-term goals as it's designed to focus on just the next few months.

—Teens should reach out early in the summer to a wide variety of friends and acquaintances. Stretch beyond just your immediate close circle of friends and ask others that you know, but don't know quite as well, what they will be up to this summer. Teens who do this often find very interesting and fun connections with others they only knew casually prior to the summer. Sometimes lifelong friendships are born in the summer out of fun times spent pursuing common interests or hobbies.

—Work on time management in the summer when there's little time pressure! It sounds counterintuitive, but summertime is perfect for setting some time-management goals and then getting used to managing them as they play out. Plan not only the weeks, but also some specific days and times of day with activities you look forward to. It's always easiest to schedule fun events, so build that mental muscle memory now over the summer when there are so many wonderful things to do. Fight the urge to just drift through the summer and see it evaporate before you know it. Planning ahead will ensure some great times, trips, events and experiences, hopefully with a wide variety of friends and family members.

—Think about finances and financial resources over the summer. Work on setting up budgets for trips and travel expenses. Keep a log. Make estimates of what you think things will cost and then jot down the actual costs once they are incurred. Some of the variances will be surprising but keeping an eye on costs will be very educational. As we often say, knowledge is power, and paying attention to and understanding the dynamics of personal finance is a skill that, once developed, will pay a lifetime of dividends. Some teens may want to work for part of the summer to earn money for summer travel, experiences or simply to build up savings. In any case, couple your work ethic with some financial discipline and awareness. Many teens have adults in their lives that will be happy to provide some financial tutoring once asked. Seek out role models who manage their finances well and you'll garner some great ideas and tips from them!

—Plan ahead for summer travel. This refers not only to vacations, but also to daily summer life. Where will you be going and how will you get there? Don't scramble each time you need to or want to go somewhere; rather, plan for this in advance. Some teens have access to vehicles to drive, while others can use bicycles in some cases and others can get rides from friends and family. Don't forget city buses, trains and even Lyft and Uber for those old enough to set up accounts with those companies.

Summer provides a great time to recharge, renew and reacquaint with many others. Teens especially should use this time of year to not only have fun, but to build up some personal skills at a time of year when they are not being held back by school assignments, tests, term papers and so forth. Plan your summer and build some valuable skills along the way. Your future self will truly thank you!

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: snicky2290 at Pixabay