re: Buying a cheap jetski.

quote:

---

My kids are at the age where this would be a good investment in keeping them motivated to have lake days with us.

---

I see where you are coming from and really appreciate it. We had a lot of good teenage days at the camp with our parents on a big lake. My parents invested a lot of time and money in stuff like that but also used it to teach us responsibility regarding money, repairs, getting carried away, drinking, etc...

You might consider making it part of a bigger eco system. We had a lot of fires, cooked outside all the time, volleyball net (no top gun jeans n stuff), fire pit, an old VW to work on, a small barn full of bikes and stuff...

Lake days in my teen years were great and my friends were very involved, too. We really avoided the "my parents aren't cool" issue due to their involvement and interest.

On top of the jetski you may consider a blackstone and/or some sporting gear, perhaps a tent or such.

We had very little travel sports and it was great. Spent the money on more long terms stuff and really stuck together.