The answer could well be found in a summer camp or summer school, which can blend unforgettable experience with positive learning, and all the while removing the teenagers from the care of their parents, if only for a little while.

"The gap for the summer holidays is very long, and kids need something to do, " said Garth McColgan, director of Food Active. "But, in addition to this, extra curricular activity is important for the full development of a child. Summer camps provide that facility, while also allowing the children to mix with other kids of different ages, backgrounds and schools."

Food Active is one of the few summer camps that offers more than simply extra curricular activity. The camp at Food Active, which blends classes on cooking and nutrition with activity-based programmes, is a highly educational environment, albeit one which is highly enjoyable at the same time.

"Eating and fitness are relevant to every person, and are especially important to the physical and mental development of a child, " said McColgan.

"Food Active imparts both knowledge and skill in a structured and targeted way, and often children don't even know that they are being educated. In fact, the relaxed setting of a summer camp can often make children more reception to education."

This is an important point, because for many children, the idea of spending their summer holidays in school would not go down very well. But there is an educational element to many of the summer schools available to Irish students - and this is particularly prevalent in language camps.

The idea of a language camp is nothing new - in fact, Irish people have been attending Irish schools since 1910 at Colaiste Chonnacht. Still in existence, this historical school offers a number of summer courses, with special emphasis on pre-Junior Cert and preLeaving Cert courses. The focus is very much on conversational Irish, and, given the importance of the oral and aural parts of the state exams, mastery of conversational Irish could be the difference between a pass and an honours grade. Of course, there is also a strong element of enjoyment at Colaiste Chonnacht, and the sporting facilities are maintained to the highest of standards.

Others will want to travel abroad for their language training, and, for example, Living Language offers courses in France and Spain. There are two distinct programmes available - one is geared towards fifth-year students, with intensive French or Spanish courses available in a boarding school in France, or at a school in Spain, with students hosted by Spanish families.

There is another fluency programme which is geared more at second, third and transition year students, which places students with French families while they attend a local school every morning. Living Language also organises sports events in the afternoons.

Indeed, sports form the backbone of many summer camps available in Ireland. For example, Camp Rockwell, which was founded in 1970, has been visited every year by thousands of students from Ireland and overseas.

Children will be taken care of by an experienced staff, who are carefully selected (most are practising or trainee teachers).

All students take part in supervised activity programmes, as well as weekly excursions and activity evenings including discos.

Facilities include a 24 acre lake for canoeing, boating and pedal boats; and indoor heated swimming pool; two gyms; a nine-hole golf course and acres of playing pitches etc. Students will find the experience educational, enjoyable and an excellent opportunity to meet and communicate with new people.

Others may crave something a little more extreme, and surfing could be described as Ireland's fastest growing sport.

Donegal Adventure Centre in Bundoran is Ireland's largest surf school, and it runs surf camps for teens - both residential and daily camps. These surf camps are combined with skateboarding, rope climbing and many other activities (some of which could be described as "bodacious").

The staff at Donegal Adventure Centre is renowned for its supervision and excellent care of teens on camp: staff members provide all the required equipment, they are extremely patient and safety conscious, and the kids really enjoy a fit and healthy lifestyle in one of Ireland's most beautiful counties. Kids are also invited to bring along guitars, other musical instruments, their own skateboards, they can come with or without friends; the whole camp is geared towards enjoying surf and surf culture in an atmosphere appropriate for young teens.

In the west, a new Irish company has just launched its series of residential summer camps in Counties Mayo and Westmeath that will finally give Irish children and teenagers a taste the sorts of camps that their English and American counterparts have enjoyed for over 20 years. Horizon Summer Camps will roll out a range of residential summer camps for children over eight years of age at Westport for 2007; and also at their Wilson's Centre in Multyfarnham in Westmeath.

"It is perhaps surprising that residential summer camps have not taken off here yet, but already we have a healthy list of bookings for our first set of camps in 2007, " said Catherine Wiley, managing director of Horizon. "For parents, the attraction is that we look after their children 24/7 from once we pick them up at our special pick-up points around the country - parents don't have to worry at all.

Horizon camps include multi-activity holidays where children can throw themselves into a wide range of activities such as kayaking, climbing, dragon-boating, horse-riding, quad-biking, and many other activities.

"Or, if they wish, they can concentrate on a specialist camp such as our multi-media programme, or horse-riding for the week, " said Wiley. "Many teenagers opt for our full surf camp, for example, because the coastline adjacent to Westport offers some of the best surfing in Europe."

Cowabunga.