School has been out less than a week for most kids in Suffolk, and yours already may be bored. Perhaps you’ve grown so tired of the marathon Xbox and Wii sessions that you’re ready to break some thumbs — or at least hide the controllers. Maybe you’ve even secretly prayed for some excuse to send them to summer school.

Bored kids can be destructive kids (see today’s lead story about trees chopped down in the Steeplechase community for an example), and frustrated, had-it-up-to-here-with-your-sullen-attitude parents — somewhat perversely — aren’t always the best sources of motivation.

The city of Suffolk is stepping in to help out this summer.

Does your son or daughter need to be more physically active? There’s a summer camp for that. Whether at the YMCA or at Suffolk Parks and Recreation’s Planet Recreation, Suffolk children and teens have a number of options for staying active during the summer.

Do you have a budding artist in your home? Or a child with an emerging computer talent? Both types of kids can be accommodated at camps for local children and teens in Courtland and Portsmouth.

Suffolk libraries will hold summer reading programs to help develop a love of reading amongst area youngsters. The programs will feature a wide variety of non-reading activities, as well, just to keep them engaged. And parents can join the fun, too, by participating in the city’s adult summer reading program.

There are even academic options for those students whose grades didn’t quite merit a trip to summer school, but who would benefit from a little extra attention to the standards of learning. The program also works in some storytelling, art, games and special speakers to help set it apart as something special and distinct from the regular school year.

And if none of those programs is a perfect fit, there are any number of volunteer opportunities throughout the city, not to mention the old standbys — yard work and cleaning up around the house. With so many choices available to them, there really should be no excuse for bored children this summer.