What does your husband do to bond with your teen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Girl 15

He changed diapers, fed her, bathed her, read to her, did sick days, doctor appointments, etc as much as me. On maternity leave, he did overnight duty on Friday and Saturday so I could get two nights of uninterrupted sleep every week.

When she was a preschooler and an elementary schooler, she was his assistant for all household chores. They built a lot of our basement entertainment center together. They are power washing pros.

His bedtime routine was way better than mine, at least until we started reading chapter books.

He cooked breakfast and drove the school run through elementary school. Now they stop at Starbucks daily. She orders for them on the app.

They now talk about exercise and workouts together as well as exercising together. I bought him a gift card for solidcore and told him it was for the two of them to try out a couple of classes. I really want him to stop focusing on murderously heavy lifting. He is very fit and in great shape, but getting older and keeps injuring himself. Trying to show him different ways of getting a workout that maintains strength and function.

He has driven with her daily since she got her permit.

To the poster who said that her son and husband bond by making fun of her - #metoo - and frankly they are hilarious

They love fandoms (different ones) but Comic Con is a big event every year.

But basically, pretty much anything she wants to do, he is game for. He leaves things like bathing suit shopping and dress shopping to me, but if she needs shoes or shorts or something, you will find him somewhere in the mall holding all the shopping bags and asking her if she wants a pretzel or Cold Stone.

Awww I love your husband!

[Anonymous]

My husband was very athletic, played a sport in college, but played baseball and basketball in leagues also. My son is not athletic at all, he is very musical, plays guitar and piano. My husband is not musical at all. But my husband loves to cook and my son showed early interest. Now they cook a meal together on the weekends for the rest of us. They really do enjoy their time together. They also like watching the marvel/dc comic movies together.

[Anonymous]

What a great thread. I am a caretaker by nature so younger ages were really easy for me. Give me a difficult preschooler and I thrived. It came naturally to me. But as my kids have gotten older, I've had to work to be sure we maintained relationships. I loved reading how everyone else did it and am going to try some of your ideas. It is important to find common ground.

One thing that I do that I haven't seen mentioned yet is that I find shows and concerts that we can enjoy together. I also bake with one of my kids and am a gym rat with another - so I don't actually eat what I bake with the other one.

[Anonymous]

He and DS17 do parallel play, both glued to their laptops about 10 feet apart. Every single evening that they are both home.

Then DH frets that DS is addicted to screens while maintaining that his own modeling behavior has zero connection. Yes, it's quite a coincidence, dear.

[Anonymous]

Each kid has a special "show" they watch with DH and we all love sports soccer. Mealtime is big and so are our trips together and dinners out. Our kids are HS/College age and sometimes corralling them with a meal out someplace is the best way to get everybody all together with no interruptions.

[Anonymous]

DH has sporty things he does with each kid, and since I'm not really sporty I appreciate that so much! He's also much better than I am about organizing outings and expeditions.

Boy, almost 16 -- whitewater kayaking. They are both ridiculously into it.

Girl, 13.5 -- rock climbing, both at the gym and outdoors.

Girl, 10.5 -- horseback riding. DH can ride and has done a couple of day trips with her but he's taken the lead on organizing lessons etc. He also facilitates her art projects science "experiments" (which always seem to involve food coloring and homemade slime, which drives me bananas).

As a family, we're really into movies -- used to be Pixar, now Marvel, Star Wars, etc. DH also loves to cook and grill so a perfect family weekend night for us is DH's burgers with all the fixings with a movie at home.

[Anonymous]

Two boys, both very different. Older one, DH and DS share a time-consuming hobby (fishing); younger one, DH and DS love to attend sporting events, ride bikes together, and like superhero movies.

DH and DS also spent lots of enjoyable time together when DH taught DS how to drive.

[Anonymous]

16, male - sports (practicing with him, playing one-on-one, watching on TV & going to pro games), video games, hiking/fishing/camping, exercising (they run marathons together), and foodie type events (food truck festivals, BBQ events, trying obscure hole-in-the-wall joints)

18, female - watching college & pro football together, going to the theatre, going to museums, exercising (they run marathons together as well), Netflix documentaries, and they go to the midnight opening of all nerd-centric movies

[Anonymous]

Two teen girls - taking them for bike rides, hikes, parks, museums, ice creams, hockey games, father daughter dance nights, pool parties, travel with them along when I suddenly stuck at work, take them to visit in laws. He cooks for them too and sometimes even bakes with them. For some strange reason both of the girls live doing grocery shopping with him.