What do you do as a family with your teen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We eat dinner together most nights, or we sit with him while he eats after extracurriculars.

Spring Break trip ( usually short because he has to get back for sports) and Summer beach.

He plays hockey, so one of us gets one on one with him.

Running: he's much faster than me, but we'll drive out and warm up together then he takes off

The gym: Again, we do different stuff, but at the end, he drinks a smoothie and we sit together for a while

Sporting events

We're not perfect and neither is he. We're trying to steal as much time as we can.

We also do some game nights
When his younger brother is gone, he picks dinner and we watch a movie at home or go out for a movie that younger brother couldn't watch

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dinner most nights, shooting baskets in the driveway, occasional outings to the batting cages or a climbing wall, Friday Pizza and a movie, games of Uno, Not Parent Approved, etc (quick hands of a card game, basically).

Are your teens really young? By 15 most wouldn’t do this stuff as a family unit.

I'm the PP, ours does, happily. And yes he attends social events, sleepovers, hangs out with friends, etc. Again, not perfect parents by FAR, but these aren't hard.

Ok but I’m trying to picture. The whole family goes to the batting cages? Opposite gender siblings? And the whole family goes to the climbing wall? I guess I’m trying to understand as we do a lot with our kids but just not the whole family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dinner most nights, shooting baskets in the driveway, occasional outings to the batting cages or a climbing wall, Friday Pizza and a movie, games of Uno, Not Parent Approved, etc (quick hands of a card game, basically).

Are your teens really young? By 15 most wouldn’t do this stuff as a family unit.

I'm the PP, ours does, happily. And yes he attends social events, sleepovers, hangs out with friends, etc. Again, not perfect parents by FAR, but these aren't hard.

Ok but I’m trying to picture. The whole family goes to the batting cages? Opposite gender siblings? And the whole family goes to the climbing wall? I guess I’m trying to understand as we do a lot with our kids but just not the whole family.

I'm not OP but the only time we go rock climbing is with family including cousins.

We go to the batting cage when visiting grandparents so the whole family does it. Are there batting cages in the DMV?

Why wouldn't "opposite gender siblings" not rock climb or go to a batting cage.

We don't shoot hoops but we play ping pong as a family.

[Anonymous]

I am a family of two people, so it's a little different. When DD turned 13 I noticed that I needed to meet her where she was much more than I had in the past. There were times that we were only connecting if I was buying her Starbucks or helping her fold laundry or something like that.

We have volunteered together every weekend since first grade, so that's a standing date, and then we get brunch and then go food shopping.

During the week I generally invite myself onto her bed for a while for us to chat. She opens up about herself most if I ask about her friends. I taught her to ask how my day was, so she's been doing that since the end of elementary school. We cook dinner together.

We watch Youtube videos together and talk about them. I know way more about Emma Chamberlain and David Dobrik than I ever wanted to.

[Anonymous]

-Plenty of dinners as a family- some home/some out
-cultural events: 1 or 2 a year as a family
-trips- We travel 2 or 3 weeks per year and try to do at least 2 weeks without friends/relatives so we full weeks of time together and unplugged
-exercise- ski in winter, golf in summer
-dog play- It's amazing how playing with the dog can get us all together and shakes the bad mood off if anyone has one

DD is pulling away quite a bit lately but apparently is something that happens before they go off to college (which will be this fall).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dinner most nights, shooting baskets in the driveway, occasional outings to the batting cages or a climbing wall, Friday Pizza and a movie, games of Uno, Not Parent Approved, etc (quick hands of a card game, basically).

Are your teens really young? By 15 most wouldn’t do this stuff as a family unit.

I'm the PP, ours does, happily. And yes he attends social events, sleepovers, hangs out with friends, etc. Again, not perfect parents by FAR, but these aren't hard.

Ok but I’m trying to picture. The whole family goes to the batting cages? Opposite gender siblings? And the whole family goes to the climbing wall? I guess I’m trying to understand as we do a lot with our kids but just not the whole family.

NP here-- opposite gender kids 15 and 12, so maybe you think that's on the younger side. We as a family play games (Rummi Kubes, Perpetual Commotion), play ping pong, take walks/hikes, play tennis, and watch lots of TV and go out to movies and dinner. Probably the thing we do the most together is watch TV, but it's awesome to be sprawled on a couch together and discuss what's going on. Top Chef is one of the things we watch. I'll watch more grown up things with the 15-year old, when I have time -- Friends, Riverdale -- whatever she's watching, she's usually happy to watch with me.

[Anonymous]

My teen has a job, I guess that’s unusual in DCUMlandia so we try to make the most of what little time we do have together.

[Anonymous]

My daughter and I joined a crossfit gym together her senior year and went a couple of times a week. It was a great way to see her regularly and to do something active together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to leave aside vacations and special outings (e.g., pro sports games and theater), b/c it sounds like OP is looking more for day-to-day suggestions:

church -- kids don't go every Sunday, but often enough, and they do service projects -- if nothing else, it makes for interesting conversation

Sunday dinner -- nice meal with cloth napkins, candles, dessert and prayer

card games and board games -- Scrabble, Sequence, Ticket to Ride

sports -- tennis, bike rides ("Who wants to go get ice cream?")

TV -- major sports events (baseball playoffs, dog show, March Madness); series -- The Office, Blackish, Friday Night Lights

NYT crossword puzzle -- I'm an early riser, so I start it in the morning and then leave it on the counter; kids and DH fill in what they can later



Do you &/or DH do the service projects with them?

cooking and farmers market

walking the dogs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to leave aside vacations and special outings (e.g., pro sports games and theater), b/c it sounds like OP is looking more for day-to-day suggestions:

church -- kids don't go every Sunday, but often enough, and they do service projects -- if nothing else, it makes for interesting conversation

Sunday dinner -- nice meal with cloth napkins, candles, dessert and prayer

card games and board games -- Scrabble, Sequence, Ticket to Ride

sports -- tennis, bike rides ("Who wants to go get ice cream?")

TV -- major sports events (baseball playoffs, dog show, March Madness); series -- The Office, Blackish, Friday Night Lights

NYT crossword puzzle -- I'm an early riser, so I start it in the morning and then leave it on the counter; kids and DH fill in what they can later

cooking and farmers market

walking the dogs

Do you &/or DH do the service projects with them?

[Anonymous]

NP here. Great ideas. I am "blessed" with a DH who never enjoyed his forced family time growing up, for various reasons (mostly his family) - how can I get DH on board, so that the teens will be on board?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dinner most nights, shooting baskets in the driveway, occasional outings to the batting cages or a climbing wall, Friday Pizza and a movie, games of Uno, Not Parent Approved, etc (quick hands of a card game, basically).

Are your teens really young? By 15 most wouldn’t do this stuff as a family unit.

NP. I have a 15 year old. We still do all of this. Sometimes there’s a complaint beforehand,but they secretly admit it was all okay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to leave aside vacations and special outings (e.g., pro sports games and theater), b/c it sounds like OP is looking more for day-to-day suggestions:

church -- kids don't go every Sunday, but often enough, and they do service projects -- if nothing else, it makes for interesting conversation

Sunday dinner -- nice meal with cloth napkins, candles, dessert and prayer

card games and board games -- Scrabble, Sequence, Ticket to Ride

sports -- tennis, bike rides ("Who wants to go get ice cream?")

TV -- major sports events (baseball playoffs, dog show, March Madness); series -- The Office, Blackish, Friday Night Lights

NYT crossword puzzle -- I'm an early riser, so I start it in the morning and then leave it on the counter; kids and DH fill in what they can later

cooking and farmers market

walking the dogs

Do you &/or DH do the service projects with them?

I am not PP but we have service projects we do as a family, my kids do a service every Sunday in the winter just them, no parents. My H does SOME on his own and I volunteer tutoring on my own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dinner most nights, shooting baskets in the driveway, occasional outings to the batting cages or a climbing wall, Friday Pizza and a movie, games of Uno, Not Parent Approved, etc (quick hands of a card game, basically).

Are your teens really young? By 15 most wouldn’t do this stuff as a family unit.

why does this matter to you? there are plenty of older teens in our neighborhood that shoot hoops and do.pizza night with their families, including ours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to leave aside vacations and special outings (e.g., pro sports games and theater), b/c it sounds like OP is looking more for day-to-day suggestions:

church -- kids don't go every Sunday, but often enough, and they do service projects -- if nothing else, it makes for interesting conversation

Sunday dinner -- nice meal with cloth napkins, candles, dessert and prayer

card games and board games -- Scrabble, Sequence, Ticket to Ride

sports -- tennis, bike rides ("Who wants to go get ice cream?")

TV -- major sports events (baseball playoffs, dog show, March Madness); series -- The Office, Blackish, Friday Night Lights

NYT crossword puzzle -- I'm an early riser, so I start it in the morning and then leave it on the counter; kids and DH fill in what they can later

cooking and farmers market

walking the dogs

Do you &/or DH do the service projects with them?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no