What do YOU do to bond with your tween?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ideas for dads and daughters? DD doesn’t seem to want to do anything but watch videos and play games on her iPad, tough to convince her to do anything else.

Work on a DIY project together. My tween and her DH just finished refurbishing an old dresser and she got to do design it exactly how she wanted using a colored stain called "unicorn spit." It's absolutely hideous and she loves it.

Hell, even if you don't have DIY skills, take her to Ikea and let her pick out a few things for her room and put them together with her.

[Anonymous]

I'm more than a little concerned about who this next generation of kids is going to find to marry. By the sound of things, its going to be slim pickins if people want a non-addicted spouse with proper executive functioning skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bike rides. Volunteering at the animal shelter (she's 13).

Which animal shelter lets kids that young volunteer? My DD would love this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh I have gotten into so many crazy things because of my kids. Let’s play videos. ASMR soap-cutting videos. Minecraft. Chess. Figure skating. Engineering. Maps. Slime. Baking bread. Lord of the rings. Penelope Scott. Mutual Aid. LGBT rights. Sewing.

I always firmly believed that it’s important for parents to be interested in what their kids are interested in but damn, I didn’t know they would be interested in so much and my brain is a little fried. I’m just glad DH has more energy and he can do things like gardening and basketball with the kids. I’ll happily sit through a LotR marathon with one kid while he plays basketball with the other.

OMG the ASMR videos. Mine are on slime though. Making it too.

Reading for ideas and some are great. I took an overnight trip with my 2 kids alone and had a lot of time with just the 12DS. It was great. We did stupid stuff i didn't really want to do but he loved that I'd do it all. The two kids got along way better iwth just me than with DH there. It's not him, it's the streamlining of decision-making.

I will start to watch the stupid you tubes. I don't want to but pps have convinced m.e

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ideas for dads and daughters? DD doesn’t seem to want to do anything but watch videos and play games on her iPad, tough to convince her to do anything else.

Can't remember why, but my DH took my 9DD on a long-weekend vacation. They mostly hiked/did nature stuff outside and she loved it. She brings it up a lot and it was 2 years ago. I might encourage another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ideas for dads and daughters? DD doesn’t seem to want to do anything but watch videos and play games on her iPad, tough to convince her to do anything else.

Can't remember why, but my DH took my 9DD on a long-weekend vacation. They mostly hiked/did nature stuff outside and she loved it. She brings it up a lot and it was 2 years ago. I might encourage another.

This is really sweet. It’s always extra nice when they bring it up year(s) later.

[Anonymous]

12 yo girl and I do puzzles, cook, practice softball, and I walk her to and from her dance class (a little over a mile each way) during which time she chats non stop with my undivided attention and I hear about every little thing in her life. That last one can be utterly awful because I truly don’t care about the minutiae of the school day and tween relationships, but I don’t want to ever discourage her from telling me anything she feels the need to relay in hopes that when it’s a “bigger kids bigger issues” situation later that she’ll keep telling me because I actively listened to to the drama of the day now.

[Anonymous]

Sleepover with her in my room. We do hair, nails and chat. We hike, go shopping, antiquing (she loves this), and sometimes go riding together, which is good for her as my youngest DD is an equestrian and I am always at the barn with her. So, she feels nice knowing that I take her to groom, tack and just walk the horse around while chatting. I love my girls and treasure every moment with them.

[Anonymous]

I rearranged my schedule to drive him to school in the morning, it's a 20 minute drive and it has improved our relationship quite a bit. I also take him to the mall on occasion and buy whatever he wants in needed categories, even if I think it's ugly/too expensive. We go for lunch at places his dad doesn't like or for sushi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm more than a little concerned about who this next generation of kids is going to find to marry. By the sound of things, its going to be slim pickins if people want a non-addicted spouse with proper executive functioning skills.

They'll marry each other so it will be fine

[Anonymous]

For both: Skiing, cooking, talking about food, playing game pigeon or Jackbox games, camping, cute dog videos.

For one: fishing and foraging and cooking up our finds/catches. It’s a hobby I’ve cultivated in response to his interests that has been awesome. I’ve learned a ton and we have a bunch of fun/funny memories from adventures together. He’ll sometimes do a puzzle with me.

The other one likes books and is now at an age where he actually reads interesting, mature stuff that we can have conversations about. Same with some tv shows. (Young teen)

Both are super sporty, and enjoy watching various sports too. Sometimes I make an effort to get into it, but that’s mostly their dad’s thing.

[Anonymous]

I have a 12 year old boy. Today eh asked to bake something with me and at night I read a book to him.

[Anonymous]

Mine loves theater so I pay a lot to go to everything in town.