Anonymous wrote:Beyond the teen snark, there is a grain of truth to my daughter's critique. We come home tired from work and retreat to our separate screens during the week. Occasionally out to dinner. She has a sport and an after-school club. We cook, sometimes together. We are older parents. Any suggestions as to how to become hipper and happier?

Lol I thought I posted this in my sleep. Same here. I told her to get creative and we try to do things 1-2x week interesting. Here’s to imagination and creativity.

1. Even if you were more interesting, she'd have that opinion.

2. Stop retreating into your separate screens. Maybe do the tv watching together? (We are tired, too and would sometimes do this as a family after homework was done.)

3. Make some plans. Go see a show at the Birchmere. Drag kid along.

Tell her she's too old to just announce problems. From now on, she can't bring up a problem without also suggesting a solution or two.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have started saying similar things when they come home from college. THe problem with the suggestions to 'go get cupcakes, go to a movie," is that honestly there isn't that much money left after paying for college for two kids at the same time. We honestly can't afford to entertain the kids that much when they come home.

We can't really afford to entertain ourselves that much either -- I see events at the museums, etc. that would be fun for my DH and me to do as a couple, but they're not in the budget right now.

In other words, part of the reason we're boring is that we're poor. (People do things on screens because it doesn't cost any money. That's the same reason that poor people watch a lot of TV.)

Other than board games, what are some things that we can do to get out of a rut that won't break the bank?

Museums are free. So are e.g. talks at Politics & Prose and events at public libraries.

+1

NP. I came to post this too. PP, if you're in the DC area--all the Smithsonian museums are always free. And if you do some Googling you'll find free events at museums. Example--We recently did a day trip to Montpelier (James Madison home near Charlottesville) on the one day that it's free admission instead of $22/person--look for things like that, though they won't always coordinate with your kids' college break schedules....National Botanical Garden is free. Many DC area professional theaters have discounted tickets for students and young adults under 25-30. There are free concerts at the Washington Monument, Marine Barracks and Navy Memorial in Summer's into early fall. There are holiday events in December. And so on.

Not every event or museum that's free or discounted is going to be of interest to your college kids, maybe, but why not let them search for events and decide what to suggest you do as a family?

OP, it sounds like you need to do more things as a family. My parents were older and we rarely did anything together, other than watch TV and go to church. It was incredibly boring and I left as soon as possible.

Think about doing some things on Friday nights or on a free weekend day. Going to a movie, if you are tired. Or taking in a museum, or going apple picking, or do some local touristy things.