To those with teenagers

[Nimbus]

When she’s at home, DD tends to spend most of her time on the sofa in the living room with us. But she’s usually on her iPad watching her own stuff. She usually does school / Uni work in her room. And if she has a Zoom or FaceTime call with her friends then she’ll go to her room.

When I was a teenager I spent a lot of my time in my room.

[daytonababe]

Originally Posted by Snowball24

I've been asking dd to play a board game for days but answer always no! Ds with gf so don't see him much, hope to get some time together at some point x

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Why don’t you ask her what she wants to do ?

I’m not sure many teens now want to play board games

[firsttimemouse]

I have dd 15 and ds 10. They don’t have TVs in their rooms, PlayStation and tv is downstairs. Ds is rarely in his room as wants to be on the PlayStation. He’s younger and I limit how long he’s allowed gaming. Dd will often watch tv downstairs but it’s not that often that both kids will want to watch the same film or play a game together. I wouldn’t force my 15 year old to join us but would encourage her to suggest what she wants to do and then take her lead. She’s not a board game person to be honest but son is.

It can be hard with teenagers but I do remember that I didn’t want to do things with my family by mid teens and I think that’s normal. I just try and show interest in what they want to do and don’t force it.

[JoJo88]

DS17 has his PS in his room but doesn’t play on it much, he’s quite content to sit with us watching random things on TV. Him & DH have a box set on the go just now too so will watch that together. If we suggest putting on a movie he really has to be in the mood for it though and will disappear off to his room to play with his mates if he’s not. DS15 has his Xbox in the playroom which is off the living room. He spends a lot of time in there but often has breaks to come and sit with us, and we’ll put on an an episode of something on the TV, currently it’s old Modern Family. Again, he really has to be in the mood for a movie and so usually it’s just me & DH unless it grabs them.

If it’s football on the TV it’s a proper family affair and we all sit round.

We play a lot of board games, it comes in phases, so quite often lately of a Saturday night we’ll have something on the go. And over Christmas we play a lot too as there’s usually new games

And then there are times when we’re all in the same room doing our own things - phones, iPads, reading etc.

They sit downstairs doing homework so thinking about it, the only time they are in their separate rooms is to play on consoles or sleep

[JLH]

for all of those parents that have children with playstations - we bought a good quiz game for it that you can play by downloading an app on your phone , its called knowledge is power decades . We played it on their old ps4 , it got very competitive and my boys hated it when I picked the 80s all the time it was a good way for us to socialise over Christmas together.

[Snowball24]

We have the PS downstairs and no TV in rooms, so they just use the laptop or dd has her ipad. We last played Monopoly a month ago, if I ask my dd she wants to play Minecraft only !

[Snowball24]

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

Maybe board games just isn’t her thing. My DD prefers trivia types of family games such as Disney trivia games etc but again, your DD may just not be into games

Maybe she’d prefer to spend time going for a walk with you, does she like photography? She could take her camera or phone to take photos. My DD enjoyed helping me with Disney jigsaws through lockdown 1, so that’s another option you could suggest

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She liked Monopoly and chess up to about a month ago, hates going for walks unless if involves shopping lol

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Snowball24

She liked Monopoly and chess up to about a month ago, hates going for walks unless if involves shopping lol

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She may have just changed as she’s getting older, but you could ask her if she fancies a new board game to try if she’s just bored with her previous favourites

Shopping does seem a popular hobby for teenage girls 😂 My DD loves online clothes shopping too and I sometimes sit with her whilst she browses online and we chat about what she likes and we talk about fashion etc (be careful though as this often ends up with me somehow offering to pay for some clothes for her 😂 )

It is difficult as they get older but it is a case of letting them do what they want and taking an interest in their hobbies but also allowing them the time to ‘do their own thing’ and offering them your time when they want it. As you mentioned, it could be a good time for you to spend more time with DH and find interests for yourself too. I’ve discovered I enjoy card crafting and reading a lot more since DD went to uni and I have more time to myself.

[Snowball24]

Yes good idea, thanks, my son is easier to spend time with in a way as he loves going for walks, so we have had some long walks together, unfortunately he is with his gf now 24 7, well its nice of course and we like her but i miss him a bit too, its life and just have to adapt. Am enjoying more time with dh though and want more nights away just us,

[Themousefamily]

This won’t work for everyone and it happened more by luck than foresight, but in our household the things that bring the family together are the wood burner and the dog. My 17 year old sometimes does her work in the study and the 15 year old will occasionally be in her room doing her hair or nails, but usually they both spend most of the evenings in the living room with us. This is because the fire is roaring and they both love the heat and cosiness from it. And the dog is always by the fire and they both adore him. To be fair, we usually have to watch something that they like on the tv - currently previous series of gogglebox 😀