You know the old saying “those that play together, stay together”, or “laughter is the best medicine”.
Well it seems that there is truth to be found. Laughter and having fun with your child(ren) can not only improve your relationship, but help them be successful.
This article from Verywell Family shows that quality time with parents served as a better predictor of teenagers’ academic aspirations than time spent doing homework or attending extracurricular activities. Parents who discussed books, attended cultural events, and brought teens on community outings raised their teen’s aspirations.
50 Activities to Do With Your Teenager
Spending quality time with your teen and giving them positive attention doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Here are 50 ways you can give your teen positive attention:
- Sit down and talk about your teen’s day.
- Volunteer together.
- Make dinner together.
- Solve a problem together. It could involve a household issue, like how to keep clutter from collecting on the table, or bigger problems of the world, like poverty.
- Attend a music festival.
- Talk about the future. Identify your teen’s future goals and discuss what the world might be like 20, 30, or even 50 years down the road.
- Read the same book and talk about it.
- Plan a weekend trip.
- Go hiking.
- Watch a play.
- Develop a new healthy habit together, like exercising or writing in a gratitude journal.
- Attend a concert.
- Explore foods from other cultures by attending restaurants that serve food you’ve never tried or by cooking foods from other parts of the world.
- Plan a family vacation together.
- Work on a monthly menu plan together.
- Participate in a monthly challenge, such as walking for 30 days or saving spare change for one month.
- Take a walking tour of historic neighborhoods.
- Go to the ballet.
- Take a class together, like a photography class or a graphic design class offered in the community.
- Attend a community event.
- Build or add to a family website or social media site together.
- Research your family tree.
- Visit your library.
- Do a puzzle and frame it.
- Plant a garden in the backyard or a potted indoor garden.
- Go to a reading by a local author.
- Play catch.
- Have a picnic.
- Go to a museum.
- Learn woodworking together.
- Take a pottery class.
- Stargaze together.
- Find shapes in the clouds together.
- Go to the zoo.
- Learn about the history of your community together.
- Make a time capsule.
- Watch a parade.
- Go to a professional sports event.
- Make a video.
- Make a pillow or quilt out of your old T-shirts and blankets.
- Have a campfire.
- Visit a national park.
- Take a yoga class together.
- Learn a new sport.
- Start a small business together.
- Get a tour of a college.
- Attend a poetry event.
- Order out at your teen’s favorite fast food joint.
- Spend a day at the beach or a lake.
- Learn to play a musical instrument together.
20 Best Teen Activities to Keep in Mind Next Time They’re Bored
From creative outings to projects that are secretly about skill building, these teen activities from Good Housekeeping will keep them occupied.
Looking for some local inspiration?
Check out the links under our WHAT’S HAPPENING.
