What does your 12/13 yr old do with their friends?

[savetti]

Outside of school
Or do they not do much
I’m struggling with keeping ds safe and out of trouble

Organised clubs -scouts, rugby etc.

Otherwise, out on their bikes or scooters, playing guitars, Xbox.

Ds at that age- trampolining club, boxing club, going for a run after the club, occasional cinema or trampoline park visit.
Dd- shops near school, park near school, mc Donald’s (also on the way home from school), visiting one another’s houses, walking the dog.

Both play in football teams training on a saturday and games on a Sunday. Sometimes meet in park to play football. Xbox. Youth Club when its on. That's about it. Tried and dropped tennis, tae kwan do, scouts.

DD here. When she has her best friend over or is at her house they try out make up and hair styles, watch TV or just talk about school and life (aka how annoying parents are). They sometimes meet at a coffee shop for a hot chocolate and some shopping (well pre-covid).

Otherwise DD has several activities like Scouts, riding, performaning arts.

They take a collection of light sabers/sticks to the park and have stearate star wars battles.

Play pokemon go.

Ride their bikes .

Guides, roller disco, friends house or friends at ours, sometimes hanging out in park but was never allowed out aimlessly when dark. DD now 18 so this was a few years ago. I should imagine more difficult with covid but hopefully MNetters will provide some ideas

Walks, bike rides, paddling in streams, climbing trees, watching TV/ films/ Tiktok, chatting and gossipping, baking, eating what they've baked, going to Costa Coffee, shopping.
Also used to go swimming a lot pre-covid.

Xbox/snapchat

Bike rides
Basketball in our garden
Takes neighbour's dog for a walk

My ds is 12...only football!

What does he enjoy doing op or what would he like to do? If he’s just hanging round then he will likely bump into other kids doing the same and who might end up being no good. Can be think of any sports or clubs he’d like to try or does he know what job he wants to do when he’s older? Maybe cadets of some kind, you could ham up how good it would be for his uni application or future cv or whatever to have extra curricular activities on it if he’s a bit reticent? Find him a direction and steer him if he is going off the rails a bit.

When you say out of trouble, do you mean with the police? There are some pretty good youth groups and mentoring / coaching schemes around at the moment to catch youngsters who have slipped a bit and had unfavourable (but not serious) contact with the authorities. I’m in Sussex but there are similar popping up everywhere, it might be worth having a look in your area? Apologies if I’ve read too much into what you’ve written.

www.ymcadlg.org/what-we-do/support-and-advice/reboot/

This is the one I was thinking of, they were mentioned for something I was doing today.

DS hère. With friends he:

Goes to a favourite cafe for a Frappuccino / milk shake
Meet in a park to play badminton, wander around and talk
Go to Mac Donald’s / Pizza Hut / I’ve cream
Go to each other’s house to watch tv / film / game
They organise birthday parties for each other, with cake and juice in a park which is sweet.

What is yr DS doing op that is worrying you?
Go to a skate park

He’s not been in any trouble at all. I can count on one hand the number of times he’s been out! He doesn’t seem to want to go out, but he needs to get a life. He does nothing extracurricular.

There’s a lot of bike crime here, kids get bikes stolen from under them at knifepoint.

If his mates go out, it’s just hanging round on bikes.

Ds isn’t that great on a bike, he also doesn’t really know his way round as he didn’t grow up here.

DS:
They play games on the computer together, either at one house, or using skype to talk at their own house. They quite like writing their own games then testing them. They've also started doing their homework together using skype, which is really good, as they're helping each other.
Trampoline, especially football on the trampoline (one on one off)
Drama (organised class-he loves it)
Football (not organised)
Scooters rather than bikes (ds doesn't like bikes. He has a great talent for finding the only nettle/bramble patch for miles to fall into)
Nerf gun battles (we have some laser ones which are quite fun, and a target for in the garden)

Has he got any friends that he’d like to invite over? DS started by having friends over a lot, or going to their houses. Then this year they all started going out a lot more, but we live in a fairly safe area and he keeps in touch. They don’t take bikes, just scooters sometimes.

He also does gym and parcour as paid for activities, once a week bc each. There’s nothing sporty that appeals to yr son?

Bike rides, Minecraft, swimming lessons, karate classes, reading.

But my ds isn't that bothered about going out either. I have to encourage him. I'm hoping it's a phase

I have 3 12-13 year olds.

DD1, friends here or at one of the other houses a lot, sleepovers, town (weird overpriced frappocino things and the shops), beach, paddleboarding (supervised), walking dogs, picnics, out for lunch. Part of a small, sociable group of kids I like. Organised netball and drama.

DD2, sleepovers, playing at each others houses (making up dance routines, watching dance shows), just starting to go to town with friends, occasional trips to park. Social life is less sorted than DD1 but she has just moved school and best friends both gone elsewhere. Does drama, dance and martial arts.

DS - sports. Cricket and football teams, lots of football training, kickaround at park if no match at the weekend and sometimes after school. Sleepovers. Watching local football team with us and sometimes friends. Friends over to watch football matches or play on iPad. Scouts.

None of my kids are very confident bike riders - suspect it will be more of an issue for DS, lots of his friends like cycling.

In terms of extra curricular he is on a football and a cricket team.
When hanging out with his friends they just go on their bikes or walk around. Usually end up at the beach or the park and hang around, play a bit of football talk to girls etc

Football after school most days, football training 2 nights a week, go out on their bikes or to the local skatepark on scooters. Sometimes they just play tag or hide and seek on our estate or trampolines in the gardens. I often have one of his friends for a sleepover and sometimes I'll take ds and a friend out for the day to the beach or country park. Pre covid they were all just starting to go to the local pool by theirselves. Mcdonalds or subway are popular too. We've been lucky though, his school friends all live very close by and they've all known each other since nursery.

My 12 yr old ds plays football, goes on bike rides locally, scouts, goes for
walks (reluctantly) or out for the day.
At home he does baking, drawing, coding, watching tv, reading and xbox.

Bike ride somewhere specific,not just cycling around; tennis; rope swings in the woods nearby; geocaching in woods; board/card games; playing guitar. Boy aged 13, these tend to be with different friends, ie. one likes biking, one likes tennis, several like the games, etc

My 11 year old will go to the skatepark with friends literally all day.