12 year old boys

[hopeishere]

What does your 12 year old boy do at the weekend?

Generally DS does school sports on Saturday morning and sometimes sees friends in the afternoon. But there is an awful lot of Xbox

He doesn't want to;
Read
Play games
Bake / cook
Make anything - lego or mecanno

He can't seem to amuse himself. He needs my help to entertain him.

Mine would read or watch YouTube videos all day if I let him.
Although he is writing a novel and if he is in the mood he write all day.

I have two almost 12 year olds (Y7, 12 in January). We have a lot of Xbox going on to be honest, but we also try and have a movie night every so often and we’ve just had a games night - played scrabble, dobble, couple of other board games while listening to music. It’s actually been really nice . We’ve got uno and Yahtzee amongst others we didn’t get to play as they’re going to bed now!

Yr 7 12 next year. He does football training on a Saturday morning. Then is usually out most afternoons playing with his friends, buying sweets etc.

I do force them to do stuff though sometimes. So it’ll be - Finish off this game then come down, we’re making . I like to try new recipes, this week we’ve done Chinese dumplings and Cypriot koupes which are nice to sit together and make.

Mine is or at least was until recently incapable of self entertainment as well.

He will read if he's run out of screen time and has a really gripping book to get into. DS1 has read the 2nd and 3rd books from His Dark Materials after loving the TV show (second season due to start soon if you want to try this). He is currently reading the Hunger Games trilogy. We are starting to get into that YA territory and those books can be really good. See if you can get him into a series! He loves the Allie Brosh books as well, he finds them hilarious. They are not really typical kids' reads though.

Hasn't done lego for years. He builds a marble run/train track "for DS2" occasionally. :o

He has recently started skateboarding so he'll go out and do this around the back of the house. He doesn't really seem to practice anything but he is happy so I leave him to it!

I bought a jigsaw and just started doing it on the table in the living room and he joined in. He will then do parts of it randomly by himself, we also do bits together. I recommend 500-1000 pieces. Needs to last quite a while.

He will happily play board/card games if somebody will play with him, although I don't typically want to.

VV occasionally he will try some kind of drawing/doodling. I keep buying "how to draw" books and leaving them around.

He does have jobs to do as well - he needs to clean his own bedroom, take bins out when they need to go out and empty dishwasher when it's finished. So he spends ages procrastinating on doing those!

This is what my 12 yo has done today:

Morning - 3 hour cooking class
Home for lunch
Decorated the front porch with me for Halloween
Played on the Nintendo switch
We watched Ghostbusters and ate some of the Halloween treats that he made this morning
Did some homework
Helped DH make dinner
Watched strictly come dancing together
Read his book in bed

I agree about the console - DS would drink hot chocolate and play on that or his phone all day if unrestricted

Mine is 11 and right up until starting secondary school in September he could amuse himself for hours with Lego, drawing, building stuff...now almost overnight if it's not a screen or meeting mates it's not worth bothering with.
He does still like cooking, and has just started drawing again. If it's dry enough he lives at the skate park scooting.
Lockdown could be lonnnnngggg!

I agree about getting into a series of books. D’s is on number 9 of 12 of the Alex Rider series and has just discovered Skullduggery Pleasant, both of which he loves. We have the His Dark Materials trilogy but they’re a more challenging read, and DS likes an easy life, so they’re unread, despite him loving the tv series.

Football training or a match in the morning then if he's at home it's Xbox. He goes out with friends on bikes or scooters a fair bit too but when at home it's Xbox or TV!

I have the same problem. Ds is 12 too. He plays football for a team at weekends but if he's home everything is screen based. He has no interest in doing anything else despite my ideas and encouragement.

He's not a reader. I've spent a fortune on books for him. Spines are all un-cracked.

It's partly laziness / stress on my part. I've a lot going on and don't have the energy to entertain him / direct him. Pre Covid he'd be out with friends all day but that can't happen now.

I have the same problem with mine (11 & 13). Both like reading and if I look back over a few months have read a lot of books but never want to spend big blocks of time doing it. It's so hard to cajole them into cooking, gardening etc and they don't share interests so if I do something with one the other will be on screen. I'm a lp and I work full-time with stuff to do at home too so often feel guilty about screen time. Both are doing well at school so we muddle through. No advice but solidarity!

A few of my friends have boys this age. If not on the Xbox they are out mountain biking or down the skate park.

My ds and his friends never meet up on weekends. He has lots of friends and is popular but they never hang out or meet up outside of school.

Oh and he has a bike but won't ride it because we insist he wears a helmet

Xbox
Homework
YouTube
TikTok
Eating
Play fighting with his dad
Bothering the cat
Buying sweets

Tbh Xbox is fine by me as I can hear him laughing and chatting with his mates. He’s out on his bike with them if the weather allows.

Kills YouTubers. Minecraft

He is working on his 10 thousand hours to proficiency. He only has about 19 left to complete!

He is inside where I can see him not getting stabbed or shot.

Mine plays xbox too but is limited to 3 hrs. Today he’s made his own big breakfast, homework, chores, watched tv. He doesn’t mind reading but only does that at bedtime.
Tomorrow will be similar except we’ll go out somewhere for a bit.

Going to hang out in the park with his mates eating sweets.

Playing his PS4 a d watching YouTube videos about phones.

No toys or making stuff anymore. He begrudgingly did his maths homework earlier. He rarely sits in tbe front room with us.

Exactly what @Sara2000 said! 12 now, 13 next month.

Mine is 12 in December. Currently at weekends he does the following:

Meets a friend at the park for football
Football match on a Sunday
Comes for family walks with us (moans about this beforehand but generally enjoys)
Plays Xbox, but not online with friends as has gone off Fortnite
Sometimes a bit of baking
Reading
Homework
Goes on the trampoline
Plays on his phone. He is limited to 3 hours phone/Xbox per day at weekends.

I do think it's going to get trickier with lockdown as there will be no football. As I read it, though, at least he can still meet his friend at the park (individuals can meet one other person from another household outside at a public place), so that could be a lifeline for him.

11 soon

Reads gets into books but mostly at night
Piano and drums
Fimo
Drawing a lot
Used to do horseriding
Bike riding
Park
Mucks around with little sibling

He gets into it but screen has to go off

Mostly videos & sweets, guilty there. Not a reader either. Mr Beast anyone?

Mine has ambitious cycling target by end of the year, he cycles with his dad.
Wild foraging, scavenging potatoes, gardening
Sawing wood (can't beat a bit of destruction)
Fussing over the cat
making chips, gonna try home-made
Squabbling with brother.
Walking neighbour's dog with me (volunteer thing I do)
Talks & talks...
We are thinking about watching a family film most evenings, I am busy hunting for suitable comedies.

This is mine too - far too much online gaming (albeit whilst chatting to school friends so it's actually very social, however....). He loves reading, but only at night, in the bath/bed. He has no interest in doing anything else (although we still make him). Today will be gaming, breakfast/shower, gaming, out for family lunch at pub, gaming, dog walk, gaming, dinner, homework, gaming, tv with us/board game, bath/bed (reading). Actually I might make him come with me this afternoon when I clean my holiday cottage (and no, he has no interest in helping me, even when paid to) but all he'll do there is sit on his phone/watch YouTube. It's crap.

My 12 year old is the same! All he wants to do is be on his PC playing Minecraft-chatting with friends so a little bit social. Reads at night but that’s becoming less frequent, need to read the book recommendation thread for fresh ideas. Watches tv, he enjoys sci-fi, but that’s just a different screen. Got his old lego technic out with the motors recently and had a little play (only because I told him he had to come off his PC). Occasionally will play the marble run with his little sister. Occasional cooking and bike rides. Does football 3 times a week but that won’t be happening for a while now which I am so annoyed about. I can’t remember what I used to do at that age! Think I drew alot, fashion and interior design ring a bell. Read. Watched tv. Roller skated.