What activities do your preteen DC do, if any?

[sunshineandshowers40]

All one of my DC shows interest is Screens. I would like him to join a club but he has no interest in what I suggest. Will play football in the garden for a bit but not a big sports fan. He moves from one screen to another (phone, PS4, Tv). His siblings both do activities.

My 10yo does Scouts and Swimming lessons, and a dodgeball club at school. Tried Rugby and didn't like it. Thinking of trying Parkrun with her.
She would like to do a watersports club but its 45mins away. Cricket clashes with Scouts now unfortunately.

Feels familiar! My DS does football twice on Wed and occasional matches but that's it. I've taken ALL screens away for certain time slots (5-7pm) so he sometimes cooks with me, walks dog, meets friends and plays with dog - and he is supposed to read 30 mins per day. He also just started piano so he spends some time practicing. He tends to watch TV with dh in evening but at least that's kind of a 'family activity'. I'm looking for another activity though. His friend does boxing. I'm not all that keen but at least it'll occupy him. I have 3 kids so we restrict paid activity to one or two things. DD does ballet and guitar. DS1 does tutoring and electric guitar.

Had this convo with dh this morning and said we just need to restrict the screens more because if he's bored he will want to do things. Unfortunately nothing is going to compare with screens as they are designed to be addictive and are even more addictive to some children than others.

We have long had a rule that screen time is largely unlimited but.... clubs, activities, family events, meals, homework etc ALWAYS come first. It's worked quite well for us.

DS plays basketball and does martial arts. He did swimming for a long time but has stopped now.

Have you tried parkour? It's quite popular around here and considered more "cool" than other sports.

DS has also done a few outschool classes - anime drawing - which feeds into his gaming enjoyment.

Dd12 Guides & Swimming. Alot of her friends are swimmers either swim lessons or swim club though.

Guides/Scouts/Cadets seems popular here in the early secondary phase. And are usually accepting of newcomers at 10/11/12 as numbers drop a bit and unit sizes/adult ratios increase.

And then sports - but by 12/13 it tends to be something they are good at and have been involved in a while - swimming, running, gymnastics, dance, martial arts, tennis, cricket, rugby, football....

14 y dd

• duke of Edinburgh mon
• rangers (older guides ) tues
• karate wed
• football friday (and sunday if a game)
• maths support class Saturday

She also does a short paper round 6 days a week for £20 pocket money

I firmly believe that keeping her busy keeps her out of bother. Shes a nightmare when shes board.

11y son.

Very little.
Karate wed.

Thats it. He only wants his x box.

He has recently had it limited a lot, and onna weekend dosent get it until we have done a long dog walk. If im honest im a bit concerned about his weight / level of fitness.

He used to love playing out before lockdown. Dosent want to know anymore.

Its a bit sad really.

12 yr old only was xbox or phone.

We found the key was letting them pick whatever obscure things they fancied!

Dd1 does musical theatre, trapeze and circus silks and traditional fiddle music, as well as a youth club.

9 year old son does football 2 training sessions a week and also a match most Sunday mornings. Martial arts, 2x 45 minute classes a week and an extra 30 minute one every other week.
We try to minimise screen time on the weekend afternoons if we are in for a few hours. He does 45 mins on a screen and 45 mins off, he will usually get embroiled in something off screen like reading and go over the 45 minute break. We will let him watch films without the break if he has been good and his bedroom is tidy etc.

Ours used to do lots swimming, gymnastics, chess club, football, generally playing out.
But covid reduced that somewhat and we've never really picked it back up.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I might try park run with him. He has no enthusiasm for anything expect screens. I think we need to start restricting screen time, which we have done in the past. It's a tricky age and Covid hasn't helped.

We’ve started having a family game night one evening a week, when no other activities are going on. It’s only an hour but screen obsessed ds loves it so much, it’s as fixed in the rota as martial arts and cubs now. So from 7-8pm on a Thursday we play card or board games together. The kids pick one and the adults pick one otherwise we would end up with the same things every time. Even the grumpy teen knows better than to argue over it! If yours isn’t sporty maybe that might work?

Dd is 11 and in year 7. She does drama club and netball after school and football at lunchtime.

Rugby, running, swimming, scouts, birdwatching group, stamp collecting group, sewing group and dance class - he's never in!

Drama
Scouts
Swimming
Dance/Singing
Horse riding

At weekends we play board games, DD and I bake and try to get out at least twice a month.

DS9 does a coding club and a dodgeball club, plus he’s about to start a science club. He also does online tutoring which he loves! He’d like to learn drums and play football too but that’d be too much to juggle with 4dc!
DS8 does dodgeball and guitar. He’s going to start athletics too when he turns 9.
My dd is in her teens now, but at 12 she was in cadets, and did horse riding.
My eldest ds used to do trampolining, boxing and parkour.

Things my 4 have tried but didn’t stick with included chess, climbing, cubs/ scouts, football, gymnastics, park run, basketball, netball, swimming…

My DD (12) only really goes to dance once a week but we also go for (short) walks and play badminton once a week. Apart from that she chats to friends online and plays online games, but they are generally educational

@Howmanysleepsnow This did make me smile, he has tried so many different things over the years: swimming, beavers, street dance, gymnastics, boxing, basketball, football, running club. Covid stopped basketball and boxing and now I can't get him to go back.

@Howmanysleepsnow This did make me smile, he has tried so many different things over the years: swimming, beavers, street dance, gymnastics, boxing, basketball, football, running club. Covid stopped basketball and boxing and now I can't get him to go back.

I feel you OP, mine never wants to do anything except screens.

In the last six months I've forced him to try clubs at school, basketball and tennis out of school, he hates them all and I've given up.

Ds age 12 belongs to a football club - trains 2 x week 1 x match - plus swimming lesson.
Ds age 9 y swimming lesson and trains 1 x week with local football club (wasn’t selected for the team but they let him join in on a Saturday to improve)

A long time ago but mine was mad about music and computers, both of which we encouraged.

12 year old daughter, climbing which she’s done for ages and now just started ice skating lessons.

Violin lessons
3 hours of gymnastics (all at once)
One hour of trampolining once a week.

She has had a go at most things but gives them up after 6 months or so. She has done..

Street dance
Drama
Swimming
Tennis
Ballet