What do your 13/14 year olds do/want to do in the holidays?

[Yuja]

Struggling a bit with young teen DD this half term. She is no trouble but not very occupied therefore just seems to want to be on her phone all the time - she has a sport hobby which she does early mornings and most evenings. She’s done a bit of homework and goes for an hour at the gym most days. She’s got 1 afternoon out with some school friends tomorrow but that’s about it. She’s doesn’t seem to make plans just to hang out with friends like I used to! It might not help that we live quite rurally but she knows id give her a lift if she arranges something but she doesn’t! Shes not keen on organised activities anymore like trampolining, parks etc as they’re a bit young for her and I haven’t got stacks of money right now for big days out that cost a lot. DS 11 not much better tbh 😅 just wondering what your DC of this age tend to get up to? Easter holidays around the corner not sure what we will do!!

Is it horses? If so do you have a box to go out for the day?

Day trip to town? There's usually a free museum and you can take lunch and get a ice cream as a treat.

Swimming so no horse box!

I'm here in solidarity. My DC are similar ages and I'm really struggling to find things to do. Or to even get them motivated to do anything. I miss the days when soft play or an animated movie entertained them.

I've been encouraging teen DS to meet friends, but unless I arrange something, they don't seem to make plans. It doesn't help that we're rural as well.

The things we have been doing this time of year: visit to a local coffee shop, swimming somewhere where there's a flume or two, trip to McDonald's for lunch (they love the place 🤦‍♀️), a mooch around a town where self conscious DS won't know anyone, dog walks with bribes, cinema if there was something decent for them to watch.

Ha I never thought I’d miss soft play but it was easier to kill an hour back in those days!
I have found myself spending a lot of money at Starbucks 🤣

It's tricky at this age in the sense that you can't make them do things they have no interest in - or I mean you could, but if wouldn't be much fun for any concerned.

My daughter and I hang out together a lot in the holidays, and we do things like:

• go for walks when the weather is nice enough
• look round the shops in our local city (she likes Waterstones, HMV, anime shops).
• go to see relatives/my friends.
• she hangs out with her own friends - shopping, bowling, skating, going to each others' houses.
• we have cinema passes (£15 each a month) so we do go to see a lot of friends.
• the occasional trip on public transport to another town or city.

At home, we do watch films/series together. She also:

• reads
• draws
• does craft projects (she is really into sewing atvrhe moment)
• cooks/bakes
• we occasionally play board games together or even do the odd jigsaw!

I must admit that she also spends time on her phone, gaming, chatting to friends, watching things on the internet. I think this is ok as long as it isn't all day every day, and is balanced with other things!