Nicest day of the year and my teenager hasn’t left the house all day……

[Tacocatgoatcheesepizza]

Why do they do this?! It’s been such lovely weather today and DS14 has spent it inside.

Anyone else care to join in my despair?! 😁

Normal. It's only as a mature adult you think things like "What a lovely day, I must make the most of it." I barely noticed the weather as a teenager unless I wanted to sunbathe.

No screens when I was a kid so my friends and I were all out sun up to sun down, that’s the main reason, screens aren’t going away.

I was out all the time as a teen I hated staying in.
Mind I was a teen a very long time ago .I had my records if I was in but that was about it.

Mine are 20,12 and 9. What do these inside dwelling children actually DO all day in their bedrooms?
A day is a LONG time. Surely they don’t watch TV or game all day long?? Mine are in and out of the house most of the day, shops, activities, sports, pets, etc etc

My teen doesn't like the sun / heat (and we were meant to hit 26c yesterday 😱) he did however join us for a few hours. We went to a local splash park, found a shady table and were out early. He lasted 3 hours and then I let him leave to head back to his lair.

He read some of his book, had a teenager style splash about, played some velcro tennis, took his younger sister for a walk round the nearby nature reserve and was rewarded with a meal deal and an ice cream.

He's actually been quite good at having some fresh air this holiday. His friends are all away / live too far to come over so he's joined us on most outings (mainly parks, walks, meeting friends) or he has taken his bike out for a ride. The deal is he needs to be up, dressed and out at some point everyday. There is still plenty of downtime too.

DS14 would happily not leave the house, especially if a bit tired or ‘peopled out’ (or if he’d got to an especially good bit of Hogwarts Legacy.)

He is generally in better spirits when he does though, so we make sure to build in natural outings. Yesterday a trip to buy D of E equipment and a wander around a park with old family friends, and a planned dog walk today and haircut today. He’s often pretty unimpressed until we get there and invariably glad he went, so it’s best to be a little interventionist with him. He’s sailing all weekend and so tomorrow will be a bit of revision and a Hogwarts Legacy lock-in, I suspect. He will have his fingers crossed for rain.

All mine (15,17,19) would have stayed indoors all day given half a chance. We live near the beach, I laid the groundwork late morning for us all going there in the afternoon. Went for about an hour and a half. We drove there (when they were younger I'd have insisted on biking there but choose my battles)

Did you go out? Do anything they might have been interested in?

It's not all screens but a lot. Ds 15 is bouncing between gaming/youtube, drawing on his tablet and gcse revision. He does do a paper round so starts every day with a bike ride. Dd17 art student mostly drawing or reading. Dd19 student home for holidays mostly drawing and writing on her computer plus uni work. They do all interact with each other too, and dd2 will go out with friends a few times over the hols. Both girls will have a few days of paid work too.

In her room my dd does:

knitting
crochet
watercolour psinting
drawing from photos
as well as tv and gaming.

it’s not all screens

I think the diff is from us as kids to them is screens and tv

we didn’t obv have screens /phones 30/40yrs ago so always out with friends riding bikes /parks /woods /each others houses

put a limit on their phone for games /tick tok /you tube whatever and remove remote if tv in their room

they don’t need to be in their room 10/12 hrs

maybe also a Girl thing but when sunny when I was a teen I was out in the garden 9/10am with cooking oil trying to tan 🙀

old don’t advise the cooking oil now and a good factor suncream

equally I have a 9yr who loves being outside in garden on trampoline or parks or friends over or slime making

but also enjoys iPad but I do limit it in holidays

I can remember my dad trying to get me to go out in the summer holidays when I’d rather stay in and watch heartbreak high reruns on sky tv back in the 90’s 😆

Yes I think it’s a teen thing, I remember being holed up in my room as a teenager in the 90s in the holidays and not even opening the curtains! Which is weird to me now as I love getting out into the sun, keep a very close eye on the weather forecast and plan days around the weather. Just didn’t care as a teenager though. My mum used to give me jobs like go and buy bread from the supermarket which used to really annoy me. She was at work so I think it was partly to help her but probably also to make sure I left the house and got some fresh air!

Haha yesterday my 14 year old did pretty much the same thing (except dh took him out for lunch and to get his hair, he was probably out of the house 2 hours max).
BUT this was his only day of the 2 week holidays where he had no plans, dh and I were both working (I was in the office and Dh is self employed and out and about) so even though it felt like a dreadful waste to me I knew he needed a restful day. He did say he ate his breakfast outside and that he kicked the ball about in the garden for a bit but he also watched a lot of tv and played fifa. I’m off with him today and we’ve got lots of nice plans although sadly the weather isn’t set to be quite as nice today. Still lovely and sunny at the moment though.

It’s surprisingly important to spend outdoor time as a teen, for a variety of reasons.

Firstly vitamin D, especially if you have darker skin. Secondly, short sightedness; it’s been shown that you are far less likely to end up short sighted if you spend time looking far away instead of close (like screens). And, of course , there is the mental health aspect.

luckily one of my teens does an outdoor sport and the other likes meeting up with his friends for walking/talking (and illicitly drinking, but not huge amounts and not that often, and he is an older teen).

37 and hate being outside in the sun for the sake of it. I'll sit in my cool house, thanks.

YANBU
I hear you 💐

Sleep. Just sleep. And I am so jealous! My teen hates being outside. Which is actually perfect for me as I can be in the garden alone. It’s bliss.

ETA: After reading local Facebook page I’m glad my teen isn’t out… hordes of them have caused mayhem drinking and leaving rubbish across a local park.

I had a hell of a wonderful time during lockdown, because there was no pressure to be DOING SOMETHING like there generally is when the weather is nice. I was very happy reading my book indoors, with the window open.

I went out yesterday, it was lovely, but im the afternoon the park was full of screaming kids everywhere. Being outside is actually a bit overated. On sunny days lile that, I tend to go out in the morning.

As we mature we realise that beautiful weather days are few and far between and how precious they are. When we are young we think they will be endless!!

We had a lovely walk up the beach? Chippy lunch and ice cream and the teens were happy so far. Today will be a city day trip with a promise of shopping and lunch so both 9n board for this. It's not always easy getting them out & bribery is often involved but they're generally happier once out.

For some of us, there is a very big difference between ‘hottest day’ and ‘nicest day’ regardless of being a teenager.

Well it’s actually the opposite! We are warming up for sure!

When I was a teen my Dad was obsessed with getting me outside and I just didn’t understand why. There was nothing to do. I was the only kid at home so I was just sat by myself uncomfortably reading a book. I’m v pale so burnt easily. It was horrible

I was let be as a teen and I loved lying in bed reading and listening to the radio. But I played a lot of tennis at a club nearby do once I was up I was out. Had a good mix of that plus trips to beach wjth friends so being in bed or pyjamas till lunch was no problem. I try to remember that if I'm hoovering etc and think the dc should be doing it (they do their bit).

If she has nowhere to go, why should she? If it was a Sunday I would stay in too.