How much time do you spend with your teenagers?

[Flowers24]

Parents of teenagers can we discuss this, I have been watching Rich House Poor House and the families always seem so together , all being together, doing stuff together, we used to but once they get to teen stage it feels as if everything is different. I am sad and crave the family time. Normal life we would all go out for a meal maybe once every 6 weeks, the occasional treat such as an escape room , and we'd be going on holiday, so it is harder atm.
I grab time when i can to chat to them, and younger teen likes going for a drive with me so i drive (locally) and we listen to the (dodgy!) music and have a natter.
I am going to try and install the eating together in the week at least a few times.

Its just harder isnt it? I envy those with kids aged 5-12 and the happy days out you can do when they want to be with you?

If anyone has any other ideas for things to do with teenagers 16 plus esp im all ears.

It is tricky as I have two teens at home and a 6yr old. Lockdown has been tough but we do tend to have family meals together. Movie night a couple of times a months and get some snacks etc. Play cards. My older teen isn’t always in and the younger one can easily exist in his room. I do other things where he enjoys popping to the shops with me, he enjoys having 121 time so I drive him to school rugby and chat on the way there and back. Think they all crave a little 121 rather than full on family time. Which I think is good too

For 16+ I wouldn’t worry , my eldest is 17 and doesn’t want to hang out. During lockdown she enjoyed going out for drives in the car and listening to music. However we have a good relationship and I am not worried about her not wanting to come out to the woods or park etc. She isn’t interested but will enjoy a family game or movie

Not much if I'm honest although we do eat together at night. Last night one of them asked to watch Teen First Dates together so we had some time together after the meal but that's unusual.

Hi, my eldest is 15. We always eat together at teatime as a family Monday-Thursday. Friday nights are date night, Saturday lunchtime we eat together as we do Sunday lunch.

I have always done this, I feel I would never see the kids if we didn’t! Apart from that dd15 will sit and watch tv on a night for an hour but we don’t chat that much.

No way she would go for a drive with me, your doing a great job if they will do that 😊.

I have 1 teen and 1 almost teen (plus 3 younger ones). We do family movie night once a week and family games night once a week. We are watching a tv series together in the evenings. I try and make sure they both have some one to one chat time every day.

Pre covid we were still going on days out together as a family and I'm hoping this will carry on when restrictions end.

Forgot to add my 2 are still very young teens (14 and nearly 13) so very different from older ones.

Best thing for us as animal lovers was a dog . They happy to go on walks then .
Fam film nights with treats. Cooking.
Also invite a mate when covid allows .

Not as much during lockdown. He is 15 and we always eat meals together and we will watch football on TV. Otherwise, he is in his room talking to his friends on his phone or via PlayStation.

Remove lockdown and covid and we do a fair bit together. I still go to all his football matches and watch him referee. We will go to football matches together on a weekend and sometimes his mates come along too. We used to have a lot of holidays together and go abroad watching football, so hopefully we can get back to doing this.

I am very lucky that we have a great relationship and he pretty much tells me everything (too much sometimes), so we talk a lot. I recently taught him to shave too. We are pretty close.

I text mine (18 & 20) if I haven't seen them for a couple of days 😕

When my kids aren't at their dad's we eat together every day and sometimes they stay in the same room as me for a few hours if they want to (I love that but don't push it, as I know they like their alone time in their bedrooms).

They never come out with me, like when walking the dog, as they don't enjoy it. I encourage it but don't force it.

It's really hard, when you look back on all the things you did together but I'm slowy accepting that they've changed as they've grown older.

I have to watch a lot of stuff on TV I wouldn't choose but it's worth it to spend time with them. Girls, 17 and 19.

There are always doing stuff because they are being filmed. It's a false environment.

I spend very little time with one of mine. He is either at his girlfriends or in his room gaming. We chat every day, it in comparison with DD, well it's like night and day. DD and I spend a lot of time together. She has just left for work but before that we sat and had a cup of tea and chatter for an hour. In usual times we would be out a couple of times a week, for coffee/lunch and shopping. We take a few weekends away most years.

@Theimpossiblegirl

I have to watch a lot of stuff on TV I wouldn't choose but it's worth it to spend time with them. Girls, 17 and 19.

Younger DD than pp but yes, this ^^

We have dinner together every evening, we sometimes watch tv together but he is more likely to watch with his Dad as they like programmes I don’t. We game online together and are in the same gaming clan. Before lockdown we would all go to the local park run, and also used to eat lunch out about every two weeks. DS got a GF two years ago and she usually comes round for dinner on a Sunday and we would play a board game after. We now meet up online and play a board game including Granny every Sunday evening.

Everyone eats dinner together.

I try to get them watching something on tv with me at least once a week.
We have a film night
There are some programmes we watch as a family like taskmaster.

I'll drag them out for a walk.

They are 12&14 girls.

Both come for a cuddle when they wake up sometimes we all stay in bed reading at a weekend.

I try really hard to keep the connection.

I have a 15yo DS and a 13yo DD (and a pre teen). We all eat together every night which is really important to me. Every now and then (maybe once or twice a month) we have a family movie night or board game. This Easter holidays I'll drag them out to a national trust property to meet another family once.

I drive my 13 year old to school and back, in traffic it’s about 30 mins each way so we always have a nice chat then.
We usually watch a movie or something on a Saturday night and go out for a walk as a family usually on a Sunday. It’s much harder in lockdown though as it’s only been the last couple of weeks they ve wanted to go out at the weekend, they like theme parks not freezing muddy country parks.
If all goes to plan the theme parks reopen in a couple of weeks and we ll be doing them every weekend so plenty of family time. I m under no illusions though, she is only 13 so as she progresses through her teens she won’t want to come every weekend and that’s fine.
DS is 11 and I did all his homeschool, 5 hours a day so I feel we have had lots of time recently and DH takes him to play footie most nights after work/school.
I think for us having theme parks as a shared interest really helps and hopefully it will for many years as it’s an adult activity too!

Mum of 2 late teen DS here. I think it's a case of letting them be themselves and not forcing engagement, then at some stage they come back to you. Film nights are good where they choose the film. Watching TV together (you do end up watching crap you are not interested in though!), chatting about whatever they're interested in as they form opinions. I find if I tell them I'm going to do something (walk, have a coffee or a "picnic" outside in the car) and give them the chance to come they may or may not come. I always do it anyway as part of being a parent is finding stuff you like doing for you again.

Mine are 11 and 14 so a bit younger but time together has definitely decreased over the last couple of years. The younger one is much more into gaming and chatting online than the elder so that has an impact too. However, the last weekend they were with me (lp) they both spent a good 90 minutes in my bed chatting first thing both mornings. They love watching The Durrells but we only have a few episodes left and finding things they both like is haaarrd. Same with films - ds1will watch anything but ds2 often opts out. We have a rule that he has to stay for 20 minute and if he really doesn't like it he can go. He would say no to everything otherwise. We also do 'song turns' picking stuff off spotify or YouTube and spend an hour or so a few times over the weekend doing that. Ds2 will also learn dances off YouTube and come and perform them or he'll do concerts - singing along to backing tracks, but he is a pre-teen so not sure how much longer he'll be doing that.

We eat together every day, either at the table or with a film at weekends and I do enforce walks/(daytrips pre-Covid) at least once at the weekends. Ds1 enjoys this but ds2 moans and I assume he will opt out when old enough to be left behind. Boardgames/card games we do sometimes but they're not overly keen on those and it can end in tears. Also, sometimes they will bake or cook and I'll be in the room while they do it.

Food/treats is a motivator still, so I build in cafes (takeaway) to walks if at all possible. Used to absolutely love taking them abroad and really hope we can do that again soon before they're too old to enjoy it with me!

Yep we dont eat together all the time but am trying to do more of it. My eldest loves walks so he and I can walk together when we can , but with a gf too its harder for mum to fit in! Younger one really likes the drives and sometimes we stop off somewhere rural and walk, always evenings but thats ok.
I am impressed one poster going to go to theme parks every weekend? We all love theme parks in this house but how do you afford to go every weekend?!