To ask you what to do with tweens!

[Alittlenonsensenowandthen]

Really daft post I suppose but summer hols has made me reflect....kids are 12, not sporty but book worms. Good kids, not much attitude yet, come out walking, cycling with me etc. However, increasingly I feel at a loss as to what to do with them! The days of soft play are over , I don't want them on ps4 all the time. So...what do you do with your kids MN hive mind?!

My daughter of that age is into horse riding. That's what gets her out of the house on weekends/holidays (that and the dog).

Otherwise, museums, lakes/pools, mini golf, GoApe, go carting, getting nails done, shopping etc. if you're looking for random activities.

Cooking / baking
Swimming
Paddle boarding
Museums
Geocaching

Ds is 12, he and I are members at a really good swimming pool, we’ve been swimming 3 times a week through the holidays.
We also go cycling as a family, he enjoys learning to cook simple meals, and he’s into drama so we go to the theatre when we can afford it.

We’ve been kayaking and playing tennis this summer. My slightly older daughter likes charity shop shopping. Other than that, I’ve largely given up and left them to their own devices - which means phone.

Do you have a trampoline place near you? They're great for that age. Examples are Air Arena and Flip Out.

Another horse rider here. Local stables have loads of activities on over the summer (thank gawd).

She has friends nearby, so they ride bikes and hang out.

We also do lots of dog walking, visiting ‘interesting’ places, museums, swimming.

There’s a lot of telly-watching and far too much screen time as well.

My Mum took me to art galleries. There was usually a children's trail, or child-friendly activity to do there. It introduced me to a whole nother world & I went on to study art history as a degree subject. We also used to go to different towns & cities. It was part of her job, but I enjoyed tagging along, seeing the architecture, cathedrals, market squares etc.

I loved swimming & horse riding too, great suggestions.

Luckily DS (12) is sporty and loves skateboarding/ indoor snowboarding/ paddleboarding/ wakeboarding/ BMXing/ mountain biking. It’s harder when the weather is bad as there’s only really the indoor skatepark or snowboarding and both are in Manchester which is an hour’s drive each way. Our local swimming pool is fully booked for the entire summer 😵.

I'm slightly struggling with this too. Covid really hasn't helped as I went into lockdown#1 with two DC who were happy going to the park and that sort of thing and have emerged this summer with two children who are too old for much of the sorts of things we used to do and the things they now want to do (eg paddleboarding or ropes courses) are much more expensive and are only for an hour or two.
I feel as though we so much walking, baking, cooking, crafting and board games during the various lockdowns so want to do something else... but just don't know what. I also feel that now is an important age to be doing things with them and do things as a family as it would be all too easy for us to each drift away with our own screens and books.

Take them out for ice-cream, trampoline places, ice skating, swimming, buy them STEM sets/craft kits aimed at teens or adults. They can bake or see fairly independently and mine have been cooking dinner once a week. They still deign to come camping but it's a lot of work.

It's difficult to think of things that don't cost a fortune. I think part of it is making your peace with not keeping them busy all the time.

*bake or sew

Everything 's ridiculously expensive, so doing one activity a week. Younger tween spends a lot of time calling for mates and going to the park. Older tween lives on xbox and talks to his mates- who are also indoors.

Had a couple of sleepovers. Going away for a couple of days next week.

When I was 12, I wanted a pile of sweets and a pile of books, with occasional visits to relatives.

Some great ideas and actually the fact I'm doing most of them makes me feel I should just chill out and stop worrying! One son does horse riding, they swim and one does gym weekly. The other loves cooking and baking and one is a museum geek so we do that a lot.
I think what a pp said is true, that we did so much stuff together during lockdown that now those things we've always enjoyed (wallks, games etc) now seem mundane. I also feel like because things are open again I should seize all opportunity to do things eg high ropes, trampoline parks etc but don't have the funds at the moment.
Thanks guys, you're helping

Mine liked physical things like ropes courses, mini golf, bowling, trampoline places, laser tag etc at that age and also museums, Escape rooms, movies, eating out. Almost all things that cost money. It’s so much easier and cheaper when they were happy with the park or feeding the ducks.

Where do you live?

I'm in the Midlands so Stratford-upon-Avon is a lovely day out and you could visit Shakespeare's house etc.

If you have water nearby ie sea/ lake, then it’s cheaper if you can buy own paddle board/ kayak as the price places charge per hour is high. Where as you will pay off own within a few goes.

I don't do anything. All my girls want to do is go out with their friends, in to town, to the park, getting milkshakes, making tiktoks, having sleepovers. It's been my easiest and cheapest summer holidays to date!

Loads of board games and card games. Exploding Kittens and Unstable Unicorns are favourites here (DCs are 10 and 13).

My two are 11 and 15. We have been to the trampoline park, out for Ice cream, cinema and to a couple of waterparks. Done 1 big day out but funds are now low! Next week ive arranged for their friends to come round a couple of days and not much else tbh