Social distance and teens

[Ledkr]

So we are all on board although dh and I still have to work as front line.
Dd8 will obv be off school from Friday and we will be having a rough time table of things to do.
Dd18 however is fed up already. She has lost her pt job in soft play as its closed. She can't finish her course although has an unconditional uni offer so that's one thing.
Her bf lives 15 miles away and they normally alternate between houses at weekenda but his dad is just finished chemo so that's probably not na option.
Dh and I were talking and I said how tough it must be cos we have eachother and work. Little kids still like to play and do art and stuff but teenagers are going to find it all very hard.
How are your teens all coping so far and what do you plan to do about them seeing friends?

So far they’ve all been heading to the skate park straight after school.

16. Won’t be seeing friends. I’m very vulnerable. Tech is their friend for now. Yes more than ever!! OP can she do any prep for the course she’s starting at uni? Learn a language. (We’ve got to be allowed to travel eventually yes?? )

Yes good idea I was going to suggest a language for all of us.
Her uni course is performing arts so yes she can do some prep here but not a lot of room for dance

That could end in A and E so maybe not!
Learning about different styles (teaching her to suck eggs?)
Research music for different dance?
Learning about different famous (past) dancers?
History of dance?
Self teach how to strap up or physio dance injuries.
Pilates? Good for dancers.
But I’m no dancer so that could all be stupid ideas.

My DD is going to paint and decorate her room.

If you had the spare financial capacity you could tell her she can redo her room. Pick her own paint and order it online. Pick accessories and order online from somewhere like next/ikea. Get her to do it all herself. And to sort out all her clothes/makeup - order new makeup organisers etc. Ikea has a lot of this stuff pretty cheap. I know it depends on your funds situation though.

If that is tight then I’ve ordered myself a adult colouring book, some new books, cross stitch to try learn that and I’ve looked up yoga available free on line to do. She could set up Skype coffee dates with her friend/boyfriend. They can watch the same movie at the same time on Netflix and talk about it. I did this during long distance with my now husband.

My dd is enjoying tidying her room(we are self isolating) for what feels like the first time in a year. She wants to sort another room in house too. Various art projects and plans to improve singing repetoire too. She is 18, just had exam debacle news.

www.coursera.org/ Have a ton of courses to do online with assignments to complete. She could do one that interests her or is linked to her course. She could learn to bake different dishes if you have the ingredients.

If mine tidies their room I will never see them again.

None of us will be doing anything that isn’t essential. Our son now won’t be doing his GCSEs but will spend some time concentrating on preparing for his A levels. Who knows what’s going to happen with that though. Other than that there will be lots of gaming, Netflix, snapchat etc. He’ll be fine with that, along with sleeping lots I imagine. They’re old enough to understand the seriousness of the situation.

We have a piano, which she cant play, and ditto guitar. Opportunities there I feel. Lots of books never been read. Letters to write. She never normally has time for any of this stuff, or just watches netflix. I think screens will pall and then these other ideas will kick in.

If they’re off to college how about some meal planning, budgeting and learning basic meals? (If they can’t already.)

DD 18 is still working so she has now also become the designated shopping person. She is also going to be stripping her bedroom and building some flat pack we have waiting to be done! She hasn't seen her boyfriend for a week already because his mum has symptoms.

DS 17 is permanently on a call with 2 of his friends; no actual contact but they talk for hours every day! No girl/boyfriend. He will also be doing the family meals a couple of days a week, it's a bit of a challenge with less ingredients so he is having to be creative.

Mines playing games with his mates online, by phone, and chrome book. I don't imagine it'll change to much other than being sent to Tesco. Tesco were looking to hire temporary customer assistants if that's possible for her ?

I’ve got a 1000 piece puzzle she can have. It’s a snowy scene. There too much fecking snow and blue sky that it’s impossible to complete and someone need to take it before I start chewing and swallow the pieces out of pure fury.

I thought puzzles would pass the time while this all blows over. Might just sleep through it instead (only joking I have a newborn, I don’t sleep)

Yes she is off to tesco tomorrow morning. We will take her and restock on essentials (wine) whike there. I wondered if it might be quite exciting for her to look back on as the supermarkets are often hotbeds of activity presently

We are in lockdown in France. DS17 is at home and taking it seriously. He has been doing a bit of schoolwork, going for the odd run, and practising the piano about 8 hours a day.

DD18 is stuck alone in Paris - she decided to stay for fear of bringing the virus home (I'm asthmatic). She's been doing uni work, writing, learning languages and socialising online.

Poor kids. What they don’t know yet is I’ve found a vintage (OLD!) game from my childhood and I’ve hidden it away. At some point I will FORCE them to play and they HAVE to love it.

At least this generation of teenagers are used to running a lot of their social life via their phones. So they will still be staying in touch with friends.

Don't know what to do with Year 11 DS. With exams cancelled he doesn't even have school work to do. He can't possibly spend all the time till September on the PS4 (well, I mean, he could, but he shouldn't iyswim).

My 14 year old in Y10 will be doing remote learning next week. They were scheduled to start Easter break after wednesday anyway. She will do her artwork and catch up with all her flash card making and redo her notes etc. She's quite academically competitive and is worried that if they are out for too long they will miss too much as not all the teachers are prepared properly for remote learning, but the school will resume that after the break to keep on top of the syllabus. Shes not that interested in seeing her friends- they have just had a sleepover last weekend - so not unusual for her not to see anyone for a couple weeks and they keep in touch via WhatsApp.
My 16 year old will keep going to the gym as long as he can (he's training to be a PT). His part time job is in jeopardy as I'm sure they'll shut the cafes at some point. He has some college work he can do at home and then his girlfriend- they pretty much live together. Online computer games if really at a loose end!

Duolingo is great for learning a language.
We're at the other end of the spectrum, with a 1 and a 3 year old. We go out every single day. I don't know how I'm going to keep them occupied. The one year old ruins all the 3 year old's games. There's very little they can do together.

Boyfriends son 18 is just continueing as normal, ie. no handwashing, no showering, going to pub with mates, no toiletry wiping or handwashing afterwards. Disgusting? Yep. Unhygienic? Yep. Can either of us make him understand or make him take this seriously or stop him being so idle and blase??? No.

That is what this teenager is doing about the viruses. Absolutely nothing.

I think it's going to be really hard for some parents to keep their kids in. Some of the familiea I work with have very little control over them and some are violent.
@Pipandmum what are you doing about the girls friend? I don't know how or manage him coming here without risk of spreading but they have been together 2 years so can't exactly keep them from seeing eachother at all and dh and I will be in and out for work so not exactly self isolating.

@ledkr I did long distance with my boyfriend for 6 months. I saw him once in person during that time. This was 5 years ago so not in the Stone Age. We text and Skyped and watched the same movies and shows. It was crap but we stayed strong and are now married. Maybe present it to her in this way. They have to just do a long distance relationship for a while and if they are meant to be they will survive it.