Can anyone share any positive tips for family life at present? Especially preteens

[parrotonmyshoulder]

Not a discussion about schools etc.
DD (year 7) is getting on fine with her home learning. This week is different as younger DS bubble is closed so he and I are at home. Both children have ‘coped’ well in lots of ways, with not seeing grandparents or wider family, holidays cancelled etc, but (older one) understands that we are fortunate to have a nice space, area to walk in, things to look forward to, enough money etc etc.
But she’s starting to feel low, definitely. It’s hard to motivate her to ‘do’ anything much. Generally feeling bored, malaised, anxious. She is in touch with a couple of friends but she feels like she’s exhausted all her ideas to keep busy.
I understand! I’m glad I have work. At the moment, all of my suggestions are met with a ‘nah, don’t feel like it’. She bakes, reads, plays with her pets, has some apps that she likes, and does her work. It doesn’t sound bad.
Sorry for the waffly post. Not sure what I want to ask really. Maybe just to share thoughts on things being different, but fortunately not terrible for us.

Have you tried Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

She thinks Buffy sounds ‘stupid’!! I might just put it on and watch it myself.
Today has been okay - she was quite down and I noticed she was really irritated by her work. I’ve been in contact with a couple of teachers who are going to encourage her slightly differently. She did phone her cousin, and a friend, and we have talked quite a bit. Going for a rainy walk in a while.

I think it's fine to accept there will be good days and not so good days. Ds2 was a Y7 last year and I had the same worries - losing touch with new friends. But actually when he got back to school in September it all went very smoothly and they kind of picked up where they left off, so hopefully it will be the same for your dd in March/April.

@ThePlantsitter

Thanks for starting this thread. I have two the same. My y7 seems to have lost touch with her friends too (doesn't help that some of them have been allowed to meet up against covid regs ). She's not even complaining about feeling bad she's just very listless, have to drag her out of the house, and is turning to food as comfort more often than I'd like. So no advice sorry, bit solidarity.

Mines exactly the same

Reassured, but also sad, that there are others with the same worries. And, thanks, @Porcupineintherough, for sharing that things turned out OK for your Y7 son last year, that's really good to hear. I have a nephew in Y8 who had a similar experience thinking about it.
I insist that the kids leave the house every few days (I'd like it to be every day, but that's the compromise we've settled on). One hadn't been out so far this week so had to come out in the wind and rain yesterday, but we actually had a really nice run around on the beach with the dog and I think it did her a lot of good. Definitely gave me a bit of confidence that it's a good thing to drag them out, even if they are reluctant...
Hope everyone has a good day today.

I know you said it's not about school but my dd said she finds the live online lessons quite draining mentally. Has your dd started up doing a lot more of these recently, could be related? Would she try meditation, maybe the Headspace app, it's good for unwinding if things are a bit stressful.

Thanks - not that it isn’t partly school related, I just didn’t want a school blaming thread!
Her live lessons are quite a nice mixture, usually a ten minute check in and then off to work independently.
I would love her to use the headspace app but she won’t. She’s very reluctant to try new things and there’s always a fine line to tread with her between putting on expectations and letting them go. I’ve started many a thread about her!
She had a few different contacts with people yesterday and we both talked about how we were feeling, which helped.
I’m feeling more positive today and the sun is out, so we might get out later.

How about getting her to do more exercise on a daily basis. Dd and I go running every day and also do online workouts. It’s a good habit to get into.

@CKBJ

My DS bit older 13, nearly 14 a bit like this. He’s into football big time and missing it so much. I found an online course working towards his FA coaching badge level 1 he thought this was great and so I signed him up. He completes this at the weekends at the moment. Also before pandemic he walked two elderly people’s dogs once a day and he has continued this-not sure if it’s technically allowed.

Hi,this sounds great,I just had a look and I can only find the one for 16+. Could you link the course your son is doing as mine would love this I'm sure.

Thanks for starting this thread Op,I tried a similar one a few weeks back but didn't get any replies. I'm exhausted trying to keep my pre teens and my mood up. Today we're putting the 7 month old in a tuff tray and letting her go crazy with jelly. That should perk us all up, hopefully

I felt the need to resurrect this thread, as things are still the same here. Mood lower, if anything.
Just bumping really for more ideas.
Disney + has been useful and we’ve found things we can all watch. We’re going to take turns to plan and make weekend breakfast.
I understand how hard it must be for DD - the rest of us at least get out to work and school. She tried school for a couple of days and it wasn’t a success - she felt much worse for various reasons.