I've got two sons, one 13 and one 11.
We've always been pretty close and enjoyed spending time together.
My youngest son is on the spectrum and has tricky friendships; he hates sports but the children he enjoys spending time with are very sporty and very busy at weekends. He's never had a really good friend but until recently he was happy in his own company or with us. He had a serious health issue last summer that he's recovering from and we basically missed the whole of the summer holidays as he and I were in hospital and my husband and son visited most days. Last summer was a whole stage skipped over and now I'm trying to catch up.
My eldest has good friends and a couple of hobbies he does throughout the week. He really doesn't want to do sports at the weekend and his favourite things to do are tiktok edits and gaming with his friends, sometimes hanging out in real life! He's happy. My youngest isn't happy at all. He's lonely and frustrated but won't join any clubs that I suggest because of anxiety and just doesn't have a best friend to hang out with or even game with. It breaks my heart. We are getting help for him but it's so unbelievably slow.
My husband works at the weekend.
Basically, I need ideas about things to do. They are completely over going to parks or on walks or the woods. We do go swimming, cinema, youngest still like trampoline parks but eldest doesn't, we go to theme parks and days out and visit family who are all about an hour away.
They don't really want to do anything just us as a family anymore. Days out are ok but just going to any old place is a big no unless they have friends with them which is an issue because their friends parents aren't really in the same circles and I can't invite my eldest's friends if my youngest has nobody there. We do see friends but not every weekend.
Unless I've arranged something we have started spending lots of weekends indoors, on screens or each doing their own separate activities which is really not what I want. I can't afford big days out every weekend...what on earth do people do with tweens that's not really expensive and is fun and not considered babyish?
They're lovely boys and maybe if we had last summer it would've evolved more gradually but I feel stuck, frustrated and like I'm failing them.
Please don't reply with anything negative, I'm not asking if I'm being unreasonable, I'm asking for ideas and advice. Thank you! Xxx