Entertain 14 yr old boy

[Mooboo3]

Pleeeeese help!
I’ve completely run out of ideas. I mean absolutely completely. We are east of Edinburgh but can travel. Is there anything within an hour say? Have done usual Edinburgh stuff. Any festivals/ cool museums / anything?
my brain is just imploding with boredom. The thought of the museum, princes street…he’d just drag along. Maybe it should read entertaining mum whose done this for 14 years and is sooooo over it.
is Loch Lomond worth a visit maybe? There must be LOADS going on and I just haven’t a scooby. Or where to look, I’m so rubbish.
thank you very much!

What about getting him to do things for you, but on his own, that involve getting out of the house.
Going to the shops with a small shopping list; dropping something of at your friend's house; going to pick up a click and collect; taking a book back to the library; walking a neighbors dog etc.
I know these are all v boring, but might give him a sense of independence and purpose.
You might have to strong arm him a bit to get him started.

My 14 yr old loves Airfix modelling. He does some gardening for us and our neighbour, cutting grass and watering plants, he's been picking vegetables for our neighbour. Then he earns a few quid, gets on his bike to the model shop and buys whatever model he's had his eye on. Spends a good hour browsing and talking to the people in the shop. Comes home, makes and paints it.

He doesn't do much with friends either. My older son does though. They both seem happy enough in their own ways.

Older ds went swimming to Dunbar with his friends last week, they were away all day. But I guess that would be less fun on your own, can he find a friend to take?

Any house projects he can get stuck into? Painting a fence/decorating his room?
It’s a nice feeling to do something constructive and see a result at the end of it.

I needed some shopping for essential items yesterday so sent DS out to the shop as I have younger DC to care for. He enjoyed getting out and he was allowed to treat himself with some sweets . Gave him a sense of purpose. Could you do something similar?

Agree with PP, if there's a fence needing painted, hand your DS a brush to get stuck in....

Really don’t know what Tod do! Beautiful day and he’s in on computer all day. I guess at least he’s coding sometimes.

Inflatable obstacle course at loch ard? Slightly further away than you asked for though.

DS 14 has been a bit shy at organising things, so a gentle nudge in the right direction has helped e.g. dad and I have loads of chores to do Sunday, why don't you invite X round for some gaming/movie afternoon etc. There's spaces at foxlake next Friday - I can drive you and a mate if you want to go? X is on at the cinema, happy to pay for a ticket if you want to go with friends. That kind of thing.

I think the last couple of years have been tricky so this age group isn't necessarily as switched on or as confident in organising their own social life as they might have been usually. It's just trying to find a way of giving them a nudge without it being too obvious!

Could he not get a job? Most 14 year olds I know work during the school holidays.

What kind of jobs can a 14 year old do?

Work in a cafe, wash dishes in a restaurant, stacking shelves in a supermarket, grass cutting, car washing, dog walking.

Children where I am work from 13, you need parental and school approval but it's very normal here (Scottish seaside town - tourist businesses wouldn't survive without teenagers working).

That's really interesting, I had no idea jobs were open to under 16s (apart from paper rounds). I teach and have never come across an S3/4 child working anywhere whereas I often see S5 and 6 ones in shops etc.
time to wake dd up and send her to the job centre

@Bindayagain I also don't know any teen who's had a job like that under the age of 16! Cash in hand casual work such as grass cutting maybe but don't you need a National Insurance number for cafes and supermarkets?

Would be very surprised if under 16s can work in a supermarket....

He really won’t do anything. Refuses to leave house, call mates. Doesn’t want a paper round, I know he’s bored as he can get ridiculously clingy or again ridiculously private. Just seems a shame there must be lots of fun he’s missing out on. He says no point meeting mates as all they do is hang out at the park.. and won’t let me take them/ drop them off. Won’t get on a bike ( may be not confident about cycling) . My mum said it’s a phase and not to hassle him. I guess me nagging him to call mates won’t help if he’s feeling shy and inadequate. Such a waste of a summer holiday. It’s the same every holiday.

Mine was willing to go to the gym with me, would that work?
We've done things like go-karting, aqua dash, segways this summer, but all £££
Is there a movie series you could get into and have a movie marathon?

Avoiding the hanging out at the park is probably a good thing..
if you bought some flat packs from Ikea, could he build them for you?
My teen solves the what-to-do dilemma by sleeping for most of the day.

bindayagain that did make me laugh! I’m glad yours sleeps a lot too! You’re right about ikea, he’s a whizz. We did get dd a bookshelf for him to put up, and he put in a bit the wrong way, and was SO hard on himself. I’ll see what other flat packs I can get!
Did you take yours go karting etc on his own or with mates? Actually that is something he might do, we had a go on holiday, and he kept the score sheet and kept looking at it, awww. We took him again and he downplayed his score ( against me and Dh!) it’s hard to hear him be so hard on himself. I’ll try to karting - and hope his mates aren’t all amazing at it!

karting - his dad went once but since then ds has gone alone - it's not a cheap thing to do so I wouldn't like to pay for a friend! And easier organisation wise just to get on and do it. I stay and watch and take photos go on mumsnet

How about encouraging him to start on the Doke of Edinburghs Award Scheme? Might give him the prompt he needs to start organising/planning activities - might even be something he could persuade a friend to do as well?

Doke = Duke