My nephew is bored and hard to motivate

[paulkal]

My 17 year old nephew says that he is bored during his holidays and seems to spend mos of his waking hours on Facebook and similar websites, is not interested is sport or recreational reading and is putting up firm resistance to getting a holiday job. My sister is reaching the end of her tether with him. What can she do to motivate him?

He sounds just like my 17 yo DS - only he doesn't say "he's bored" - he seems quite happy to be occupied by Facebook and PS/Computer games. I tried enticing him out into the fresh air in that warm weather by offering ice cream but it has now become a family joke that if I tell him to get off the computer/PS/Nexus and get out in the fresh air, he immediately heads for the freezer, gets an ice cream, eats it in the garden, looks at his watch constantly and then heads back inside as soon as the ice cream is finished.

We had a ding dong this morning about me paying is gym membership and him not going to the gym - although he has relented and gone this evening with DH instead of this morning with me,

He has a casual job doing some gardening for someone we know but any attempts to persuade him that he should apply for something regular have fallen on deaf ears, the problem being that as he hardly goes out, he doesn't need any money.

I ask him what his friends are up to on FB and he replies "not much" so t sounds like they are all being as idle as each other.

Sorry that isn't much help but I don't think your sister is alone in this.

Thanks for your reply. it's good to feel we're not alone.