Lockdown blues

[Rosebud2005]

What are your teenagers doing to motivate themselves during these times when they can’t go out to meet the usual groups of friends? Mine was never sporty to begin with but his activity levels have well and truly went out the window

DC1 is lucky as Explorers are still meeting outdoors. DC2 however seem to be relying on their phone to get them through although the did bath the dog and cook dinner tonight.

hi ! teen here.

covid has muddled us up completely and left a lot of us feeling pretty bored and lonely. don’t worry- it’s not just your child, its pretty much a shared experience between everyone.

if you can, try do stuff with them, whether it be baking or cooking or watching a movie with them. my family isn’t a very social house but my mum and i take time to watch something good every once in a while. i haven’t spoken to my friends much because of lockdown so i look forward to the time i get to spend with her.

overall, don’t worry if they’re not doing much. pretty much every teen is doing the routine of wake up, phone, netflix, phone, shower, sleep. we’re not really sure what else to do. if you start to notice them be down/upset, try do spend time with them though. even though we don’t show it we do appreciate it :)

DS is ASD and for him its largely his silkie chickens and his rabbit, he also chats with me a lot and occassionally does some baking. Rest of the time its ipad, TV, Netflix apart from home learning.

DD goes for a run an hour a day and passes wildlife like deer and squirrels and photographs it. She also spends time with our indoor rabbit, cat and silkie chickens. She has painted her room, about to redo it and lay flooring. She has done some cooking. She has done some art and got a sewing machine. She does extra studying on top of what school set. She gets a lot of clothes and tries them on. She keeps in touch with others via phone and meets one friend a bit. Other than that phone, Netflix.

Thanks it’s good to get the perspective of another teen as I have been quite worried. He basically comes back from school lies in bed for the rest of the might, lies in bed at the weekend, won’t take up any activities. He’s been in all sorts over the years and gave up the lot. I wish he would do something else to keep gimbals his mind active. It’s prelim time just now and he’s refusing to study. He says I’m nagging .. I don’t intend to nag, I’m trying to encourage but if I don’t who will. He is quite moody these days which is normal to a point but I just don’t want it going too far for him as he doesn’t speak as much as he used do with me