Interests for teenage boy please

[Britchic]

Hi everyone

Need advice for 14 year old DS who has become quite incapable of entertaining himself at home, unless a screen is involved!

He's always happy to do organised activities (seeing friends, cricket on Sundays, climbing). And we try to give him limits on phone and xbox..... but that leaves quite a few hours each day in the holidays with nothing on (and subsequent sneaking of more and more screen time!).

We live in the sticks, which makes it harder for him to hang out with friends, and while he used to be great at entertaining himself (making up games, spending hours reading) there's not much he'll do now - a few household/garden chores, walking the dog, occasional baking/cooking.... but we'd love him to have interests / things he feels passionate about - or are we dreaming??!

Please can you tell me: what interests do your teens have that don't involve them being entertained, which they can do when they're hanging out at home.

Thank you so much!

Stop motion ? Place marking for ideas!

Sounds like a typical teen to me.

Can he learn to do coding? Perhaps get a raspberry pi?

Couch to five running programme?

Yes - I think he is a typical teen, but I'm still saddened that it's so much harder for kids to entertain themselves, with the lure of screens, than it was for us... I'd really love him to have more than that.

Will look into Stop Motion, thanks. At the risk of sounding negative - he 'hates' coding and running.... sigh... Thank you though!

Ds (13) spends ages kicking a football by himself in the garden (an hour at a time often). He also loves basketball.
Other than that it’s screens I’m afraid.

Lego? My 15 yr old DS enjoys the blockheads (Harry potter theme) and the city scape ones.

Mindfulness sticker books (you can get quite intricate ones)

Jigsaws?

One player card games like solitaire or clock.

Honestly? Leave him be. You are already winning if he sees friends, plays cricket and climbs. You can encourage general chores and paid for chores, and makes sure he does his homework. Other than that let him relax as he chooses. At most ask him to watch something of educational value on YouTube and I don't mean school educational, rather life.

that age with gcse looming is difficult.
dc need downtime and screen is good for that.

My nephew has recently decided he wants a six packs so has started doing weights. What about learning guitar?

My teen ds will do jobs in the garden, or play basketball on the drive. We put a hoop up last year. He is also trying to beat his rubix cube record of two minutes.

He plays a few instruments too. Screen time is still a huge factor though, even with all that.

Is Warhammer still a thing?
My DS used to enjoy that.

To be honest he's getting to that age where they need some time just to lounge and do nothing. I'm not sure 14 year olds need to have their time filled by parents in the same way that smaller children do.
You're doing well still having two hobbies on the go at 14 IMHO. Their brains and growing bodies need rest. If he's doing other activities, seeing friends, doing chores, having screen time and also going to school that's probably more than enough.

Play guitar
Play Magic the gathering/yu gi oh/World of warcraft/warhammer/dungeons and dragons etc.

I had my nose in a book a lot that age, I don't see it as superior to kids on screens today.

My youngest (14yo) is peculiarly industrious. He worked this morning (paper round) then did park run. Been on screens since. Tomorrow is paper round + DoE volunteering. Sometimes talks to me at length about some random thoughts in his head.

If he likes cricket what about a big cricket net in garden. Also does he just train once a week or play for a team in summer? I have 15 year old who trains 3/4 times a week and plays for 3 different teams in summer season. Under 15, adult Saturday and Adult Sunday teams. 2 Xmas ago he had a garden net a really big one and ball bowling machine. He spends hours in there every week even in the winter

Mine will spend time doing anything if I pay him, seriously, paid chores, currently he does the lawns and weekends breakfasts. But I am thinking of coming up with more. Other than that he will go into town with mates for a bit, but screens & games is where he mainly socialises, and tbh he is talking constantly to his friends online so I'm accommodating with that. That was how it had to be for the past two years, it is what it is.

Archery if you have the space
Chess
Swingball
Solitaire
Comice/graphic novels
Friends for sleepovers
Camping
Could he cook a bbq
Roller blading
Art

My 15 year old watches movies, YouTube, plays on his PS4, hangs with friends, and skateboards. When he is not doing those things I expect him to be doing homework or revising.

Crafting I saw some good starter kits in the Works

@Cotswoldmama

My nephew has recently decided he wants a six packs so has started doing weights. What about learning guitar?

My DS did these two things plus he used to go running .

Also at 15 we got him the dog he had always wanted - I probably wouldn't recommend that one.
Agree with others though that if he has some hobbies beyond screen based stuff it's a bonus .
Screen wise - I think it's healthier if it's a mix of gaming, you tube and Netflix rather than obsessively playing specific games .
Oh yes - DS also listened to a lot of music moving on to attending gigs as he got older .

Thank you so much for all your replies - there are some great ideas in there.

To those who have said 'let him be'... I agree that teens need downtime, and I certainly don't want to fill every minute, but on a quieter day, after say, cricket training, chores, meals, he could (and would if I let him) rack up 10 hours on screens. That's what I find really tricky and the source of arguments. Sigh.... it was so much easier when we were young!

But thank you, will gently put forward some of your suggestions.

Where in the sticks are you. Is mountain biking an option? You don’t need anything too expensive to get started. DS bought a second hand bike and it was only as he got better he upgraded.

Following for ideas, great post. My DS14 has just joined the local gym, and is doing Duke of Edinburgh bronze - maybe worth a thought? There is also volunteering to do so keeps them busy. Otherwise basketball, either in the garden or at the local park, walking the dog and as it gets warmer, swimming and windsurfing but yep loads of screen time too. As it is also a social outlet from the point of view of talking to friends online, I don't want to cut it down too much as long as he's doing other things.

But if on any one day he has played cricket and done some chores why not let him get on with the screens if that's what he wants to do. He's had some fresh and exercise.
My son is older at 17 but from 14 or so 'interests' declined. He used to to go swimming, play tennis and go to Scouts which had camps and weekend activities.
He got a paper round at 14, the swimming and tennis stopped, he carried on with scouts. At 16 he got a Saturday job.
Yesterday he got in from work at 5, spent the evening on the PS4, this morning he has been on a 60k cycle ride. I know his college work is up to date. If he wants to play on the PS4 or phone the rest of the day thats fine.
You can't force them to have interests. Most of the time my son is on the PS4 he is talking to his mates - its very social.

Reading with interest as mine is 15 and the same. Very sociable and outdoorsy, but, as you say, still a huge amount of time just watching tv, YouTube, gaming etc. he's doing DoE so has started to learn to cook- I just got him the tray cookbook which is a very good way to start, as you cook the whole meal in - a tray!
Other than that, Sea Scouts and rugby club which are also social for me, as well as fun for him (I'm a single parent)