How do you spend (enjoyable!) time with your 15yo?

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He's a good kid, doing ok at school and can be very nice when not 'teen mode'.

He trains at the gym or his sport a couple of times a week, has a girlfriend he sees once a week, and the rest of the time retreats to his room, on his phone or Xbox. Tbh he would rather eat all his meals in his room in watching YouTube!

I would like to try and maintain our relationship and need some ideas of things that we can do together that he won't just turn his nose up at. It can't be the Xbox because my rubbishness stresses him out!

Any ideas??

I parkrun with my teen every week. We walk there and back every sat morning which is a lovely time to chat. We run separately as they're way faster than me but hang around a bit at the end to talk to friends, sometimes get a drink and breakfast in the cafe. It's a lovely way to start the weekend.

Useful day out ideas

DD likes us to take dinner down the beach, have a car picnic looking at the surf and then a night walk on the beach, the darker the better. We went last Saturday all wrapped up and flopped on the sand and star gazed.

We are watching lots of older TV series with my DS at the moment. Things the Modern Family, House, The Office, Chuck. He loves them all and we make sure we have an hour or so in the evening once younger ones in bed watching our grown up shows. Nice and cheap and can fit in to every weekday.

Plus all his screens etc lock after 830pm on parental controls so he has little choice if he wants to watch something!

Watch TV together,
let him choose and engage with it properly , so you can talk about it, we watched Breaking Bad and Star Trek

Thanks everyone, there have been some really useful ideas here. Am looking forward to giving some of them a go!

My teen DS (17 now, but been the same for a few years) will walk the dogs with me, come food shopping to carry the bags he thinks are too heavy for me, ditto tip runs. He’ll also come ice skating/ theme park/ climbing/ meals out/ bowling as a family.

What a lovely thread

We go to gigs, do silly name that tune contests on YouTube, have a box set on the go and watch an episode each evening, have themed dinners like Italian night, eat dinner together each night, sometimes at table, sometimes in front of box set, he’s always up for a city break too

I treat my 14yo to a costa coffee occasionally and sometimes persuade her to go for a walk with me. Sometimes I just ask her to sit next to me on her iPad while I watch tv.
My son (10) I spend time with as I drive him to his activities and weirdly we text each other a lot (he doesn't have a phone it's over wifi) -
Even when in the same room. Kids eh

My dd is 15 and ds 13. We all have season tickets to the local football team and sometimes travel to away games too. We also watch ds play cricket and all watch the same local cricket team together. Highly recommend that if you have a local league.

More costly but we also go to big sports events like England cricket and concerts together. Can sometimes drag them on a nice walk with a cafe at the end too.

Mine is a year or so younger so this might be a completely rubbish idea but I've realised she likes going for a walk but not if there is a risk that we might bump into anyone she knows. She is quite happy to drive an hour away, walk for a couple of hours and then drive home. This is amazing as far as I'm concerned as we get to do some different walks and the drives provide time for some good chats

My 14yo DS is thankful for my undivided attention - any kind of day out where it's just me and him he loves. We both love history. Museums and castles etc are good day out's for us. We also enjoy some of the same programs which he likes to watch with me on our own, would I lie to you and the last leg are regulars. We also have a 'history film club' where we watch documentaries together. He is an old soul in a young ones body lol.

Walks
Baking
Board games
Catch up TV - IT Crowd, Friday Night Dinner, Deutschland 83 / 86 / 89

Teach him to play poker- a genuine life skill.

I go to the gym with DS15 and now and again do his sport/hobby with him (mtb'ing).

He sometimes comes and walks the dog with me.

We also watch movies or series on Netflix together in school holidays.

DS2 is 16.

Board games, watching Tv shows we both like, he loves walking to Tesco and getting a coffee and looking at the lego. Or just going out for coffee. I've been teaching him to use the sewing machine. We're planning to do some art together too. Baking together.

Board games
Swimming
Jigsaws
Watching TV : Clarkson's farm is the current favourite
In Summer we work on our allotment together and have picnics there

Get a premier inn booked for a couple of nights and go exploring
My teen would get quite engaged but had a nasty habit of dragging me up castles
Scared of heights....

I know, I only have a toddler but love reading these cosy threads when they pop up.

Older teen dd has always been up for coming anywhere or doing pretty much anything with me, which I know is unusual. Even now at 18 she’ll go anywhere, even food shopping if I ask.

15 year old is far less likely to want to come. However some of the things we enjoy doing together are.

paddleboarding - summer only. We are very much fair weather paddle boarders.

beach trips - Dd1 and DH aren’t massive beach fans, but dd2 and me will stay all day.

theatre trips - usually with both dds

bouldering

city breaks - usually with both dds

Thank you, everyone! This has been uplifting and useful equally.

I have two 15 year olds.

Things they both like:
Eating out
Coffee shops
Walks
Camping
Festivals
City trips

DS:
Running with me - not so much talking on my part!

DD:
Board games
Cooking/baking although she's much better at it than me
Some exercise - yoga etc