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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

Cool things for teens to do in the summer holidays

44 replies

LaineyW · 21/07/2008 21:08

My husband came up with a great idea this evening (well, I thought it was great!) which I thought I'd share... he suggested that we go around the village and take photos of particular landmarks and well-known spots but in strange disguised contexts (upside down pics etc.) and make up a sort of treasure hunt for my daughter and her friends - to see if they could find all the different places.

Anyone else got anything cool for their bored teens to do for six weeks?

My other brilliant idea (not) is to refuse to make their lunches after I've been working from home all morning and they've been dossing in their beds until 11ish then get up and expect me to prepare food for them. Their quest is to provide me with nutritious healthy lunches every day instead. Yeah, right...

OP posts:
ivykaty44 · 21/07/2008 21:15

Go in the church yard and find someone on the outside (so they dont have to trapse over graves) and use this person get them to find out as much as they can about them.

asking older people in the village, library for census, church for baptism register? Bit of a detective style thing for them to do.

rediince · 05/11/2008 07:04

hello. i am actually a teenager. i was searching online for stuff to do during the holisdays and i came across this site. (and decided to join just so that i can comment on this thread.)

well, the topic for this thread is 'COOL things for teens to do in the summer holidays' personally, i feel that your suggestions are rather 'uncool'. if they are activities for kids around the age of 5 to 8, they may still be interesting, but for a teenager, they are going to be very childish and boring. your teenage children will most probably think of them as pointless or waste of time.

note: i am not criticizing anyone, i am just giving constructive comments.

an impt point i think parents should know is that most probably your teen alrdy have activities planned. So let them have some freedom and let them decide for themselves how to spend their holidays.

Relegegend · 04/07/2010 20:45

rediince I agree completly, I'm 15 and these ideas...suck, sorry

If my mum and dad sat down and were like "yes we're going to take pictures of crap and you need to tell us what they are" I'd be like "no thank you, I'm going to Worcester"

pointydog · 04/07/2010 21:01

I never knew there were so many teenagers who read mumsnet posts. You lot need to get out more.

frogs · 04/07/2010 21:15

Well, fwiw:

This is cool.

This is slightly less cool, but still appealing enough for my 15yo to want to do it.

Babysitting for other people's dc is not inherently cool, but she gets paid real money for it, which enables her to do other cool things like go to Top Shop and hang around Camden Market with her friends.

In any remaining spare time I get her to babysit her younger siblings, for which I do not pay her.

Problem solved.

cory · 05/07/2010 07:19

I don't think there is such a thing as "cool for all teenagers". Teenagers, like other people, are individuals.

There may well be one or two teens who would love the village grave research.

My dd would consider it perfectly cool to spend the summer reciting Shakespeare monologues, and so no doubt would many of her friends in the drama club, but some other teen who didn't share this particular interest would have no hesitation in denouncing it as "childish and boring". I used to loathe clothes shopping otoh, and would have hated the suggestion that I should spend my summer in the 1970s equivalent of Top Shop.

What most teens probably would find irritating is not local history (or fossil hunting or sports or aquascaping or wildlife photography) per se (as clearly many teens do do these things and do them extrememly well); it's the suggestion that you are too little to think up something to do, so your parents have to do it for you. Teens tend to be very sensitive on this score.

Having said that, there may well be teens out there who are mature enough to want to join in a family activity such as the above treasure hunt, just like many adults would, because as you mature you start worrying less about appearances and being grownup and more about having fun together. You know your teens, OP- ask them what they think. But make sure they also have plenty of leisure time that they are in control of.

mumeeee · 05/07/2010 17:25

DD3 is now 18 but since she was 15 she's been planning her own activities with her friends. They definatly would not have wanted to do the treasure hunt. Also All 3 of my girls have often got thier own lunches in the holidays and at weekends since they were about 10 years old.

cassie1998 · 15/04/2011 13:24

pointydog, the only reason why we are looking at this is because we have search google for cool things to do in the summer holidays for teenagers and this has come up. It is nothing to do with getting out more and that is the whole reason for this thread. If we did get out more then there wouldn't be any need for this particular thread or your comment that would be taken by many as a mean, unnecessary and childish thing to say. (I am also a teenager who joined to set you straight.)

evlbzltyr · 17/04/2011 02:44

"You lot need to get out more."

I find it hilarious that someone on a forum would tell someone else on a forum that they "need to get out more." That's just a completely hypocritical and downright idiotic thing to say.

But yeah. Just leave them to their own devices. Let them get on with it. They don't need their parents asking - or telling - them to do stuff like that. While it might sound like a cool, fun thing to do, it all sounds a bit too much like something you'd be expected to do in certain classes at school.

evlbzltyr · 17/04/2011 02:45

Also - I'm a teenager too. I only joined this place 'cuz I see my mum on here all the time and want to see what you lot are talking about.

Muahahahahahaha.

GypsyMoth · 17/04/2011 09:10

GEOCACHING

how about a proper worldwide treasure hunt.....there are hundreds of real treasure 'caches' hidden around the world,well,more like millions actually. you can log your finds online. you need compass/gps to locate them. put your postcode into www.geocaching.com to see whats local to you......bet theres a few and you never knew they existed!! once you've found the treasure you take a small item and replace with something small. sign the log and place back where hidden for next people

my tots to teens all love this hobby!Grin

meditrina · 17/04/2011 09:29

Depends on how much you can spend.

Our local ballet school (deeply uncool place) ran very popular street dance classes. The local centre with a climbing wall was a hit too (warning, this was tweenagers not teenagers reaction).

jaykitts · 15/08/2011 19:11

My ex husband (who is ex but lovely) told me the other day that I was impulsive. I totally disagreed. However, ten minutes after reading dragonfly68's post, i've ordered a GPS from Amazon and I'm off to do a bit of geocaching when it arrives!

KatieScarlett2833 · 15/08/2011 19:13

Alton Towers plus own room in nice hotel with pool worked for my DC's.

Other than that, just throw food, money, sleepovers and lifts at them and all will be well.

KatieScarlett2833 · 15/08/2011 19:14

DD, get off Mumsnet before you see all the stuff I've written about you

cat64 · 16/08/2011 00:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

bethemmarie · 20/07/2012 14:41

I am a teenager myself and I am 13.The things what i could think off so far is:
Go swimming with some off there mates and give them some money to go to a cafe with,
Go iceskating,
Let them and one her there mates go to a maze.
I hope this helps!! Smile Wink

RadioRentalMum · 20/07/2012 14:49

My 13 year old is off swimming with his friends today. So far during the holidays (we are in Scotland so he's been off a couple of weeks already), he has spent far too much time on the PC and been out with his friends on his bike a couple of times. Occasionally I drag him, kicking and screaming, out for a walk with the dogs! Grin

wrathomum · 20/07/2012 17:12

Rediince, you could work on how to be taken seriously by adults - by learning how to punctuate sentences! :o

BackforGood · 20/07/2012 17:24

You have spotted this thread is from 2008, haven't you ?

Jesslovesericthedogx · 26/07/2012 20:38

i'm sorry guys but i AM actually a TEENAGER and all of the ideas from people who aren't actually teenagers are rubbish! i don't want to sound mean, these ideas are great for younger children maybe up to 7 year olds and you should think about using them on another chat :D but my little sister is 8 and she wouldn't even thing about taking pictures of landmarks and researching graves is such a sad thing to do in the holidays and is really creepy! I do like some of the ideas though :) and i LOVE some of the ideas from actuall teenagers are great! :D

redincourt · 29/07/2012 12:37

Right, guys you might want to listen closely, all this mumbo jumbo about yay, lets on a treasure hunt is pure bull no offence parents. Swimming?? Seriously?? Not if you have a normal teenage girl. There not going to want to get their hair and makeup wrecked, don't be dumb ass'.
What we really want and would enjoy doing:
#shopping
#get a manicure, pedicure, ect.
#go somewhere fun not flipping sea world or a zoo, do you think we're 5 year olds?!
#ice skating
#let us go out with friends? Even if it's a boy, get the hell over it it's going to happen at one point.
#let them do what the hell they want. Jeez, give them freedom ?!

redincourt · 29/07/2012 12:39

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

Ineedaflippinmedal · 29/07/2012 17:34

Take as many as you can fit in the car and go camping to a site where they can sit and chat, have a campfire, swim in the river and do their own cooking.

You in the meantime, read a really good book, go for some lovely walks and enjoy toasting marshmallows on the fire. PerfectGrin

On the other hand you could just do most of the above in your garden and you can stay at home and watch the olympicsGrin

quirrelquarrel · 30/07/2012 17:33

I don't know, I guess I'm still in teenagerhood (although, the stepping-down is nigh....) and I think if you're open minded, ready to have fun, it just kind of happens. My best friend and I had fab times trailing alone after our parents- bored people are boring people! Graveyards are cool places too. You might not have a Pere Lachaise kind of setup handy but still....people who are not a little entranced by beautiful calm graveyards, I would not be so surprised if they found very few things at all beautiful!
What's wrong with a zoo? I love animals. I might not want to see them in cages, but I wouldn't not go just cos it's meant to be so childish. Last week I was in Paris (yas! I know. that's a pretty cool thing for a teen to have done) and I went several times to the pet shops to have the puppies nibble my fingers through the bars. The people right by my side awwing and stroking them were my age too.
And anyway, what is this big thing about having to be grown up? I spent loads of time with my little cousins this summer, we went off on walks and climbed trees and rolled down hills and played spying games on the people whose woods we were trespassing in. We went to a goat farm and fed the goats. It was for little kids, but as I said, I love animals, so I'd hardly be childish for liking that. I'm 18, the youngest is 7. She and I also played with dolls and it was fun. If you have some imagination....you can have a fantabulous summer without having to spend all sorts of money and be entertained. Simple but true. I find some of these messages pretty aggressive!

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