Ideas for Spending Time with a Teen

When you are an adult it seems that it is almost impossible to come up with ways to spend time with your teenager. It is as though you have nothing in common, and live in two different worlds. With our busy work schedules it’s easy to get wrapped up in things and lose track of time and communication.

One way to spend time together is by eating meals together, it’s hard to find the time but, sitting down together over a meal can be a great way to accomplish this. It opens the door and gives your teen a chance to tell you about their day in a casual way, with no pressure. You can tell them about your day to help get things started. When your teen does start talking to you, try not to interpret them, this shows them you really care and will encourage them to spend more time with you. Once they have begun to feel comfortable talking to you, they will want to find new ways of being together.

Go out for a leisure drive together, if they have just received a license this will be a good way for them to get practice and give you both a chance to talk to each other. Go out shopping together; let them show you their favorite stores and styles of clothing.

Include your teen in on any home projects you have planned, if you are working together this is a great time to talk and get to know one another better.

Go bicycling or hiking together put a basketball goal in your backyard and spends time together playing each other, teens really love to beat their parents in games.

Choose a day once or twice a month to do something your teen likes to do, and spend that day letting them choose the activities and making the rules. This is a good way to learn each other and create more ways to spend time together, once you get to know each other you may find you have more in common than either one of you thought.