Family Things to Do With Teenagers | Help at Home

Ah, teenagers! It may be harder to find family things to do with this age group but where there's a will, there's a way. If you're the parent of an adolescent, you may be experiencing a whole new understanding of the words: surly and angst. You may ask yourself who this person is standing in front of you with such an attitude and what they did with your formerly sweet child. Well, relax, you're not alone. Parents who have traveled this stage of child rearing before you can pat you on the back and say, "This too shall pass."

 

HELP! Teenager at Home

You may wonder why teens have to be so rebellious in the same way you wondered why baby teeth had to burst through perfectly good pink gums when your kid was a tot. Painful, yes, but both processes are necessary for growing up. In order to get those wee pearly teeth above the gum line so they could chew food, there had to be a painful process of emerging incisors, bicuspids, and molars. In order to get your kid from cooperative child to grown up adult, he or she has to pass through the self-differentiating stage of adolescence. If he or she didn't assert independence, rebel against your authority, and drive you nuts, you'd never be able to let them drive away from home to live in the dorms at college. Because of this snarly stage, you are delighted when they finally head out. It's not that they don't love you; it's that this is yet another developmental stage that must be passed through on the road to adulthood.

So, if you want to plan some family things to do while your teens are still under roof, what can you do? For one thing, you can allow them to bring their friends along. If you're going to Disneyland in California to the delight of your younger kids, your older kid may be placated if allowed to bring a friend along. Yes, it's one more mouth to feed but the better attitude of your adolescent will be worth it. Another idea is to play board games with your teenager in the name of conflict resolution. Do you want your teenager to put away her torn jeans for the group photo shoot? Tell her that if she wins at Monopoly, she can wear the jeans and if you win, she has to wear her velvet dress. Not only can you solve this power struggle, you can spend quality time together without arguing. Board games are perfect opportunities to relax and chat without all that tension.
Teenagers can be challenging but they can also be lots of fun. When they move out, you may no longer know the lyrics to the latest techno punk bands' songs. You may no longer get to understand what words such as "meh" or "daz" mean without going to the Urban Dictionary. Enjoy them while you can by planning family things to do that take their developmental stage into consideration.

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