Blisstree » teen activities http://www.blisstree.com Family, Health, Home and Lifestyles Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:58:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Squash Your Teen’s Summertime Boredom http://www.blisstree.com/articles/squash-your-teens-summertime-boredom-119/ http://www.blisstree.com/articles/squash-your-teens-summertime-boredom-119/#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:58:46 +0000 Christine http://www.wearyparent.com/squash-your-teens-summertime-boredom/ Post from: Blisstree

Squash Your Teen’s Summertime Boredom

]]> Studies have shown that teens who are bored, stressed and/or have lots of spending money are more likely to smoke, drink, use illegal drugs and have sex. When school is in session it’s easier to keep their minds off the “bad” things and more on the “good” things. With school, homework and extracurricular activities teens stay busy and have less time to get bored and therefore in trouble. But during the summer break it only takes a couple of days before parents start to hear “I’m sooo booored.”

So what can we do to keep our teens busy? We’ve already given you some ideas to keep your teen busy this summer and each weekday Char gives you another project, activity or field trip from our Camp Weary Parent series. But we can never have too many ideas to keep our kids busy during the summer so here are few more.

  • Get a job.
  • Go to summer camp.
  • Do a summer internship. This is not only a great way to keep busy, but also a great way to get some college credit or experience for their resume.
  • Get some friends together, find a dirt field and play some baseball like in the movie The Sandlot.
  • Baseball not their thing, then how about a game of football in the grass at the park.
  • Head to the YMCA and get in on a basketball game.
  • Grab some golf clubs and head out to the golf course with a couple of friends. Laugh hysterically at each other. (Or is it just me people laugh at when we’re on the golf course?)
  • Hit the bike trails for a long, scenic bike ride.
  • Take a date to the bowling alley.
  • Lace up those roller skates (or blades) and learn to skate backwards at the skating rink.
  • Sign up for an exercise class.
  • Get a pool pass and become a regular at the city pool.
  • Start going for a nightly jog or walk.
  • Take an art class at a local college or with the city recreation department.
  • Join (or start) a book club.
  • Clean out the garage and have a garage sale. (This is a great way to get your kids to clean for you. They won’t mind doing it if they get to keep the money from the garage sale.)
  • Use that garage sale money to see some of the summer blockbusters at the local movie theater.
  • Don’t want to go to the movie theater? Then have a movie marathon at home with some of the guys and/or gals.
  • Hold a car wash.
  • Take a day trip to a nearby amusement park.
  • Throw on your best swimsuit and go to a waterpark.
  • Check out the animals at the zoo.
  • Go see a ball game at a local stadium.
  • Audition for a part in the summer performance at the local community theater.
  • Have a water balloon fight. (It takes half a day just to fill the water balloons.)
  • Get some good boots and go hiking.
  • Buy a tent (again with the garage sale money…or maybe the car wash revenue) and go camping.
  • Dust off that fishing pole and head to the river to catch some fish.
  • Get some canvas and paints and paint a portrait of a friend or a landscape of the great outdoors.
  • Pull out a camera and take pictures of everything you see. Learn Photoshop (or a free program like GIMP) to make the photo masterpieces.

There’s no excuse for teens to be bored this summer. Even if you live in the middle of “nothing to do” like we do. If you are creative and really think about what interests your teen there are tons of activities to keep them busy.

Post from: Blisstree

Squash Your Teen’s Summertime Boredom

]]> http://www.blisstree.com/articles/squash-your-teens-summertime-boredom-119/feed/ 2 Staying Sharp During The Summer http://www.blisstree.com/articles/staying-sharp-during-the-summer-119/ http://www.blisstree.com/articles/staying-sharp-during-the-summer-119/#comments Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:04:03 +0000 Christine http://www.wearyparent.com/staying-sharp-during-the-summer/ Post from: Blisstree

Staying Sharp During The Summer

]]> During summer vacation kids seem to turn off their brains and forget everything they learned during the school year. They are too busy scoping out boys at the pool or the mall or playing video games and watching television. There is often very little reading or writing or arithmetic. When they are little it’s easier to slip in a lesson without them knowing. When they are little they still want to curl up and have you read a book to them. When they get to be teenagers they start to pull away and start to groan the second you suggest they pick up a book to read. So what can we do to keep them sharp during the summer?

  • Have her start a blog where she can post about her summer activities and get comments from her friend.
  • Encourage her to keep a travel journal or scrapbook while she’s at camp or while you’re on your family vacation.
  • Get him to write letters or emails to his grandparents. Guilt him in to it if you have to. “Grandma would be so happy to get an email from you. She doesn’t get to hear from you very often.”
  • Have your teen plan your vacation from start to finish. Have her research hotels and restaurants. Let her pick what attractions she wants to go to.
  • Let your teen map out the trip…on a map, not MapQuest. Have him highlight the fastest route. Ask him to find both the quickest route and the route that avoids tolls. If he’s old enough, let him drive part of the trip. If he isn’t old enough have him navigate for you.
  • Ask your teen to “help” you by reading to her younger brothers or sisters. Tell her the younger kids are required to read so many pages during the summer and your just too busy to do it all yourself.
  • Ask your teen to babysit for you (you will probably have to pay him) and tell him there should be no television. Make him use his imagination to come up with something to entertain his siblings.
  • Have your teen make dinner once a week. Let her choose the menu and be responsible for the whole meal.
  • Give your teen the chore of grocery shopping. Give him $50 and a grocery list and see if he can find the deals to come in under budget.
  • Shop together to buy new school clothes. Set a budget. Make it clear. And let your teen figure out how to get what she needs within that budget. Don’t give in.
  • Buy some puzzle books; Suduko or crossword puzzles.
  • Get them a subscription to Games or Mental Floss magazines. Games has a lot of brain teasers and puzzles using pop culture. Mental Floss has a lot of interesting facts.
  • What interests your teen? There is a magazine for everything. If he’s a gamer get a gaming magazine. If she’s in to fashion get her teen vogue. Magazines are easier for a teen to digest (especially in the summer) with the short articles.

What other ideas do you have to keep teens using their brains during the summer?

Christine

Post from: Blisstree

Staying Sharp During The Summer

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