All parents experience it. At some point, your kid is going to start developing their own interests and their own independent attitude, and you will have a harder and harder time getting any of their time. However, while it’s important for you to let them go off and do their own thing, it’s also important to work to keep the family bond strong and starting a hobby with them can be an excellent way to do that. If your kid is getting a little grown-up, here are a few hobbies that could potentially engage both of you.
Hitting the gym
If there’s one kind of hobby that you should be promoting, then it’s those hobbies that get your kids out and moving. As they get a little older, it becomes easier to simply suggest that you go for a workout together, as they may be thinking about getting a little more active themselves. They might have been thinking about going to the gym themselves but are feeling self-conscious, so having some company can take their focus off of that. You can look at local gyms like www.sheditfitness.com for classes that you could take together, or simply make it an appointment that you keep with them a few days a week. Either way, you get to spend time together while promoting a healthy lifestyle.
Getting out and about
Moving and getting active with your kid is a great way to make sure that they’re picking up some healthy habits while spending time together. However, if they’re not the kind who can stay engaged by the gym alone, then you might want to consider making it more of an excursion. Exploring the outside work and getting more familiar with some of the local natural beauty spots can make an excellent opportunity and excuse to get out, whether you start bicycle riding with your kid or simply make it a walk, instead. Plus, it can be some valuable and therapeutic time away from the developed world and all of the stresses that come with it, too.
Spend the night under the stars
If you want to encourage your kid to get out, to get some exercise, and to enjoy more of the world around them, then it need not be a short trip, either. Camping with your teens can be a great way to get away from the stresses of life while learning some practical skills. This can include learning to cook with very little equipment, setting up a tent, and building a fire. There’s a lot that a teen can learn out there in nature that they’re not likely to pick up at school. It’s a good way of getting them out of an environment that’s always going to cater to their needs, as well.
Get into visual art together
Working on arts, such as painting, drawing, sculpture and more are often considered more of a solo hobby. Indeed, you can really paint or draw for them. You can, however, be a partner in the process with them. You can look at some of the online visual arts courses that you can take and go through them together, comparing pieces and swapping techniques as you go, if you have the artistic inclination. Or, you can simply support your teen through their hobby, helping them improve with classes, getting them helpful books and resources, and maybe even helping them get their art out there online or in shows when they’re confident enough.
You can give your child resources that can help develop their creativity and imagination. Books such as comics and graphic novels entertain your kids visually and help them develop their reading comprehension and other cognitive abilities. Exploring stories such as of Daredevil, Batman, Superman, Wonder woman, and more can be beneficial. These stories can help awaken a sense of community and empathy in your child.
Get cooking
Some teens seem to naturally fit into being a lot handier in the kitchen. Others are going to struggle well into adulthood unless you help them along the way. Both types are a perfect match for getting into cooking with you. It’s a combination of a hobby and a way of teaching them some valuable life skills. It can mean simply working with you as you prepare dinner in the kitchen, or you can even look for cooking classes together, be it online or at a local community centre or restaurant. To keep things fun, you definitely want to focus on learning new recipes and techniques over doing the same thing time and time again, however.
Movie nights
If you’re looking for a way to spend some time with the kids without needing to ask them to do too much or invest too much, then there are fewer better ways to have a movie night with them. If you already have a family movie night, then you can make things a little more special still by going out on one-on-one trips to the cinema with your older kid. You can make it a little like a film club, where you go out, watching a film, then stop somewhere for a bite after to talk about what you’ve seen. It will help their critical thinking and their creativity as well.
Start a book club
Is your kid a reader? Then perhaps you could make that a hobby that you share from now on, as well. There are plenty of sites like www.whatshouldireadnext.com that can recommend new books, especially those based on those that you have both enjoyed in the past. You can start a book club of two, finding new books, reading them, and then talking about them. It can help your child start to identify things like themes, character traits, and the messages that they might miss in books by reading alone. If it goes well enough, you might even want to consider starting to invite other people to join the club, as well. The more voices, the merrier when it comes to a critical conversation.
Playing videogames together
Yes, your teen might already be into video games and you might not want to push them into playing them too often. However, there is an opportunity to turn something that they already spend their time on into something that you can do together with them. If you can find some of the fantastic co-op games out there, then it could be your opportunity to step a little into their world in a way that parents can often neglect to. What’s more, more and more parents these days played their fair share of games as model a kid, a teen, or even an adult, so it might not be too difficult a transition to make. For the introverted gamers in the family, it can be a valuable opportunity to share something they’re passionate about.
Model building
There are all kinds of models that you could spend the time putting together with your kid, depending on what’s most likely to catch their imagination. On the easier side of things, you could work on all kinds of Lego sculptures with them, and many people of all ages can make all manner of elaborate displays with those blocks. However, if you want to get a little more technically minded or your child has an interest in technology or transport, then things like model trains from www.britishlivesteam.com.au could be just what they might like. There are few things more satisfying than putting days of effort into completing an elaborate train set and then watching it run perfectly. Airfix models are also another example that provides more challenging models. You can learn more about Airfix models via websites like eModels.
Volunteering together
It might not sound as immediately fun as some of the other hobbies mentioned here, but there’s great value to volunteering with your kids. As they start to get older, a lot of teenagers start to think a little more deeply about what their values are, what they stand for, and what kind of impact they want to make in the world. If you have a teen that’s a little more considerate, conscious, and has no problem helping out, then you can get involved in a local cause together. Sites like govolunteer.com.au/ can make it easy to find the nonprofits that need help near you and you can find a cause that speaks to both of you and do some good in the world
Learning about money
It might not seem as exciting as some of the hobbies mentioned above. However, financial literacy and responsibility are some skills that many teenagers leave the home without any handle on, and this can leave them vulnerable to all sorts of mistakes as they get older. If you give your teen pocket money or they have a part-time job, you can start learning about saving, budgeting, and even start investing. A little time spent on building their knowledge of credit, debt, and how to more responsibly use their money can come in handy big time as they get older. You can’t force them to make good choices with their money, but you can at least make sure they’re equipped with the know-how that they need to make better decisions.
The hobbies named above are just some examples of those that can work well for both adults and growing kids. You know your interests and your kid better than anyone, so there may be others that this list gets you thinking of, too.
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