lewber Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Screen time has become an issue here. Weather is yucky and these weekend days are being filled with minecraft and Trivia crack. We live in a smaller town where you definitely have to make your own fun. Brainstorming- so tell me what your boys do with all their free time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewber Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 young teens- those that can't drive yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Chores (packing/unpacking dishwasher, walking dog, bringing in wood and kindling). Music practice. Some form of exercise (even if the weather is bad) - usually walking or running. Reading, writing, board games. ETA: oh, and they probably get together with friends about once a month at weekends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah CB Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Mine spend quite a bit of time on screens, too. They're also still very into Lego. They help me with household chores for about an hour on Saturday. We typically go out for a family walk at some point, if we aren't already doing something as a family. They're in music (youth symphony and chamber groups) for about five hours total on Sundays. The default is definitely screen time. They're 14 and 12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Chores, for sure. Exercise - my son rides the exercise bike most days. He also participates in a group dungeons and dragons game most Saturdays so he is getting in some fun non-screen socialization. :-) Most young teens I know are pretty busy with homework and/or sports on the weekends too. ETA: He has also had some Saturday classes and coming up (he is an older teen now) he is taking volunteer firefighter training. (Around here one can start training at 16 to be a jr firefighter.) He also does get a fair bit of screentime playing computer games. Sometimes the family will watch a movie or he and his sister will watch a tv show. We also try to do some things as a family, such as a hike or long dog walk. Those are harder when the weather is bad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 My son is older now, but as a young teen... He was involved in sports and enjoyed exercising on his own too, so would usually fit in a run, a bike ride, or a cross country ski on the weekend, if he didn't have a sports event. We usually planned a family event sometime during the weekend. (A walk, a cross country ski, a game, a picnic, a movie, etc.) He enjoyed Legos still as a young teen. He was into art, and would like to draw. Saturday chores. He also liked cooking and would experiment with that. Homework. Reading books. Bugging his sisters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daria Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Exercise -- going to gym, taking a walk or run with the dog, going to the pool Theater -- the play he's helping with will have a Saturday practice starting next week. Hanging out with friends -- Walking around our downtown area or going to someones house Classes -- he's signed up for some all day Saturday or Sunday classes over the next few months, a 2 day class on filmmaking, and a lifeguarding class. He's also looking for a refresher class for soccer reffing as his license is expired. Schoolwork: Whatever he didn't finish over the week becomes "homework" for the weekend. And a whole lot of video games and other screentime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 sleep, eat, computer programming, whine to get out of chores, put off chores, do chores at 10pm, do laundry (his), eat more, play with cat, clean litter box, play with dog, eat more, research some project, go to the grocery with me, eat more, do dishes, sleep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyofsixreboot Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 For my 13yo maybe a Boy Scout outing church and possibly youth group in evening sleep-alot! help clean house have a friend over and game too much possibly play a board game or cards with his sisters and I read some watch too many videos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in Appalachia Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 This past weekend? My dh and I went on a hike on Saturday so the kids were home alone. Ds15 did some school work, practiced violin, then played video games. Ds12 practiced violin, did 1 cleaning chore, practiced pitching outside for a while, and then played video games. Ds10 practiced piano, played outside as much as he could (basketball, trampoline, just running around) and played video games. My dd17 did some school work, took a nap, then watched tv and "chatted" (using Chat from FB) with friends. They also attended church and watched football, and last night everyone watched Galavant. :) If there's nothing scheduled my kids do get a lot of screen time on the weekend, but that doesn't bother me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Mine are in ps, so ymmv. Oldest studied and did homework, played League of Legends with 4 of his schoolmates, did some chores and got toget her with some of his friends that go to our local community college. Youngest watched Netflix on his pc, studied and did homework, performed at an open mic Friday (he's a guitarist), rehearsed with a singer for a future show for 4 hours on Saturday, and hung out with his girlfriend and her family for a few hours in Sunday. Today we are hosting a study group as midterms are here. They are 18 and 16. As a family, we spent a lot of time looking at screen. Oldest is going to be studying game design at GMU in the fall--he's been using a PC since he was 2, anyone remember Reader Rabbit?😠BTW, oldest is not a total slug. He has 12 hours+ of winter guard rehearsals every week and weekend competitions from Feb to May and he maintains a very high gpa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 My teen boy moved back into his dorm room on Friday and has apparently spent most of the weekend alternating between doing the cleaning he didn't do before break, setting up his stuff and playing pool and poker with friends. I took a look at our online calendar for this time last year to see what he was doing weekends when he was still home full time. It looks like last January he had a dance convention that took up one full weekend and had a pre-competition rehearsal on another Saturday later in the month. He volunteered for the tech event at our local science museum one evening and then went as a guest on another day. He also spent a day at the Highland Games with a friend. He's a performing arts kid. So, over the years, a lot of his weekends have been taken up with rehearsals and performances. And in the last two years he was home, he danced competitively, which meant he had extra rehearsals, master classes, conventions and competitions fairly frequently. When not doing those things, he volunteered at the science museum or a local children's theatre, went to church and youth group, hung out with friends, worked on assorted creative projects involving duct tape and cardboard and PVC and, truth be told, watched a bunch of TV and played a bunch of computer games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan in SC Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Two of mine usually spend some time at rehearsal or theatre type lessons or activities. My middle ds plays baseball or does a baseball type lesson. They all get screen time, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 DS has Judo on Saturday mornings. Sometimes has friends over Saturday night. Sunday he usually stays home and hangs out on the computer. I do not have a problem with this. He has martial arts classes four days a week, informal workouts with friends two more nights, works two afternoons. Sunday is his day of rest and he can do whatever he wants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 works on coding projects on the computer sometimes with friends on-line, tinkers, electronics, video games, sometimes caving (indoor caving place), reads, cooks/bakes, when the weather is better rides his bike I don't have a problem with his screen time. He does more than just fluff stuff (unlike me..). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNC Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 My 13yo and a bunch of neighborhood boys are a posse. A mix of 6-8th grade homeschool, charter and public school kids. They mostly play outside - basketball, different team games,and board games (like Settlers) from house to house. Lately, their favorite activity is to ride scooters and bikes to our neighborhood full court basketball court. They love to find our local middle school basketball team playing pick up ball. These kids are almost all nationally ranked - some up to 6'5"! They have a blast and love to tell us about how good these boys are. He also loves to pack food and water and go on 10 mile bike rides with two friends. They stay mostly on trails all the way to our local 4 year state university. My husband went once and said there are safe crosswalks when he needs to cross the street. Basically he is outside all day long. We have to force him to come home on time for meals with us. They go out again for ghosts in the graveyard after dinner ever night. We want him to enjoy being a kid for as long as possible. His schoolwork will pick up speed in high school and baseball season is about to start... He still practices piano and bass for worship band. too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink and Green Mom Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Here is what my almost 14 year old did over the past few weekends (once he rolls out of bed at the crack of 11:30). He does play on school and/or rec baseball, basketball and golf teams so most of his ideas of fun are sports related: homework (he goes to private school) shoot hoops in the driveway (as long as it is not pouring, he'll spend time shooting hoops) setting up batting tee and catch net in the garage and hitting a few buckets of baseballs off the tee some Xbox with friends (we try to limit this to an hour) movies/cartoons on Netflix family games of poker (both kids love to play poker) golf driving range (as long as it is not pouring) bowling movie theater play football/ride bikes with posse of middle school kids in neighborhood Legos (although he has just about outgrown this) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I have an about to be 15 year old. He is also a ballet dancer so he spends time of every weekend dancing with class and then possibly extra rehearsal. He also has homework and is part of a youth theater group. But, for fun he likes to play games. My dh, and my boys (about to be 15 and 10) love to play games. A cold saturday means several hours of the three of them together playing D&D, or some complicated long game. I know they just got a game called "Space Hulk". They also like a game called "war hammer" and that can take all weekend. At one point my dh was running a D&D game for my son and his friends every Sunday afternoon. That was quite an undertaking. My dh loves playing games, it could be some long role playing game or Ticket to Ride or Settlers of Catan etc. He started playing with the boys early in the hopes that they would also enjoy it. He thinks it is a great bonding activity for them. Even when my older boy is at his most 'teenager-ish" he can always be lured out of his room for a good game! Now, if dh isn't around the boys play together. Right now it is a very cold, grey holiday monday (MLK Day) and dh is taking a nap but the boys are holed up playing D&D together. It makes them very happy. It also makes me happy because unlike so many of my friends, my kids seek out each others company. I think it has been wonderful for their relationship. I should add that we have a 'no screens until 4:30' rule, so it doesn't occur to them to start watching something or playing Minecraft etc. That makes it easier. But it is funny having kids who cheer for a weekend with crappy weather, lol. Don't get me wrong, they LOOOOOVE some Minecraft or Skyrim, but they are forced to explore other options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewber Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 These are all very helpful. A lot of these weekends are like ours. DS12 has never been a screen person really. Minecraft has been his only real interest and up until very recently it took a backseat to Legos. This weekend he spent a lot of time playing it either on the computer or on xbox with friends who were over. It seriously drives my husband crazy! DS is in public school and is playing basketball right now so he gets exercise. His grades are excellent and he has little homework. With school and ball his week nights are filled but these open weekends and Christmas break he filled with Minecraft. I know it's not the worst game in the world, but it still seems like a time suck. And once he starts playing, it's hard to get him excited about anything else we offer up. Yesterday he had to clean his room, help carry all the Christmas stuff to the basement, do his laundry and help run the sweeper before he could play. But that took about 1 hour! And then he was pretty much free. I guess we're still navigating the issue since it's kind of new to us.Trying to decide if it's a big deal or not. There's nothing in his health or behavior which makes me think it is, but yet it just can't be good for him. I think some plans for these free weekends before they get here might help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Both teen boys have a gaming group they go play games with on Friday nights. Oldest goes with friends to a game store to play Magic the Gathering. Middle son goes with a group to a house to play board games. Sometimes they go camping/hiking with their scout troop. Last Saturday they did a merit badge session and got two merit badges. Some Saturday nights we have events with church. Sunday morning is church. Sunday evening is youth group. Our lives are busy, we try to have fun on weekends, and that can include screen time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyNellen Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Young Marines every Saturday morning, community service projects (through Young Marines and Key Club), reading, running, watching movies (both at the theater and at home), XBox, walking the dogs, homework, getting together with friends, meeting friends at the climbing gym, TED videos (my 17 year old watches a few every week - usually on weekends) No one here has their licence yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne in ABQ Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Sleeps, does homework, composes EDM (electronic dance music), practices his mad DJ skills, breakdances, works out, and watches YouTube videos (mostly comedy and tutorials). Oh, and Snapchats with his friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 These are all very helpful. A lot of these weekends are like ours. DS12 has never been a screen person really. Minecraft has been his only real interest and up until very recently it took a backseat to Legos. This weekend he spent a lot of time playing it either on the computer or on xbox with friends who were over. It seriously drives my husband crazy! DS is in public school and is playing basketball right now so he gets exercise. His grades are excellent and he has little homework. With school and ball his week nights are filled but these open weekends and Christmas break he filled with Minecraft. I know it's not the worst game in the world, but it still seems like a time suck. And once he starts playing, it's hard to get him excited about anything else we offer up. Yesterday he had to clean his room, help carry all the Christmas stuff to the basement, do his laundry and help run the sweeper before he could play. But that took about 1 hour! And then he was pretty much free. I guess we're still navigating the issue since it's kind of new to us.Trying to decide if it's a big deal or not. There's nothing in his health or behavior which makes me think it is, but yet it just can't be good for him. I think some plans for these free weekends before they get here might help. Honestly, it sounds pretty good to me. I know that it is driving your dh crazy, but there really isn't anything 'bad' about it, kwim? Hanging out and 'wasting time' is what teenagers do. If he is getting some exercise, his grades are good, his room is clean and his homework is done.... hey, if he is playing minecraft at least you know where he is. If it makes your dh nuts, then your dh should ask your son to teach him how to use minecraft and he should spend some time playing with him. Make it something they do together on occasion. Enter his world and let him teach you. My dh has been known to spend a little time in the evening playing minecraft if only to be able to talk to the kids about it. He says it is actually pretty fun. I think it is important to spend some time letting our kids set the agenda. My son's friend took some book out of the library about how to create your own server for minecraft. He read the book, did the research, asked his parents, spent his own money for an account on a server, did all the stuff he needed to do and invited friends. How is that a time suck? I was pretty darn impressed. Maybe your son can do something similar. It really did take learning some good skills. It wasn't much money at all. It maybe have been 40$ for the year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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