Parents can feel as lost as their children during the teenage years. They can feel their child pulling away from them, not needing them as much and growing independent.
Some parents want to spend more time with their teens but might feel uncomfortable asking and possibly getting rejected. There are ways to get more involved in your teen's life and spend more time with him or her.
How you can spend more time with your teen. Often, having a teen means having ups and downs as a parent. If you are wanting to spend more time with your teen than you are doing so now, it is possible without trying to be cool. In fact, trying too hard to be cool often backfires and your teen may want to spend less time with you. Here are some tips on how to spend more time hanging out with your teen.
What does your teen like to do for fun? Ask your teen what he or she likes to do for fun. Perhaps there is a sport or game you both like to play. What activities and interests does your teen have? If your teen enjoys cooking, take a class with him or her. Or maybe schedule a day to spend together, just the two of you and do something fun or go to a place neither of you have been to but have always wanted to go.
Have your teen teach you something new. By asking your teen to teach you about something they know about, you are not only spending time with your teen but you are also improving your skills.
Teach your teen something. Ask to teach your child something you learned. For instance this could be a game, driving a car, cooking, playing a game and so on.
Be creative. Think about what you could do with your teen and bring in some creativity. This could even be making up a new game to play together. Regardless of what it is, inspire some creativity in your lives.
Create a challenge. Consider creating a challenge of some sort between you and your teen. You could choose to learn how to play a sport neither one of you know how to play. There could be a small prize for the winner, which could be a lot of fun.
Share some stories. By sharing stories about yourself, you give your teen a glimpse into who you really are and show the "human" side of you. Give them an idea of how you were raised, perhaps some of the obstacles your faced growing up, issues you dealt with and so on. Be sure to keep some of the stories light and funny so that you aren't always telling emotional stories. Take this time to share special memories and let your teen learn about his or her family history. If you can, take out some photos to help you tell the story. Just make sure you don't bombard your teen with photos as that might bore him or her.