Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Spending Time With Your Teenage Daughter

If your kids are like mine, then spending time in their room, on the phone, or on the computer instant messaging is their idea of a great time.

Here are many activities I’ve participated in with my teens over the years:

Starbucks – My daughter would do this daily if I said yes. We will buy our coffees and then sit and chat. No more taking them home, as home means either on the phone or on the computer.
Walks – We have some great paths where I live. I invite my younger daughter to join me at least a couple of times a week on a walk.
Renting Movies – We go to Blockbuster and my daughter gets to choose what we watch. We can’t always finish the movie in one night, so often we’ll watch it over two nights.
Plays – My daughter loves plays. We have gone to many junior high, high school and college plays. We do catch an occasional adult performance also, but often our attendance is at a student production.
Cooking – My daughter loves to bake. We’ll often bake cookies or brownies that she can take to school the next day.
Shopping – What teenage girl does not like to shop? We know every store in our town and two towns over.
Crafts – We love to crochet and scrapbook. We try to find one night a week or sometimes one night every other week that we can scrapbook. My daughter works on her album and I work on mine. We are together, sharing and laughing.
Old Sitcoms – We really enjoy old sitcoms. We joined Netflix and will rent old sitcoms like Friends, Laverne and Shirley and others.
Lunch Out – A few times a year, the high school has minimum days. I work my schedule so that when I pick my daughter up from school we can go have lunch together.
Garage Sales and Flea Markets – My older daughter loves to get up on Saturday mornings and hit the local garage sales. We leave about 7:45 a.m. and get back about noon. Often we’ll stop and have lunch as part of the day.
Open Houses – One of my daughters loves to visit open houses on the weekends and see what’s for sale and view the many floor plans available.

I believe it’s important to spend time with your teenage daughter, and so I’ve found many creative ideas to help them say yes.

Audrey :)
http://mytupperware.com/audreyoka

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Audrey...it's great that you have a good relationship with your daughters. :D

Do you like the sitcom...
The Golden Girls?

AudreyO said...

Tammy, I love that show. We own the first few seasons on DVD.

Unknown said...

I love that show too. Have you ever seen the show Maude? lol

Unknown said...

I love your blog. You give such sound wise advice. Things I tell my clients all the time. Thanks for spreading the good information!

Anonymous said...

You're right, it is so important and too many parents get frustrated and give up when the "difficult" teen years approach. Kudos to you for thinking up good ways to make it work for everyone. And thanks for sharing your ideas!

Jewel Allen said...

Hi Audrey, love these ideas. I have a teenage daughter too (she'll be 13 soon) and I'm glad she and I get to hang out a little after school before her younger brother and sister come home. Very important bonding time.

-Pink Ink from MomBlogs

Liz said...

hi audrey! my daughter is not a teenager any more but i still do some of those activities with her.

thanks for dropping by ;)