FAMILY FUN

Looking for family fun? Busy schedules often keep parents and children from giving undivided attention to one another. Fun is rarely a priority when parents are dealing with temper tantrums, consequences, chores, curfews, and discipline.
How do parents and teenagers have fun together? Check out this list from a group of parents in a Let’s Talk Teens group:

• Stopping by a new car lot just to look at cool cars.
• Looking at family vacation photos and remembering those times.
• Going out to lunch after an orthodontist visit, skipping an hour of school!
• Playing “slug bug – no paybacks” in the car.
• Turning our life jackets into “diapers” and jumping in the lake!
• Playing cards with a bowl of popcorn.
• Roasting marshmallows and making s’mores, outside or inside at the fireplace.
• Painting the walls in our house, and finding that the “work” turns into fun.
• Stopping after school for a surprise dessert somewhere.
• Decorating a room together by looking through magazines and visiting decorating stores.
• Baking cookies.
• Having egg rolls and tea at a Chinese restaurant.
• Taking a son to a hockey game.
• Playing tennis, even if we are not good at it!
• Shopping with a daughter when she picks out things for mom to try on.
• Scheduling a standing lunch date with a teenager every month.
• Raking leaves for a neighbor and ending up in a leaf fight.