Do your kids stop being fun? (teenagers, toddlers, parents, girl)

[alise007]

A friend of ours has a son that is 10ish. I was telling her last fall about how much fun I have with our kids (were 1 and 3 at the time).

She basically said --enjoy it now--because it won't last. Could it be because she has a boy and she isn't into the golf/heavy male sports related interests?
Is it just that age?

I don't want to be their best friend but I enjoy doing family activities. We check out animal parks, children's museums, science centers, theme parks, train rides, attend sporting events, circus, nature parks etc.....

I expect as they get older our destinations will change as their interests evolve and we are fairly good about trying new things (adventurous like zip lines, zorb, bridge climbs, caving) and listening to all types of music/media.

I am sure I won't like all of their interests nor they mine but is it possible to find fun family things to do as they get older and still enjoy being around them? I have a boy and a girl.

[lisdol]

My 11 yr old loves going to the bookstore with me. He is a bookworm.( One lady at B&N told me she wished her preteen son still liked going to the bookstore with her, so I know this is not something all preteen kids will enjoy).

He also loves museums.

Other stuff we still enjoy: the pool, skating, chuck e cheese (yes I love skeeball).

I think as he gets older, he will want to spend less time with his family doing this kind of stuff, but I think the fun just changes - you probably will have less of it, but what you do do together is still fun.

You just have to learn to go with the flow of changing interests and be open to new things to do as your kids change. I am sure when mine are teenagers I will miss the cuddly little toddlers that thought I hung the moon, but I am fairly confident there will still be things we can do together that we will enjoy.

[maciesmom]

I have a girl and a boy (now 19 and 16) - they are still fun. We have fun together. We enjoy family activities together and one on one time. Like anything else...it's just...different...hopefully you have brought them up to be people you enjoy being around - including both manners and a sense of humor. My son enjoys "classic" rock from my generation (70's and 80's) as well as more timely music...If we are out running errands, the radio is typically on the more classic rock station and we'll have a contest about "name that band"...sometimes we have to drive around a little longer if a good song comes on or we're stumped . This weekend, my DD will come home for the weekend -we'll all do some fun things together. We enjoy each other's company....

It's still fun but "different"...

[kahncss]

Kids only stop being fun when you stop having fun with them. Each stage in their development brings new and exciting challenges to explore. My dd is 14 and I'm still having fun w/ her. The type of fun just changes as they grow and mature. I will never tire of having fun w/ my dd, no matter what age she is.

[haggardhouseelf]

I have two boys - 10 and 15. When they were much younger they seemed to be more outwardly curious and excited about things, which was so fun to watch and experience with them. I've noticed as they have grown older, they are still curious and excited about things but they've certainly mellowed out. They've become more intellectual, more thoughtful, and they prefer to have long discussions and read books and explore in a more quiet on their own sort of way. Both my guys are very independant but we still have fun together. We hike, we camp, we go on long bike rides, we cook, we play music, we watch films and talk about and we try to read the same books so we can talk about them together, too. It's just like maciesmom said, it's just a different sort of fun as when they were much younger.

And also, not all boys are into sports. Mine aren't. They are very physically active, but they don't like competitive sports. They don't even like to watch them, they get totally bored. They prefer being outdoors and doing things. Our oldest is a lifeguard. They hike and climb and swim and play tennis and mountain bike and go geocaching - things their dad and I love to do, too. Your friend could do the same so she could still enjoy her son as much as she used to. She should, really. We only have our kids for such a short time. Every minute of every day counts.

[uptown_urbanist]

I don't have kids that age, so I can't speak from a parenting experience. I can, however, say that from the experience of someone who has spent a great deal of time working with kids that age (including overnight summer camps, as well as more traditional classroom environments) I think that age is a LOT of fun. I've also enjoyed working with junior high kids, although there's certainly more drama that comes with age. Maybe you just caught your friend on a bad day.

[Coldjensens]

No. Actually, it gets better. As they get older, the cutenes goes away, but they can do more and more fun thing with you. Go to a coaster park, climb a mountain, camping, boating, really long bike rides. Plus a they get older, they enjoy just hanging out with you. It is great.


One sugesstion though. as they get into computersinternet and playstation or X-box, you need to severely limit the time that they spend on it or prohibit it altogether. If you restrict the time early, they will get used to it. If you do ntohing, they will get more and more involved until you never see them. Then it is harrd to take away the screen time without creating problems.


We have lots of screentime rules, butnot enough. I wish that I had restricted it more earlier. Now it is a constant battle to keep them from spending all day staring at a screen. However when the rules interfere, they quickly revert to healthy kid stuff like playing baseball, playingint he woods, bike rriding, boating etc. We just have to watch to make sure that the bike ride is nto just over to a friends house where they can play X-box all day unrestricted.

[golfgal]

We still have a lot of fun with our kids and they are all teenagers, our oldest going off to college in the fall. For the most part we like to do the same things but not always. Your friend needs to find a common ground with her son or she is in for some not so fun times as he gets into middle/high school.

[crisan]

They can still be fun at that age, at any age as long as they are pleasant people to be around. However, I will say that my brother really got into music and DJing and we participated in his new found hobby by letting him play music for day parties, took him to bigger cities and helped him search through records, let him show/discuss his latest mix. He would need to take a break from this every once in a while so we were able to do other things together like eat out, go to the beach, go to theme parks, go to the movies. Some kids can become very focused on something they feel they are good at.

[malamute]

They're still sort of fun as they get older -- if you are prepared to change along with them. The little stuff won't impress them so much but like another pointed out, you can have fun on roller coasters and jet skis with them as they get older.

They change. They start to want to hang out more with friends and they think they have to be cool. They might be having fun - but they can't let on because someone might think they're not cool and it's not always cool to be seen having fun with your parents. By about age 15, they roll their eyes a lot more. That's so they can be cool - but if you think back you can remember you still had fun with your parents when you were doing that. They'll still do fun things with you - since you have the money to pay.