Fab Teen Approved Family Activities | Mum In The Madhouse

Fab Teen Approved Family Activities

Fab teen approved family activities is a paid collaborative post with Track Days. Having a teenager is taking some getting used to here in The Mad House. No longer can I coax them out of the house with the promise of a picnic and park day as I have done in the past. No the lure of their Xbox and friends (and for some teens their bed) is far too strong. So I have promised the boys that we will do one teen approved family activity a week.

Teen Approved Family Activities

Finding teen approved family activities has meant some give and take on all our parts as what they find exciting might not be what the husbeast or I do, however, we are all learning to be flexible and it is has been a fun summer so far and I thought I would share with you our hits.  Also, I have found that if we do a shorter activity that they have been really keen on trying then they are more tolerant of doing something that we want to do and often they really enjoy that. It is just the moans about it being boring that happen beforehand.

Now I know that I am not alone and the fact is that teenagers are programmed to want to spend less time with their parents and to want to spend more time with their friends.  This is normal and all part of growing up and as a parent, I need to learn to live with it and find a compromise that works for all of us.  The fact of the matter is that I want to spend time with my boys’, I find them good company and like being with them. I also know that this is just a phase and at some p[oint they will start to enjoy being with us rents again in the future.

Mini and MadDad regularly go to the football together and they both have season tickets for Middlesbrough. Maxi and MadDad spend time together as he always takes him to his junior football games and training,  Maxi and I have regular time together when Mini and MadDad are at the football and we like to go to the cinema together and for a meal and I also regularly spend creative time with Mini. So it is just about finding things that we will all enjoy to a certain extent.

Teen Approved Family Activities

Unique Experiences

Experiences bring much more lasting happiness that money and a Junior driving experience is a fabulous way to get your children excited about cars and doing something that will give them loads to talk to you about. Plus there is also something to suit every pocket from a blast in a Porsche Boxter from £19.00 to an exclusive first drive at £149.00. I also love the idea of a family Hovercraft ride.

We love it when we can all do things together and Go Ape is brilliant if you have a sporty family. The boys and the husbeast are all about the tree top adventure at Dalby Forrest with its epic Zip Wires ( a totalling a length of 888 meters) with three of them crossing a valley 35m above the ground, which is way too high for me and I just can not bring myself to do no matter how much of a family bonding thing it might be.  The timescale for this is 2- 3 hours and really does depend on the people in front of you.  We knew that this would work well for our Teen as both of the boys have done the Junior Go Ape at Dalby previously.

I am really all about the Segways even though I am not as fast as the boys.  Again this is something that all the others have done so they had an ace time whizzing about and laughing at me!  We had an hour on the off-road Segways with 2 instructors and it was really great fun and they go up to 12 miles an hour

Whilst we are talking about ropes, both of my boys like the Air Trail high ropes at the Tees Barrage which are a much short adventure and lasts for around an hour but is great if we want to blackmail them into going shopping as there is a retail park nearby.

Treetop nets is a fab activity for multi-aged families as both teens and younger children will LOVE it. The one local to us at Ripon has 2000m2 of giant trampolines, walkways, slides and tunnels all made out of netting safely suspended between trees up to 12m off the ground.

We love water as a family and always have a great time when we go Kayaking with friends at Ullswater. We are lucky that they have all the gear and I have no idea, so we tag along. It is fab fun for all ages and I even get to have a go too.

Theme Parks

Both of my boys’ are mini thrill seekers and love adrenaline-pumping rides, which as a mother I no longer enjoy! So this year they have had a trip to Alton Towers where we stayed with friends that live locally and all the children went to the park together on their own with me just picking them up and dropping them off.  This meant that I could spend time with my friend exploring the Peak District and what it had to offer without the boys’ complaining of another site seeing walk or tearoom.

I have also taken them to Lightwater Valley a more local Theme Park in Ripon, but this time as I was taken them and their friends (who were younger), I tagged along and went in the park with my trusty shopping trolley filled with drinks, food and waterproofs. But as they are older they don’t need me to go on rides with them or even follow them around the park, instead, I managed to read most of a book and they just kept coming back to me to check in.

Water Parks

In addition to two thrill seekers, I also have two water babies and they LOVE water parks. In fact, so it seems do most teenagers and we have had days at Wet n Wild and Alpermere this summer.

Museums and Galleries 

Now this one is often harder to get them excited about but once we are there they tend to really enjoy it for small periods of time.  This tends to work well if they are museums that caputure their attention, such as the Science Museum.

Teen Approved Family Activities -

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