Yesterday I wrote about Victoria changing as she nears 11. I loved reading the comments it generated, here and in emails. It seems I’m not alone!
I did a little research to see what to expect the next couple of years and found a good article here that talked about typical changes and why they occur. I’m a little more likely to let some things slide after reading it.
Here’s a snip…
Perhaps most significantly, the brain undergoes a major transformation that reduces a child’s ability to control her behavior and makes it harder for her to "read" both emotions and social situations. It’s not surprising, then, that your child feels strange, wonders who she is, becomes more prone to confusion and exasperation, and starts to "lose it" — even before the actual teenage years arrive.
The article is full of info. It’s a good read!
But I also thought that I should come up with a new list of fun stuff to do with my unpredictable but still fabulous tween.
Here’s some ideas I came up with.
- Go out for dessert
- Shop garage sales for cool wardrobe additions
- Hike, bike or otherwise get outside and exercise
- Help her redecorate her room
- Play cards
- Watch chick flicks
- Play soccer or shoot hoops
- Take her to an art exhibit opening
- Go boating
- Go to the beach
- Take more family camping trips
- Arrange for her to have more fun activities with friends and just be there to yap about it when she comes home. 🙂
What’s on your list?
fun things to do
I like your ideas and it got me wracking my brain. Look out, I feel like a chapter long comment is about to happen. ;o)
Hmmmm, you could…
-go clam shell picking at the river
-go pop can collecting (they aren’t worth much now but it’s a good
excuse to go walking together.) You could do trash too of course.
-make cool projects using the sewing machine (bags,
water bottle carrier, curtains, pajama pants, funky cloth table
napkins or place mats, pillows, clothes for Webkinz, a quilt using
t-shirt fronts…)
-build stilts out of lumber (most places will cut your lumber for
you so you just have to screw/nail it together once you get home.)
-have a campfire in the yard, toast grilled cheese sandwiches
and marshmallows on the fire, or just sit around it eating ice
cream (just ’cause most people don’t think of that!) and talking.
Harmonicas are optional. ;o)
-collect a hoard of video tape cases from a video store (these days
they’ll give them away) and set up giant domino paths thru your
house. Fun to watch them all fall and see if your design worked!
-wander around a furniture store. The massage
chairs and lift chairs are such fun and always give us the
giggles. One time we just hung out in their home theater area for
an hour or so. No one said a thing to us. :o)
-play around with make-up and hair-dos. Ooooo! Get an updo at a
salon then go out for dessert to show off. Someone said you can
get this done cheap at the Cosmetology Training school.
-go pretend car shopping, just seeing what different cars are like
inside, features, prices, gas mileage (could even test drive a new
car).
-nose around in places you don’t normally shop like farm, sporting
goods, hardware, home decorating, antiques, plant nursery, or
fishing/bait stores. There’s always something new and interesting
to find and talk about…yup, *even* at an appliance store.
-go fishing
-rent a paddle boat at the lake (around here it’s only $5/hour)
-take your bikes to the BMX track
-go to a skateboard park
-play mini-golf or get your frustrations out on the driving range (you can buy a golf club for about $1 at the thrift store)
-go on a creative photo shoot, seeing what interesting cars,
buildings, signs, people, nature things, shapes, shadows, etc. you
can find. Taking weird close-ups and odd angles, etc. Take pics
of each other in unusual locations like trains tracks and doorways
of old buildings and pics of each other doing every day things that
you never think to photograph like pushing a grocery cart, paying
for your food at McDonalds, or getting your mail.
-go out for appetizers
-go to a business that sells manufactured homes and ask if they mind
if you go look thru all of them (my kids love this!)
-go to a camper dealer and check out their camper inventory (they’ve
gotten amazingly nice!)
-go bowling (check at the college because you can usually bowl there
cheaper than at the reg. alleys)
-for a few quarters you can play together at the arcade at a bowling
alley (who doesn’t like skeet ball and air hockey?)
-try out some new baking ideas. We just bought fondant and a big set
of bakers food coloring the other day. There’s a bunch of ways to
be creative with fondant and it’s more fun if someone creates with
you! Also look up cake pops on Bakerella or Pioneer Woman’s blog.
They’re adorable and a great way to play with food!
Dig around in books like “The Daring Book for Girls”, “The Big Book of Girl Stuff”, and “How to Be the Best at Everything”. There are boy versions of these books too that are really worth looking at also, even for girls. Also those “Would You Rather…” books have some bizarre and hilarious choices and equal a good time together.
You know where I live, but do you know there’s a cheap theater here and you can go to a movie for $3/person? Their movies have just been thru the other theaters so are still pretty fresh. As a special treat now and then it’s kinda fun to go see something on the big screen and this makes it affordable.
Phew, now I’m tired. I hope there’s atleast one new idea here you can use sometime. :o)
LT