Their lives may be sooooooooo over but there are plenty of things teens can do to keep themselves occupied, and even some that might allow their parents to spend precious time with them (which is a bonus, as we all know teenagers don’t want to hang out with their mom and dad!) Read on for some ideas I found amongst parents of teens and tweens.
Take an online photography course: Now is the time to learn a new skill, and surprisingly there are tons of photography courses online. Ideally, they’ll need a DSLR camera – luckily that’s one thing that hasn’t sold out on Amazon – but there are also courses in smartphone photography that focus on capturing interesting angles and concepts, and using natural light.
Learn to touch type: Have you seen how kids type? That two-finger jab thing they do on the keyboard (or worse still, the iPad stabbing that makes me want to layer 72 screen protectors on their devices). Learning to touch type will speed up their essay work too, so they’ll stop claiming carpal tunnel syndrome as an excuse to avoid their English and History homework. Disclaimer: this may not improve the quality of their writing…
Enrol in Stage School: It might sound strange but lockdown is the perfect time to start acting classes. Stage Academy is an established performing arts school, like everyone else has had to temporarily stop live classes. But they’ve put together online versions that are so good they actually stand alone as a way of taking drama lessons on an ongoing basis.
Build a website: Why not learn to code? Code Academy offers free coding classes online. You could build your first e-commerce site, or start a blog!
Create an Anime: If your teenager is into graphic design, Anime is a good way to use time and learn a new skill.
Start a podcast: If your teenager fancies having a YouTube channel but is too shy to put themself out there a podcast might be a good alternative. It’s super easy to get started, and podcasting is really taking off right now. There are lots of podcast hosting platforms, and most of them have really good idiot guides to explain how to do it. Podcast.co allows you to download a pretty comprehensive guide with no obligation to sign up. Only once you have a recording you want to put on the podcasting apps do you need to pay for an account. If you’ve never listened to a podcast, here’s mine – Teenage Kicks, a mental health podcast aimed at teens and their parents.
Cook dinner: I’ve seen lots of parents say their teenagers are taking it in turns to cook dinner, and now is a perfect time. I’m such a control freak in the kitchen that I’ve never handed that task over to my kids, but they need to learn to cook more than beans before they leave home. I’m going to start easy with baked potatoes and build up my nerve from there! Similarly, kids need to know how to budget and plan food for the week, so hand in hand with cooking, I’m going to ask mine to make a meal plan together. This will either result in a huge row, or us eating ravioli for an entire week.
Wash the car: It can be a fun (and lucrative) idea!
Learn car maintenance: change the oil and water, and change a tire.
We are full of ideas for teens. Contact us for more!
The Weil College Advising Team
Info@weilcollegeadvising.com
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