Northern Town

[MyChocolate]

I have 2 girls - 14 & 11. I am finding it very hard to get them involved with anything. We live in a rural area and there isn't much to offer pre-teens. Does anyone have any experience with this? My girlfriend and I are thinking of putting on a mini seminar on crystals, drumming etc. Any suggestions for that age?:king:

[Audrey]

My kids have always been invovled in school activities, band, theater, cheerleading etc.

[sarathy]

You can involve them in cookery classes, or get them jobs in the local newspaper office. They'll be grateful to you.

[julie65]

I'm from a rural area also, it is difficult to find activities for kids that age. I didn't have grils, but I had friends who had boys the same age as mine. We (the parents of my boys' friends) used to plan activities for them as a group. The parents would take turns taking them on picnics (to a pond, or creek), or just have some activity at one of our homes. Taking turns kind of gave those of us whose turn it wasn't a break!!

One thing that I did (as it turned out, this was not such a great idea for boys, but might be okay for girls) was to have a Christmas Ornament Making Day! I bought really cheap Christmas garlands and such from the Dollar Store and Walmart, took them apart and had lots of neat beads and such for them to hot glue their own creations. They made the neatest things....reindeer made from fake cedar, etc. for about 5 minutes, then the throwing of the beads, etc began!!

No, really, it was lots of fun. By each parent choosing a different activity, it exposed my boys to things I wouldn't have thought of, and the parents who did things with the group as a couple took them to museums, etc in neighboring towns.

Anyway, it's just a thought!

[Audrey]

Julie,

Wow...those are great ideas. How many kids were in this group?

[julie65]

Let's see.
I have 3 boys.
I have 5 nephews.
There were 4 other neighborhood kids whose moms worked (I was a stay at home mom at the time), so I kind of adopted them (after school, and summer).
My best friend from high school has 2 boys in their age range.
So, most of the time, there were 14. Some times more, when we let them invite OUTSIDERS!:D I always made sure I had an extra adult with me if we had extras. The usual 14 were pretty well behaved for me, since they all knew that I treated them all as if they were my own. Once they found out I didn't mind disciplining them, they didn't try to push me.:cool:

Don't get me wrong, there were times I wanted to pull my hair out(boys get noisy sometimes),:argue: but I cherish every moment. There were times when they would all be laughing uncontrollably at something me or my husband said (you realize, all parents are a little crazy:eek: ), and I just hope that just one of those boys (they're all between the ages of 17 and 21 now) can remember just ONE of those instances when they're facing the ususual teenage and young adult trials that they are all facing now.

Oh boy, about to cry (that time of the month).

Sorry this post is so long, I do tend to ramble sometimes!!

Hope ALL OF YOU have a wonderful day.

Julie

[Audrey]

Julie,

Cry away :) I think what you did is just awesome!!!!