{"id":20846,"date":"2026-08-12T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/?p=20846"},"modified":"2026-08-13T10:13:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T15:13:48","slug":"how-to-spend-quality-time-with-your-teenager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/how-to-spend-quality-time-with-your-teenager\/","title":{"rendered":"20 Ways to Spend Time with Your Teens and Tweens"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don’t want to give you a false impression – I don’t spend as much one-on-one time with my kids as I feel like I should. I’ve always said that prioritizing quality time with your teenagers<\/strong><\/a> is one of the hardest parts of homeschooling; at least for me, it is.<\/span> By the end of the school part of our day, I’m ready just to sit down and relax for a bit – or it’s time to get dinner started.<\/p>\n

Now that my kids are all teens and young adults, sometimes arranging quality time can be even more difficult. They’ve got their friends – and their laptops, phones, video games, and social media – and, well, so do I. I’ve been trying to make an effort to be more intentional about spending time with my kids, though – especially one-on-one time. So, I thought I’d share my ideas with you – some that I’ve been doing and some that are on my to-do list.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/div>\n

How to Spend Quality Time with Your Teenager<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

1. Go on a breakfast date. I started this last week, and the kids and I love it! I wish we’d begun this years ago. (Lunch and dinner dates may work better for you. We just tend to have a lot going on once the day gets started, so I like having this time with the kids first thing.)<\/p>\n

2. Go bowling.<\/p>\n

3. Go to a movie.<\/p>\n

4. Play a game – video or board. You can check out my favorites here: https:\/\/amzn.to\/4fWuyjr<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

5. Go to the mall.<\/p>\n

6. Go for a treat – ice cream, a Frosty, a Blizzard. We like to hit Sonic’s “happy hour” between 2:00 and 4:00 for half-price drinks.<\/p>\n

7. Go thrift store shopping. (Even my boys enjoy doing this… they have found antique stores particularly interesting for the old comic books and card sets.)<\/p>\n

8. Go to their room. Yep, just go to their room to hang out and talk.<\/p>\n

9. Go for a drive. I think this one might be really effective for student drivers – it will give them some practice time and one-on-one time with a parent. Win-win. (This is me trying to psyche myself up to ride with Josh instead of making Brian do it all the time like I did with Brianna.)<\/p>\n

10. Make dinner together.<\/p>\n

11. Go for a walk. This one comes with an added health benefit. Maybe I should couple this one with #6.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/div>\n

More Ways to spend Quality Time with Teens and Tweens<\/h3>\n

12. Create something. If you’ve got an artistic child, you could draw, paint, or sculpt together. Josh likes when his dad plays guitar with him – he likes having someone else to “jam out” with.<\/p>\n

13. Share a hobby.<\/p>\n

14. Take a class.<\/p>\n

15. Do something physical – zip-lining, hiking, indoor rock climbing, or a workout class are just a few ideas.<\/p>\n

16. Watch TV. Okay, I know that watching TV together might not sound like quality time, but it can be if you’re showing an interest in what they like. In other words, maybe I should give Doctor Who<\/em> a chance. Brianna would like it if I had a clue what she was talking about when she talks about that show just like I’d like it if somebody at my house had a clue when I refer to Friends<\/em>.<\/p>\n

17. Volunteer together.<\/p>\n

18. Look through old photos and tell them about their childhood – or yours.<\/p>\n

19. Rent a movie. Put your jammies on, pop popcorn, fix some hot chocolate and enjoy an in-house date with your tween or teen.<\/p>\n

20. Bake cookies.<\/p>\n

I know I’m probably missing some obvious ideas, so I’d love to hear what you would add.<\/p>\n

And if you’re feeling a little guilty because you read this list and immediately started thinking about all the things you haven’t<\/em> done with your teenager, don’t. Just don’t go there. The point isn’t to work your way through 20 activities or manufacture some picture-perfect version of quality time.<\/p>\n

It’s simply to make time for connection.<\/p>\n

Looking back now that my kids are young adults, I can tell you that some of the best conversations didn’t happen during anything particularly memorable. They happened in the car. Over breakfast. While making dinner. Sitting in somebody’s room when I probably had something else I could have been doing.<\/p>\n

Your teenager may not always ask for your time the way they did when they were little. That doesn’t mean they don’t still need it.<\/p>\n

So pick one thing. Put down your phone. Enter their world for a little while. And don’t worry so much about making the time special.<\/p>\n

Being together IS the special part.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t want to give you a false impression – I don’t spend as much one-on-one time with my kids as I feel like I should. I’ve always said that prioritizing quality time with your teenagers is one of the hardest parts of homeschooling; at least for me, it is. By the end of the school part of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":43230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"","tag":"0"},"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,31,124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith-and-family","category-high-school","category-middle-school"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":27,"label":"Faith and Family"},{"value":31,"label":"High School"},{"value":124,"label":"Middle School"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/20-Ways-to-Spend-Time-with-Your-Teens-and-Tweens-square.png",500,500,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Wendy Hilton","author_link":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/author\/wendy\/"},"comment_info":11,"category_info":[{"term_id":27,"name":"Faith and Family","slug":"faith-and-family","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":44,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":164,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":27,"category_count":164,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Faith and Family","category_nicename":"faith-and-family","category_parent":0},{"term_id":31,"name":"High School","slug":"high-school","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":48,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":109,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":31,"category_count":109,"category_description":"","cat_name":"High School","category_nicename":"high-school","category_parent":0},{"term_id":124,"name":"Middle School","slug":"middle-school","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":142,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":78,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":124,"category_count":78,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Middle School","category_nicename":"middle-school","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/20-Ways-to-Spend-Time-with-Your-Teens-and-Tweens-square.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20846"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91520,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20846\/revisions\/91520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}