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Teen-Friendly Family Outings
By Sharon Waldrop
Sharon from California is the mother of a 13-year-old, 19-year-old and 21-year-old. She has BTDT (been there done that) and is still doing it -- entertaining teenagers, that is.
Sharon polled her family and determined that the most popular family outings that teenagers enjoy are going out to eat, spending the day at any amusement park or sporting event, camping, skiing, fishing, "malling" (shopping) and bowling on a weeknight when friends are not likely to be there.
"They like to rent movies and buy junk food to eat while watching them with the family, but this cannot be done on a Friday or Saturday night as they must make believe they have plans with friends, or they do have plans", says Sharon.
"This is a question that gets directly to the teen-parent relationship," says Dr. Barry Ginsberg, director of The Center of Relationship Enhancement in Doylestown, Penn. "It is important to start with trying to understand what is happening at this time in the lives of parents and child." Adolescence is a period when children are developing a separate self and desiring increased independence from their parents' authority. During this period, it is important for the parents to balance the use of their authority with cooperation from their adolescents.
"Every decision should take the adolescent's position into consideration while not giving up the parents' authority," Ginsberg says. "Adolescents want their parents to maintain authority because it gives them security, while at the same time they want respect for their points of view."