So what are kids into these days?

Tropez

Spendless wrote: »

I have a 13yo boy but he's a gamer who seems to have been attacked by a permanent sticking charm to the seat by his pc (haven given up on ps/xbox/wii). The girls in his year, seem mainly fascinated by who is which one's best friend, how they look and falling out with each other -all on facebook! Agree with the minecraft comments though for the younger one - though at 8 I'm sure mine wasn't far off your idea of destroying stuff with a rubber mallet.

Scrub the idea of dolls for the 11yo, unless they are into something they still consider 'cool' like monster high. My 10yo girl is mostly entertained by her ipod, making up daft scenes, dances, skits etc and filming herself doing them!

So... should I just rent the two girls 'Mean Girls'?

What's Monster High then? I remember Monster Munch, and wasn't there something with a monster that lived under a trap door... it might have even been called Trap Door.

HeadAboveWater wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl:

Pepperoni pizza always good too. Ours are somewhat fussy eaters, but they love spag bol, chicken curry, fajitas, chicken mini fillets and burgers.

:rotfl:

I can't keep up with music either

Our 16yo came in to me the other night and started raving on about this 'hot' new singer dude. From Australia or somewhere. He's this. He's that. He's the other. Actually had to stop her and ask if he was any good at singing :rotfl:

Nope, only male Australian singer I could think of was Jason Donovan... at least I believe he was a [failed] singer.

You've also reminded me to actually ask my partner to find out what they eat, or perhaps more importantly, what they definitely don't eat. No point having a load of burgers in the freezers if they're some sort of vegan family.

Mojisola wrote: »

The problem with not knowing the kids is that they may not be typical.

The 13 year old girl might want to dismantle your car engine, the 11 year old might want to spend all her time on her skateboard and the 8 year old might want to help your OH sort out her wardrobe and discuss fashions!

Well yes, but hopefully a general idea of what kids actually do like to do will at least provide me with enough information to provide something that they enjoy.

It'd be quite handy if one of them wants to take my engine apart... it's due for a service and if the 8 year old wants to discuss fashion with my partner, even better, now someone else can pretend she looks completely different in a blue or black dress (honestly, she doesn't... nothing changes! Why does she persist in asking which one she looks better in? Is it an attempt to break me?!).

Ahem...

As much as I'm making a joke of this, the truth is my partner doesn't have a good relationship with her family. I don't have a great one with mine, but hers... yeesh... the Sopranos have more redeeming qualities, but her cousin was one she always got on with and they haven't seen each other in ten years, even though she isn't that far away.

I'm not a paternal person and clearly I'm quite hopeless around kids, but if those kids actually like it here then hopefully they'll want to come back and hopefully my partner and her cousin can have a proper relationship again. If the kids hate it here and find it boring, well, it won't ruin but it might harm those chances.

Tropez

valk_scot wrote: »

Lots of good suggestions above. You could also add some outside trips though...many councils have free swimming sessions for kids over the summer for example and a trip to the cinema + somewhere like Pizza Hut usually goes down well. If they're active kids (and you adults are up to it) you could also look for one of the woodland climbing adventure parks locally, they've become really popular and have terrifying zip lines and scramble nets 30m above the ground. Or a theme park for a treat, of course, and don't underestimate the lure of a zoo even for an otherwise sophisticated 13 year old, or a trip to the beach.

(Kids today still like traditional things but don't like to admit it in case they get sneered at by their pals. Drag them along for the sake of the youngest sibling though and you'll find they have a whale of a time though they'll ask you not to post the pictures on Facebook!)

Yeah, I really need to check what actually still exists in the local area as far as out of the house activities go. So many places we'd go to when we were kids aren't here any more.

I could take them to a theme park. There's two or three within 90 minutes drive, I think. The West Midlands Safari Park isn't too far away either (90 mins to 2 hours, I think)... and I think they've stopped the monkeys from wrecking your car now so even better. That also has a theme park if I recall correctly... I went when I was a kid myself, I'm sure there was a theme park there.

If it's hot, do you reckon getting a few Super Soakers and letting them go at it in the garden would suffice for 30 minutes?

Spendless

Monster High

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_High

Mean girls, I'd not heard of, but sounds a good one for my 10yo to watch, she has problems with the [STRIKE]witch clique[/STRIKE] 'popular girls'

One Direction
http://www.onedirectionmusic.com/gb/home/

Spendless

Tropez wrote: »

Yeah, I really need to check what actually still exists in the local area as far as out of the house activities go. So many places we'd go to when we were kids aren't here any more.

I could take them to a theme park. There's two or three within 90 minutes drive, I think. The West Midlands Safari Park isn't too far away either (90 mins to 2 hours, I think)... and I think they've stopped the monkeys from wrecking your car now so even better. That also has a theme park if I recall correctly... I went when I was a kid myself, I'm sure there was a theme park there.

If it's hot, do you reckon getting a few Super Soakers and letting them go at it in the garden would suffice for 30 minutes?

Yes I do! They still all love getting soaked and doing same to others.

There's plenty of 2-4-1 offers about if you decided to do a theme park, my husband got some the other day just for putting fuel in the car!

valk_scot

Tropez wrote: »

If it's hot, do you reckon getting a few Super Soakers and letting them go at it in the garden would suffice for 30 minutes?

My kids (16 and 11) love a good water fight with Super Soakers, especially if the adults join in. Every so often on hot days during the summer we have water fights in the cul de sac with all the kids and most of the parents...and even a few of the not-parents...taking part. I'm pretty convinced that we parents have at least as much fun as the kids, if not more.

A safari park sounds fun too, especially if they've not been to one before. Make a list of what's available and ask them what they'd like to do?

ETA: Your local tourist information office will have leaflets for all the local attractions and events, often there are discount vouchers in the promotional flyers. How about some sort of historic site, like a local castle or stately home if they're having a re-enactment day? Lots of these in the summer, usually. I live in Scotland so it would be Historic Scotland site I'd look at for these, I forget what the sister organisation is called in England.

If the lad is into trains, how about a steam railway day? The girls may or may not want to come along but that doesn't mean you can't take him for a boy themed day and let them do something girly.

VestanPance

A Xbox360 or PS3 is a good shout for you lads.

If your looking at budgeting without having to spend a fortune on games, then the PS3 is a good shout. If you buy a PS3 and sign up to PS+ (£40 for the year) they'll get a selection of different games to download each month. The service is really second to none for people wanting to build a library of games for a bargain price.

neverdespairgirl

My son's just turned 8. He doesn't have an X-box or any other games console, but he does play games on the computer - including minecraft, and games via the BBC's childrens' site.

He adores "Horrible Histories" programmes online, and is fascinated by Romans. He plays a lot with lego.

Spendless

Things I/we've done or have planned with our kids these hols 13yo boy, 10yo girl

Cinema - Monsters University is out -ours went to it last week. They've also seen Despicable Me 2, Smurfs is also out as is Sea of Monsters if any of them are fans of the Percy Jackson books.

Eating - older one in particular is especially fascinated by all you can eat buffets, even more so if they are the type where lots of different countries food is on offer rather than just chinese or indian (though they are still liked)

Ice skating or Swimming (at the 'fun' pools with water slides etc not just the local oblong pool) or ten pin bowling.

Have taken my youngest on numerous occassions this year to a pub that has a free pool, it's only 4ft deep so more of a kid splash around one but she loves it - you could see if you have any lidos in your area.

Tropez

valk_scot wrote: »

My kids (16 and 11) love a good water fight with Super Soakers, especially if the adults join in. Every so often on hot days during the summer we have water fights in the cul de sac with all the kids and most of the parents...and even a few of the not-parents...taking part. I'm pretty convinced that we parents have at least as much fun as the kids, if not more.

A safari park sounds fun too, especially if they've not been to one before. Make a list of what's available and ask them what they'd like to do?

ETA: Your local tourist information office will have leaflets for all the local attractions and events, often there are discount vouchers in the promotional flyers. How about some sort of historic site, like a local castle or stately home if they're having a re-enactment day? Lots of these in the summer, usually. I live in Scotland so it would be Historic Scotland site I'd look at for these, I forget what the sister organisation is called in England.

If the lad is into trains, how about a steam railway day? The girls may or may not want to come along but that doesn't mean you can't take him for a boy themed day and let them do something girly.

My word, we do have a tourist office here. I just Googled it. Astonishing! I really didn't expect that

I think there's a few castles near here so I shall look up information for that. Logic tells me that Warwick Castle would be in range given that the WM Safari Park is and they do re-enactments and whatnot?

I'll add it to the list anyway.

Will need to subtly find out what they all like doing.

VestanPance wrote: »

A Xbox360 or PS3 is a good shout for you lads.

If your looking at budgeting without having to spend a fortune on games, then the PS3 is a good shout. If you buy a PS3 and sign up to PS+ (£40 for the year) they'll get a selection of different games to download each month. The service is really second to none for people wanting to build a library of games for a bargain price.

I already have an Xbox 360 so don't really want to be buying a PS3. I buy most of my games on the PC as it is (ah, Steam, how I love thee) and I don't mind picking up a few on the cheap for the Xbox if they're more family friendly.

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

My son's just turned 8. He doesn't have an X-box or any other games console, but he does play games on the computer - including minecraft, and games via the BBC's childrens' site.

He adores "Horrible Histories" programmes online, and is fascinated by Romans. He plays a lot with lego.

I found that children's site thing and bookmarked it. I have a spare laptop (bought a new one recently) so before they get here I'll wipe it and set it up again with some bookmarks and I'll grab Minecraft and any family-friendly stuff I can find on my Steam account (not much, methinks). I'll also bung filtering software on, of course.

I figured it'd also be useful if they don't come equipped with smartphones and tablets and such and need to access the Internet.

neverdespairgirl

Here's my suggestion for a day's activity:

1. 5.30am wake up - all children want to get a start on the day

2. 5.45am - route march for 6 miles, to help work up an appetite for breakfast

3. 6.45am - cold bath, to ensure cleanliness, godliness and energy for the day ahead

4. 7.15am - family prayers

5. 8am - breakfast

6. 8.30am - tidying, cleaning and putting things away; children like to know they aren't putting their hosts out.

7. 10am - matins

8. 11am - English language revision; children don't want to fall behind over the long summer holiday

9. 1pm - lunch

10. 2pm - maths revision (see above)

11. 4pm - visit to local old church, and detailed explanation about the architecture, and the doctrinal differences between this church and the other one round the corner

12. 5pm - quiet time, for each to do his own thing (quietly)

13. 6pm - dinner

14. 6.30pm - family evening prayers

15. 7 pm - read aloud to the children, from a worthwhile volume such as "Sermons for Children" or something not too exciting, so that they sleep well.

16. 7.30pm - bedtime. I bet, after the day above, they'll be only too pleased to sleep......