What do your teens do for unscheduled fun

[LisaR]

Reading the mall banning thread has had me thinking about what there is for teens to do nowadays. Obviously this will vary depending on where you live. Some areas are just more conducive to getting out and about. That is not the case where we live.

Around here, we have ice skating, roller skating, movies and the mall. They will also have a movie night or Guitar Hero marathon at home with friends. Bowling is too pricey for their budgets at $5 per game.

When I was a teen, arcades were popular. It was a great hangout and cheap. A few quarters for the machines, a buck for a soda and plenty of time to be with friends.

 

[golfgal]

Reading the mall banning thread has had me thinking about what there is for teens to do nowadays. Obviously this will vary depending on where you live. Some areas are just more conducive to getting out and about. That is not the case where we live.

Around here, we have ice skating, roller skating, movies and the mall. They will also have a movie night or Guitar Hero marathon at home with friends. Bowling is too pricey for their budgets at $5 per game.

When I was a teen, arcades were popular. It was a great hangout and cheap. A few quarters for the machines, a buck for a soda and plenty of time to be with friends.

Pretty much the same here, except bowling is only $1.75/game. DD and her friends are going bowling later today, she is at the mall with her friends right now . Usually they hang out at someone's house though.

 

[Tinkerbell424]

My friends and I love to watch movies and hang ou at the beach.
When I hang out with my athletic best friend and friends we normally just hang out outside or go to a local sports park and hit baseballs in the fields and batting cages.

 

[Sparx]

when i was in highschool we would go to the mall (gasp!) and a local book store that had a cafe. we would also go to sonic and eat at the picnic tables outside. there wasn't a lot to do in my home town. we would go to the movies too, but the theatre only had six screens.

 

[RunningGirl]

when i was in highschool we would go to the mall (gasp!) and a local book store that had a cafe. we would also go to sonic and eat at the picnic tables outside. there wasn't a lot to do in my home town. we would go to the movies too, but the theatre only had six screens.

This just made me laugh - growing up our theater had ONE screen. And when Star Wars first came out, it was there for weeks and weeks! By the end of that run, we had that movie memorized. We didn't get a McDonald's until I was a freshman in high school - that was exciting! We hung at at school athletics on Friday nights - football in the fall and basketball in the winter. After the game we'd go to my friend's house and play pool in her basement. We hung out at the lake in the summer.

 

[Sparx]

This just made me laugh - growing up our theater had ONE screen. And when Star Wars first came out, it was there for weeks and weeks! By the end of that run, we had that movie memorized. We didn't get a McDonald's until I was a freshman in high school - that was exciting! We hung at at school athletics on Friday nights - football in the fall and basketball in the winter. After the game we'd go to my friend's house and play pool in her basement. We hung out at the lake in the summer.

well, the theatre was owned by a very religious family, so it was VERY rare that they would show anything other than G rated movies. most of the time we would go out of town to go to a larger theatre, because they rarely showed movies that we were interested in.

 

[minkydog]

DD16 writes scripts for fun and engages her friends in making films to post on YouTube. They have done several music videos and a hilarous Swine Flu PSA.

 

[Darcy03231]

They mostly hang out at my house. They have their own area and watch movies, play video games, games, cards, etc. They also like to make brownies, cookies, etc.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

None of the teen boys actually hang out at each others houses here. They play basketball in the street, sometimes go bowling (my 2 ds work at the bowling alley), go to the lake, (fishing)go to the beach, go to the park, sometimes the mall but they usually either dont have any money or dont want to spend the money they have etc. Sometimes go to the movies or maybe get a snack at like dunkin donuts etc. Also they play handball and tennis at the complex my one ds lifeguards at.

 

[barkley]

i think with some teens/parents they are not aware of what is even available to them localy.

we live in a very rural area, but the city closest to us aquired a big chunk of land a couple of years ago and has been going round and round about what kind of facilities to put on it (for recreation). if you ask the majority of adults and teens in that city they will claim there is NOTHING that teens can do (even with an associated cost), and that they have to go into the nearest big city.

what never seems to get voiced is the fact that there's a university in the city that has a policy where any resident can use certain university facilities for very nominal fees. a person can get a monthly pass to all the facilities or day passes-and the rates are much lower than doing the identical activities in the 'big city'.

at the university a teen could have their choice of ice skating (indoor competition size rink), playing hockey (informal games), swimming (indoor olympic size pool), rock climbing (multiple skill level walls), tennis, racketball, and a variety of other activities that are available.

we would have killed to have this available to us as teens-where i grew up there was NOTHING to do, and the closest city (where i went to high school) did'nt offer much more. there were 2 old funky theatres (a single screen and a double screen) that did'nt change movies too often, a badly in need of repair rollar rink (floors were SO warped), and a couple of bowling alleys (but parents were'nt keen on teens being there weekends b/c the bars inside them did'nt get the best clientel).

as i remember, the main teen thing to do when i was in high school was on friday nights-when anyone who had/could wrangle a car ending up cruising (i think they've since outlawed it) OR if you had very permissive parents, going to berkeley to catch the midnight showing of rocky horror.

 

[marcyinPA]

My DS14 (hs freshman) hasn't gotten to that major social phase yet. Most of his social activities revolve around church (yup! Church!! It's great...our church has an AWESOME youth program and the kids LOVE to go!).

He doesn't go out to the movies too often, and he has never hung with friends at the mall, nor does he have interest. We live close to our historic downtown, so he has walked down with a good friend of his a few times, for pizza and stuff.

I'm thinking that by next year, he'll be more mature and ready to hang with a group of boys/girls. I think he's just a late bloomer in that dept!

 

[JerseyJanice]

XBox Live is big right now.

Other than playing at each other's houses--all of us have basketball hoops in the driverway---they go to the golf center, movies, and bowling. They go to watch a lot of town sporting events. They go out to eat at pizzerias/sandwich shops in town. In the snow, they go to a local park known for good sledding hills. In summer, they go to the town pool.

 

[iwrbnd]

xbox

 

[Darcy03231]

Another place the boys in our area tend to hang out is at the YMCA. They all have a membership and love to play basketball there (it has 4 courts).

 

[minniebeth]

Do a lot of teens even have much free time anymore?
It seems like the teen life is so much more involved now than it ever has been.
By the time my DS gets home from school, sports, does homework and has a job reffing for basketball on the weekends, it doesn't leave much time for hanging out.
When he does though, we have an AWESOME City Rec Center, a lot of boys hang out there working out, running, playing pick up ball there.
XBox Live and PS3 Live are big too. A lot of the boys play each other live while at their own homes. They'd rather do that than all get together. I don't get it!
They go to the HS football/basketball games too.
That's about all there's time for!

 

[Uuaww]

We played video games and skateboarded at the local parks... we were flat broke so we didn't have many options.

 

[PatsGirl]

Fun here certainly depends on the season ~ this time of year DD reads alot, watches movies, plays with her WII, and when finances allow, goes to the movies or bowling with friends. She also likes me to take her and a friend to the mall for browsing and dinner out.

In the warmer months, she rides bikes, swims, shoots hoops outside in the driveway, skateboards, plays tag and kick the can...

Her schoolwork doesn't allow for much free time M-F but there's always a few hours on the weekend freed up for fun. The summer is all fun, well..after sleeping in a bit and doing her chores. This will be her last summer without a job although she will babysit a little. Once she turns 14 (a year from now) she'll start working part time and work at least 24 hours/week during the summer

 

[pigletgirl]

Usually we hung out at friends houses and watched movies and gossip. Sometimes we'd go out to eat, depending upon how much money we had at the time.

Kids are so uncreative these days.

 

[Mandychelle79]

There is nothing ( really nothing) for teens to do in our town so most end up at a house party/field party/garage party on the weekends. During the week during school most are at the sporting events.