The social stuff

Arrange a family fun excursion that will tick the boxes for everyone, eg, a walk in the hills, followed by ice-cream or a trip to the beach.

Check our collection of Adventures, where you can search for activities suitable for High School kids. And keep doing them, even when it’s hard.

If you can, invite one of their friends along, so that it ticks the boxes for everyone. 

Watch some old video clips or get out some old photo albums (if you can track them down!). Sit on the sofa together and re-watch memories of when your now teenager was a baby, toddler, young kid & remind them how much fun they used to have with you, and their younger siblings.

Don’t take it personally! Sometimes it's hard not to, but there really is so much going on underneath. A lot of the time, even they don't even know what they are feeling. Best to be patient, and let them know you are there for them, regardless.

Keep your sense of humour around it all. And laugh with your teens too. Having a good chuckle is great for releasing endorphins & increasing the production of serotonin (the feel good hormone), which helps with stress. Sometimes, laughter truly is the best medicine!

Let your house be a hang out for your teen and their friends. Keep the pantry stocked with simple (and where possible healthy) snacks and keep them hanging around the kitchen or dining room table so you can hear some things (hehe!) and (hopefully) they’ll engage with you.

This can be super tricky when your child heads to high school, when we (as parents) are often further removed from this community, but when new friendships for our teens emerge.

When your teen is invited to a sleepover, tell your child to pass on that their friends' parents need to text or call you - that way you get their number. Then write a friendly text back and say you’d love to catch up first - book the coffee and hot choc in with your friend and their folks, or have a BBQ and invite them all to yours.

Remember, the closer this circle, the safer your kids.

They may look like they don’t want to hang out with you, but they do!

Chat in the car, spend time at the end of their bed, ask them to help clean up the dishes after dinner. Create a space, and just wait for the conversation to begin around homework, who they’re snap-chatting, what's happening at school… whatever it is, it’ll come.

Make time not just for your teen, but their friends too. Offer to drive them places and do things with them (not just drop them off).

Check out our range of Adventures to help with ideas. We have created a section specifically for High School kids, and sorted them to suit differing budgets, including options if you want to hang at home, or get out and about. Either way, spending time together is what counts! 

Keep time aside that’s just for your family, for example, a couple of hours on Sunday morning (make it later Sunday morning though, to accommodate the need for sleep-ins and collections from sleepovers).

It might be you all agree to come together for a family dinner on a set night each week, for example, for "fish 'n chip Friday" or "Sunday night eggs-on-toast" (perhaps the beginnings of a long-standing family tradition?).

If you don’t have something like this place, set it up. There’ll be groans to begin with, but you'll (all) soon get used to it!