How to Get Your Teens Engaged in Family Fun Night

Parenting is a tough job that involves time and money management skills along with creative thinking to fit the needs of a variety of different personalities. When it comes to winter time, this can be a special challenge as outside activity time becomes more and more limited. That's why family activities can play such a large role in bringing the family closer during those months of being cooped up. Teenagers present a special challenge to family fun nights as they may feel they are "too old" or "too cool" to be involved in such activities. Use and modify the tips below to help get your teens engaged in family fun night.

Present teen friendly prizes. Nothing motivates people to get involved in games like prizes do. Make your prizes teen friendly so that your teen will have something to look forward to winning.

Ask your teen to create games. Teens want to be treated like adults instead of children. Get them involved in family fun night by offering them the chance to be the one to create or plan the games that the family will play.

Be the child. When, adults try something new or silly, it puts them on the same level as their children. Adults who aren't afraid to joke around and look silly now and then will find that their children are willing to try new things too. More than that, if an adult can play like a kid, it helps a teenager to feel like it's okay to do that too.

Choose a teen theme. Family fun night can be about different themes. Choose a theme that your teen is interested in so that they are more likely to want to participate. For instance, you might make the theme a pop rock theme and play charades involving different songs or groups.

Don't take "no" for an answer. Sometimes we all need that extra push to get involved in things. Teens are no different. Make family fun night mandatory so that your teens know to plan for it.

Role play. As part of family fun night, you might make a day of role playing. Let your teen be the adult and you be the teenager. This can be some great winter family fun for everyone.

Make family fun night happen on a night without prior plans. For instance, you wouldn't want to make family fun night on a Friday night because teens are likely to have plans that night. Instead, plan it for a night when there isn't normally anything scheduled.

Build up excitement through the week. Whether you're planning a surprise of winter family fun or you're just really excited about family fun night, make mention of it throughout the week so that you can get the rest of the family excited as well. Remember that happiness is contagious and you have the ability to infect those around you!

Keep your teen's interests in mind when you plan winter family fun. You want to try to get them as excited about family fun night as you can. After all, this may be a tradition they cling to and use with their own children when they grow up. You don't want to use this as a tool to embarrass them in front of their friends or as some type of punishment. If you present things like this right to them, eventually the idea of missing out on these winter family fun events will be something that they go out of their way not to do rather than going out of their way to avoid doing.