Out walking the dog at dusk on a crisp wintry night, my 9-year-old and I were afforded a glorious pink sunset, a rich reward for freezing fingers.
Pausing on the sea wall to take a picture I was heartened to see that we were not alone as several ‘youth’s’ followed suite, halting their gravity defying jumps on the nearby skateboard park to photograph the setting sun. Huddled round camera phones focussed on the distant sky I couldn’t help feeling pleased and relieved that far from being immune to the beauty of the surrounding environment they too were keen to appreciate its wonders. With teenagers and two year olds equally renowned for their egocentric focus and adolescence a very confusing time it gives me hope that despite our differences we all shared the same sense of awe and wonder.
With Christmas looming and an ‘almost teenager’ to cater for this got me wondering how best to help such a challenging age group to get involved at this magical time of year? Searching the web I found a wealth of ideas for putting the magic into teen’s Christmas, so here’s my pick of the best.
Give them a role to lead on
This could be putting up the decorations or cookie making, creating a Christmas party mix playlist or playing DJ. Key to the success of this will be your willingness to really let them lead and trust in the knowledge that they are in control. If they have younger siblings then why not put them in charge of tracking Father Christmas as he sets off on 1st December http://www.noradsanta.org/?Tech savvy teens can log on to www.portablenorthpole.com to create a personal message from Father Christmas to every member of the family which is sure to cause a stir!
Do something ethical or rewarding
Many teenagers are more switched on than their parents about the injustices of the world so a glut of food and presents can seem wrong and confusing. Why not decide as a family what sort of present spend is right, try to pick ethical suppliers and even plan a stint of helping out, be it preparing Christmas shoeboxes for children, helping in a soup kitchen (did you know that 100,000 people in the UK received emergency food aid last year?) or visiting an elderly neighbour. Last year half a million elderly people spent Christmas Day on their own, so why not adopt a ‘granny’ for the day, or better still the year? It won’t just make their day but give you all a day to remember!
Listening to their needs and interests
Being a teenager is difficult enough without the stresses of catering for the masses. There’s always too much food at Christmas so where possible try to keep it simple to limit the need for time-consuming culinary chores which will build resentment and get in the way of sleep and chatting with friends.
A few special family traditions that can be enjoyed together will do more to inspire your teens to see the magic of Christmas than trying to drum up a Christmas spirit. Invite your teen to suggest their favourite Christmas activity, such as a family trip to get the tree, shopping and hot chocolate followed by ice skating outdoors, and make these part of your annual celebrations. Let them pick a game, food, drink and a TV programme on Christmas Day to keep them involved and remember the best present would probably be having no expectations of them at all!
Finally, if you want to add a bit of extra magic to Christmas morning why not conceal the tree and presents by covering the door with Xmas wrapping paper for them to burst through if they dare! Now that’s what I call an entrance!