<story><title>Ask HN: How to keep my daughter busy while tickling her curiosity</title><text>It&amp;#x27;s the start of the holidays. My daughter is 11 y&amp;#x2F;o and I&amp;#x27;m currently unemployed. I would like to do some projects with her that may interest her&amp;#x2F;us while enjoying the time together.  Any suggestions&amp;#x2F; ideas would be great!</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>nickysielicki</author><text>We have such a weird culture around how we treat teenagers in this country. We all remember drinking and smoking as teens, but parents tends to rule with an iron fist and convince themselves that they have more control than their parents did, which means we force healthy normal curious kids to go out to a secluded area (probably by car) to get high or drunk or explore in other ways, away from an adult that could help if something goes wrong, and at a much greater chance of involving the police and putting their future in jeopardy. I respect you for giving your daughter and her friends a safe place to just be normal teenagers. I’m not saying parents should buy their teens a bottle of vodka but everyone should start from a place of being realistic and reducing harm.</text></item><item><author>oblib</author><text>I became a single parent when my daughter turned 1 year old. When she got old enough we&amp;#x27;d go fishing, bicycling, swimming, and hiking a lot. We&amp;#x27;d also go to a used book store twice a month (on pay day) so she could pick out a few books to read. She loved doing that.&lt;p&gt;She had no interest at all in learning how to code or gaming but she loved helping in the garden and in the kitchen prepping and cooking meals.&lt;p&gt;When she got to Jr. High she wanted to join the &amp;quot;Cheerleader&amp;quot; squad so there were a lot early morning rides to school I had to make, and lot&amp;#x27;s of Basketball games I attended until she graduated, but I had a lot fun cheering along with them.&lt;p&gt;During those years I setup a campsite on our property so her and her friends could go hang out there. I&amp;#x27;m sure they had more fun than most parents would approve of but they never got into any real trouble, the police were never called, and no one got hurt bad enough for the parents to call me. For the most part all those parents knew exactly where their kids were and what they were doing. And that I was close enough to deal with anything that came up. But there were never any serious issues.&lt;p&gt;She&amp;#x27;s 37 years old now, still loves to hike, backpack, swim, fish, garden, and cook, and most important, she still likes to hang out with me!</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>HideousKojima</author><text>&amp;gt;We all remember drinking and smoking as teens&lt;p&gt;Speak for yourself, worst thing I did in high school was play too many video games.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ask HN: How to keep my daughter busy while tickling her curiosity</title><text>It&amp;#x27;s the start of the holidays. My daughter is 11 y&amp;#x2F;o and I&amp;#x27;m currently unemployed. I would like to do some projects with her that may interest her&amp;#x2F;us while enjoying the time together.  Any suggestions&amp;#x2F; ideas would be great!</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>nickysielicki</author><text>We have such a weird culture around how we treat teenagers in this country. We all remember drinking and smoking as teens, but parents tends to rule with an iron fist and convince themselves that they have more control than their parents did, which means we force healthy normal curious kids to go out to a secluded area (probably by car) to get high or drunk or explore in other ways, away from an adult that could help if something goes wrong, and at a much greater chance of involving the police and putting their future in jeopardy. I respect you for giving your daughter and her friends a safe place to just be normal teenagers. I’m not saying parents should buy their teens a bottle of vodka but everyone should start from a place of being realistic and reducing harm.</text></item><item><author>oblib</author><text>I became a single parent when my daughter turned 1 year old. When she got old enough we&amp;#x27;d go fishing, bicycling, swimming, and hiking a lot. We&amp;#x27;d also go to a used book store twice a month (on pay day) so she could pick out a few books to read. She loved doing that.&lt;p&gt;She had no interest at all in learning how to code or gaming but she loved helping in the garden and in the kitchen prepping and cooking meals.&lt;p&gt;When she got to Jr. High she wanted to join the &amp;quot;Cheerleader&amp;quot; squad so there were a lot early morning rides to school I had to make, and lot&amp;#x27;s of Basketball games I attended until she graduated, but I had a lot fun cheering along with them.&lt;p&gt;During those years I setup a campsite on our property so her and her friends could go hang out there. I&amp;#x27;m sure they had more fun than most parents would approve of but they never got into any real trouble, the police were never called, and no one got hurt bad enough for the parents to call me. For the most part all those parents knew exactly where their kids were and what they were doing. And that I was close enough to deal with anything that came up. But there were never any serious issues.&lt;p&gt;She&amp;#x27;s 37 years old now, still loves to hike, backpack, swim, fish, garden, and cook, and most important, she still likes to hang out with me!</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lern_too_spel</author><text>Speak to your kids like adults, explaining why some choices lead to worse outcomes, and they will make choices like adults. Speak to kids like they&amp;#x27;re slaves, and they will make rebellious choices like slaves. Don&amp;#x27;t speak to your kids at all about decisions, and they will make poor decisions and wonder why their lives are so difficult.</text></comment>