My 10 and 12 years olds wouldn't leave the house if left alone. Sometimes I don't give them an option about coming out for a family walk, meal etc.
How about inviting a pal or two along. For both of you.
Geocaching? We 'sold' it as a Treasure Hunt at that sort of age.
Or Treasuretrails - There is one in/around Harrogate. NB - We found the two local ones quite hard, but there were good options to stop for an ice-cream/coffee/cake etc and overall it was a good day out.
Or an Escape room. Again there is one in Harrogate, although you might need to be a bit careful as his age and the fact that there will only be two of you might make that a challenge
I was bout to suggest Treasuretrails. I'll be heading out to do one with my daughter any minute now! 😂
Could you buy a lego technical set and start to build something cool. They arent cheap, but there is lots to lear with them, and it can be safely put away if unfinished until you get some more time with him on his own?
We got him a couple of boxes of Lego Technical when he first came to us (last May) and he hasn't touched it or shown any kind of interest in it. Then, ironically, I got home last night and he had built a Mecano type helicopter that we bought him for Christmas and was very pleased with himself so it might be an idea to see if he'll have a go (if the weather is rubbish).
How about inviting a pal or two along.
He only has two friends and one we were with on Tuesday (so I wouldn't want to impose ourselves on him again) so that leaves just the one – my wife is getting in touch with his mum today.
Escape Rooms - we've done a couple with him (The Harrogate one and the Leeds one in The Light) but yeah, with just the two of us it would be a challenge. It's more fun as a bigger group.
It's complicated!
my lads are around that age. we're pretty active as a family but of course left to their own "devices" they will revert to devices. when time allows for some one2one time (which is rare for us) I find they each respond best to something low key, so rather than a day out, helping me do something - recent activities have included taking the winter wheels off the car, digging a trench to fix a drain, digging a pond - that sort of stuff. it also gives you time to have a blether.
as a family ours love a litter pick - if you can find a way to make it his idea then all the better. "this park is a disgrace, wouldn't it be good if people cared about it a bit - if someone picked up a bag of litter it would be great" once you're done you can make a fuss, weigh the bag, that sort of thing
or what about a mini service of the car? check the lights, tyres, wipers, check the oil and fluids and filters - a learning together with internet, YouTube and practical stuff??
Love the practical stuff, we give ours jobs to do around the house to earn pocket money.
My two love to build flat pack furniture. I got them both to build their furniture even when young, obviously supervised but I let them have the plans and get them to be team leader.
When I got in yesterday from work, my 10 year old son had been on the iPad most of the day (mom is working from home), I took him straight out for a road/gravel ride, it helps that he has a new bike to try out. We went up one of the steepest road climbs where we live. 😂
Great ideas above and I might nick a couple for myself.
I’m not his dad, I’m a carer, we’re trying to stop his history of device reliance by getting him to do other stuff. Mostly we get kickbacks and refusals so I don’t want the day I’m with him to be ‘easy’, more challenging.
Well if thats the case, and he's self isolating then yeah something else is the way to go. I'd think something exciting, by which i mean slightly dangerous, but maybe the perception of dangerous.
I think Go Ape was suggested, which to me sounds ideal. Always a bit scary being at height, and the safety lines make it less so, but theres also the part of overcoming the fear and launching yourself off onto a zip line builds confidence in your own abilities, but also can raise quite the internal Adrenalin rush that appears to appeal to the older kid.
10 pim bowling
Paintball
Go karts
Fishing taster experience
Raptor center visit
Steam train trip.