I spent yesterday, and will be spending most of today, with my 16-year-old nephew.  He’s told me several times that I’m a cool aunt.  Wow!  High compliments, coming from a teenager.

Does this mean I let him do anything he wants?  No, definitely not.  But I think the key to being thought of as fun by a teenager is balancing the discipline with fun stuff that a teenager can appreciate.

So yesterday we went to the local amusement park, and spent the day there riding the roller coasters.  It was tons of fun, but there were also teaching moments, too — such as when I told him he had to decide between ice cream and playing an arcade game.  He had five bucks in his pocket and couldn’t do both, so I just reminded him of that.  He chose the arcade game, and then was disappointed when he didn’t win anything and remembered he now could not get ice cream either.

Other fun things you can do with teens to retain your “cool” status are things such as dressing up for Halloween with them — I know plus size adult costumes are harder to find than kid costumes, but check online.  At the very least, you can pick up a black wig at a local costume store and put together a witch outfit out of thrift store clothing.

You should also play with your kids whenever possible if they are into sports.  My brother-in-law stays cool by playing video games with my nephew, and while I’m not a big fan of video games, as long as you still enforce some limits, playing with your kids can be a great way to bond doing something they  like to do.

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