Spending money is not a requirement for enjoying quality time with teenage daughters. Many teen girls love to shop and would vote for trips to the mall as a preferred way to spend mom-daughter time. But moms can teach teen girls how to have fun without using lots of cash or credit cards. Moms along with teenage daughters may find that they have more fun together spending less money and enjoying some of the simple things in life.
Budget Friendly Limits for Quality Time
Planning ahead helps to create some healthy spending limits surrounding quality time. One mom wrote her daughter’s name on a plain white envelope. On the first of every month, the mom places $20 in the envelope specifically for a “quality time budget”. Each month the mom and daughter discuss how they’d like to spend the money.
This mom and daughter like to spend quality time together once a week. At first $20 seemed very limiting, but both mother and daughter have learned to be creative with the $20 budget. They’ve become skilled at finding and using restaurant coupons as well as spending time at local parks and doing special things and bonding activities at home. They’ve found ways to get “more” out of the $20 than they both thought possible.
Arts and Crafts Bonding Activities
Budget friendly hobbies are a great way for moms and daughters to stay connected and inspire each other. Knitting, art journaling and jewelry making are hot crafts at the moment, but any shared art or craft interest will do. Bottle cap necklaces are low cost, easy to make and popular with teen girls. Digital photography can be budget friendly once a digital camera is purchased.
Cooking Activities to Stay Connected
Cooking family recipes, a teenage daughter’s favorite recipes or just any dish together can keep a mom and daughter busy with bonding activities for weeks. One great thing about cooking is sharing it with others. A way to share the wealth is to pair cooking with a small get together. Mom and daughter can spend quality time together preparing a meal and friends can come over after the food is cooked.
Mom-Daughter Stay Home Movie Night
Cozy pajamas, blankets and popcorn in front of movie work great for a laid-back, stay at home evening. If teen girls have seen all of the current movies, moms can introduce daughters to throw back classic movies. Classic movies for today’s teen girls can mean renting movies from (gasp!) the 1980’s. Movies such as Ghost, Back to the Future and Coming to America still appeal to teens.
Staying Connected With Board Games
Board games are budget friendly, especially when purchased at a yard sale or thrift store. Scrabble©, Othello ©, Pente©, and Chess are only a few two-player board games for spending mom daughter time together. Just “where” to play a game can be part of the fun of playing board games with a teenage daughter. In front of a fireplace? At a park? At a local coffee shop? In a tent in the backyard? The ideas are endless for choosing different places to play board games together.
Mom-daughter bonding activities that are budget friendly can teach teen girls how to have fun and stay connected with others, especially mom, in ways that can be especially helpful during adulthood. Spending quality time with teenagers can even improve teen behavior. Of all the gifts to give a teenager daughter, quality time is the one teens will remember most.
Kelly Pfeiffer - Kelly Pfeiffer teaches Positive Discipline workshops to parents and trains child care providers on various child development topics.
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