For example, your teen may be interested in music, sports, computers, crafting, role playing games, or science. A person doesn’t have to be good at a hobby to enjoy it. Hobbies aren’t necessarily talents. If your teen loves to play an instrument or a sport but is just mediocre, that’s okay! As long as they feel good while doing it, it can turn into a hobby.

Try asking, “What would you like to do today?” or “What do you want to do this weekend?” You might also try saying, “Let’s do something you are interested in today. What would you like to do?” If your kid wants to cook often or likes to be outside, you may be close to figuring out a good hobby for them.

Ask your teen what they do to relax and unwind besides electronic devices, video games and the like. They may be listening to music, sketching, making a photo project or creating a blog and you may not fully realize it. Realize that not all hobbies are big projects, flashy, or occupy a lot of time. The teen that collects heart-shaped rocks may have a different type of hobby than one that makes her own YouTube videos, but they are both hobbies.

Good ideas for hobbies include fencing, reading or drawing manga, creating movies or music, cooking, playing an instrument, participating in quiz bowl, playing board or RPG games, or crafting.

For example, your teen might list cooking, basketball, board games, video games, reading, and hiking. After they make the list, have them put them in order based on which ones they want to do the most. This list can help your teen start figuring out what they are more interested in so they can try the activity. If they don’t like the activity, they can move on to the next activity on the list.

For example, if your teen is chatty, they may enjoy something like debate, volunteer work, or drama. If your teen would rather be outside than doing homework, they may be interested in nature or sports.

You can look for camps or extra-curricular activities. At schools and camps, there is usually a system where teens are exposed to and encouraged to try out various interests, often without a full commitment.

For example, you can say, “You like being outdoors. Have you thought about running, hiking, or camping?” or “There’s a teen program for crafts this summer. I thought you might be interested. " Remember, it is easy to go from insightful and helpful to nagging and suffocating. Teenagers dislike being pushed into things by parents, and it may take finesse to coax adolescents into action. Mention possible enjoyable activities, but limit the number of times you suggest the idea.

It would be terrible to convince your teen to do something and then be too busy to help them enjoy it. Always be proud of what your teen accomplishes. If you know a lot about the hobby, offer a small amount of constructive criticism if asked. Avoid taking over a project. Remember, this is their hobby and project, not yours.

Provide resources and support. You are probably the one in charge of funding the hobbies to some extent. You may also have knowledge, expertise, and social connections that might help out. Place limits on media use. For example, no video games after dinnertime. Instead, your teen can spend time on their hobby. Avoid over-scheduling. Sometimes there is a fine line between a happily occupied, busy kid and one that has no time to just hang around with friends at the comic book store.

For example, if you want your child to read for fun, model this behavior by reading in your spare time and talking about books.

Insisting your teen finish a class, camp, or semester is sometimes a tough call. Some teens have a tendency to give up too easily and need a parent to help prevent them from quitting too quickly. Generally, insisting on finishing a certain amount of time will help prevent that, like a week-long tennis camp. However, if it really looks like a teen is not having fun, discontinuing the hobby may well be wise.

For example, it may be easy to make fun of a teen’s achievements in Minecraft. But doing so would certainly put them off to opening up to you. Sometimes you may not think you have the exact same interest, but discover they are not so different. For instance, maybe your teen shows no interest in playing poker, but they love getting together and playing role-playing games.

Teenagers are also developing a more sophisticated social life, which requires meeting up with friends, having romantic relationships, going to social events, and keeping in touch on text and social networks. Your teen may not have as much time to engage in hobbies as it may seem at first glance. Teenagers may need just plain “downtime” without yet another demand. Sometimes after a full day, he or she may not have the mental or physical energy to just do a hobby. He or she may just want to watch a video or have a soak in the tub. Demanding to do a hobby when exhausted is counter-productive.

For example, if you think your teen would enjoy sailing, a summer camp that offers sailing lessons is a great way of exploring. However, if they do not ultimately like sailing, that should be fine too.

For example, your child may enjoy cooking classes more with a friend instead of alone.

If you are desperate, have your teen try something for just a week. Then stress that you’d really like them to continue, but in the end, this decision is not yours to make.