Making Thanksgiving Memories With Teens

Making Thanksgiving memories with your teens is an effort you will never regret.

Thanksgiving conjures up images of families sitting down to eat together, tables filled with amazing arrays of foods, houses decorated to impress, and wonderful aromas and laughter wafting onto the front porches.

Sometimes these family get-togethers can be a cause of stress and strife. So many teenagers feel out of place. They no longer feel like sitting at the “kids’ table”, but many of the adults still see them as children.

Here are some special ways to make this holiday more memorable by making Thanksgiving memories with your teens.

An Interview

This holiday is a great opportunity for your children to get to know their extended family, whether a grandparent, an aunt or uncle, or a visiting cousin. Talk with your teen beforehand about some of the life histories of one of their family members. Ask them to choose a family member to interview. Then they can spend some time researching different interviews to get ideas on how to conduct one. Talk with that family member beforehand, if possible, and ask if they’d be comfortable with your teen sitting down and interviewing them. They may even have some special photos or mementos that they’d like to share with your teen. The interview can be recorded, or just a casual sit-down conversation. Recording the responses is something that will live on forever, whether written or on tape. So many grandparents would love to talk about their younger days. Your teens will get to know them in a personable way. This could lead to common interests or bonding activities. Who knows what they may have in common?
My daughter interviewed her great-grandpa when she was about 10, and learned more about him on that day than I had ever known! She learned that he had collected stamps avidly. She took such an interest in this. He LOVED showing his collection to her and she looked so forward to visiting with him so that she could see some more. She still cherishes these memories, even though he is no longer with us. Her stamp collection, inspired by him, is quite impressive today!

Encourage your teen to cook!

Another idea would be to allow your child to contribute a side dish or dessert to the meal. Encourage them to choose a recipe, purchase the ingredients for them, and ask them to bring their final product along! This may also lead to them talking food with other family members. It also helps them to feel less like “one of the kids” and more like an adult. Who knows, maybe a family member will even share a “secret recipe” with them. Maybe it will instill a love of cooking or baking in your child.

Thankful books!

Sit down as a family and make “Thankful Books”. This will help them, as well as you, focus on all the blessings around you. This time of year can be really stressful and busy for families. Sports, crazy school schedules, theater, and a whole variety of other extracurricular activities make family time rare during this season. Intentionally sitting down together to work on a book like this can lead to lots of talking, laughing, sharing of thoughts, memories, and dreams. Not only will you have a palpable keepsake, but you’ll also have the memory forever with you.

With some intentional planning, Thanksgiving can truly become a time of making cherished family memories. Forget about the stress of the holiday for a little while and plan to make some Thanksgiving memories with your teen(s). Before long, these teenage years too shall pass, and you’ll be left with these amazing memories!

Do you have any special Thanksgiving traditions that you’d like to share?