10 Fun Family Things to Do with Your Teens in Yakima

Being a parent in general is some tough work; it's definitely not for the weak! If you thought keeping up with infants, toddlers, and pre-teens was rough, just note that once your child becomes a teenager, life seems to get even spicier! Finding fun family things you can do with your teen in Yakima can seem daunting, especially if you have limited time to spend during the weekday.

I asked my daughter, Willow, who just turned 14 years old in March, what kind of things she would like to do during one-on-one mommy/daughter and father/daughter time.

10 Things My Teenager Approves of Doing in Yakima as a Family (without eye rolls)

1. Sitting in the park at a picnic table with colored pencils and coloring books. She likes being in nature, plus the coloring books are a low-key way to do one of her favorite activities: drawing and coloring things. Franklin Park and Randall Park are my favorite places for picnics.

2. Playing music from your phone. This activity lets a parent get to know what kind of music their teen is into these days. It also gives you a chance to say one of my favorite things, "You kids don't know nothin' about GOOD music!" (Okay, that was actually one of my dad's favorite things to say to me, ha!)

3. Building Legos. This is another park activity, but you can also do this at home in the backyard or in the family room.

4. Ask each other "Would you Rather?" questions. Willow is always giving me strange ones like, "Would you rather die eating Chipotle while a shark is chasing you in the forest, or would you rather..." (Like I said, kids ask weird questions!)

5. Walking a pet at the Yakima Humane Society. My daughter has a huge soft spot for abandoned pets, so this activity is right up her alley. (You must be at least 18 to sign up to walk the dogs and you get to walk them for 30 minutes.) (2405 W Birchfield Rd)

6. Looking at old family photos. Willow says this "might be interesting."

7. Yakima Family Fun Center. Willow likes going here to play the arcade games, but her eyes just lit up when I told her in the summer they have bumper boats and go-karts. They also have batting cages. (7200 W Nob Hill Blvd)

8. Yakima Valley Museum. I bought us a family membership to the YVM last year, and she loves going there. (2105 Tieton Dr)

9. PIckleball. Willow just informed me, "I'm not as active as I was in my golden years, so I might run out of breath playing pickleball after 5 minutes." Out of breath or not, playing pickleball is a ton of fun. I told her we're going to do it anyway! There's a big pickleball court at Franklin Park (2101 Tieton Dr)

Sean on Unsplash

10. Larson Art Gallery + Taco Bell. One of Willow's favorite fast-food joints is Taco Bell, so I told her the art gallery is right next door and they are open during the summer from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. (1606 W Nob Hill Blvd)

Some days being a parent makes me feel like all the youth has been sucked out of me (ha!), and other days I feel like I'm the luckiest parent in the world and have tons of energy.

Teens have all these mood swings due to raging hormones, and one minute they love you and give you big hugs, and the next, they are screaming at you and telling you to leave them alone. Good luck with that; you're gonna need it!