Home And Family

Encouraging your preteen or tweenager to watch less TV? Try giving him this list of ideas to get him off the couch. Anytime you hear the “B” word (bored), remind him how fun life can be when you live it yourself instead of watching it on television.

Play guitar. If you don’t know how, it’s time you learned!

Read a good book. Dust off that library card! Get your reluctant reader inspired with something by Lemony Snicket

Write a letter to a friend. Yes, the snail mail type.

Bored? Play a board game. Star Wars Monopoly anyone?

Practice juggling. One of the easiest ways to learn is with plastic grocery bags.

Do 20 pushups

Help do laundry

Write a poem

Play Mad Libs

Find change under the couch cushions

Have an arm wrestle

Put vinegar in baking soda and stand back

Start a blog. Do it for free at Blogger

Get a parakeet and teach him vocabulary words

Learn how to make espresso, cappuccino and regular coffee

Make a lego movie! This is where you run your Lego men through fantastic adventures and capture it all on videotape.

Make a permanent artificial sand castle with a paste made from sawdust and glue

Make a treasure hunt

Put a mushroom cap on some paper, wait a day, and find a ring of spores

Climb a tree and act like a nut

Make your own soda

And now, for the 22nd, most important thing to do instead of watch TV….

Have a burping contest

Have fun!