3 Easy Ways for Grandparents to Connect to Teenagers 

If you’re a grandparent who lives far away from their grandchildren, it’s easy to feel disconnected from your beloved little ones. Sure, you get to see your grandchildren maybe a few times a year at holidays, but what about in between times where you’re longing to hear about their day at school, or how their swim practice went. On top of that, it can be even trickier to find time to catch up with your teenage grandchildren, who have outgrown the phase of wanting to play board games and tag, and into the phase of only wanting to watch Tiktoks and scroll Instagram. 

In order to effectively connect with your teenage grandchildren, you’ve got to be inventive. If you’re at a loss for how to engage with your teenage grandchildren, we’re here to help with a list of easy and enjoyable ways to connect with them. From fun things to do over Facetime to interacting with them on social media, read on for some of the best ways that you and your teenage grandchildren can spend time together today. 

Fun Things to Do Over Facetime With Your Teenage Grandchildren

One of the easiest ways to connect with your teenage grandchildren when you don’t live in the same place is through Facetime, a video communication app that allows you to video chat with loved ones wherever they may be. While having a normal conversation over Facetime with your teenage grandchildren is fine, there are plenty of fun things to do over Facetime that can make your calls an active, shared experience that are much more enjoyable and memorable. 

For instance, one fun thing to do over Facetime with your teenage grandchildren is to play a game. This could be a trivia game, where you ask each other questions about pop culture and see what each of you know, or a quiz that you make together that’s about your family. Once you’ve made the quiz you could even decide to do a group Facetime and play it with other family members to get everyone involved. 

Another fun thing to do over Facetime is visit different virtual reality created worlds together. While Facetime doesn’t offer this feature yet, there are a number of other video chatting apps that can transport you to fun virtual worlds like space or the ocean, so you can have a shared virtual adventure. If you’re not one for virtual reality, you could keep things simple, and immerse yourself in a new world by watching a movie with your teenage grandchild instead. 

There are plenty of different fun things to do over Facetime with your teenage grandchildren that are sure to keep them engaged, and help you to create lifelong shared memories together. 

How to Interact With Your Teenage Grandchildren Over Social Media

Another great way to connect with your teenage grandchildren is by interacting with them on social media. Teenagers are constantly online these days, especially since the advent of virtual school during the Covid-19 pandemic, and many teens do the majority of their communicating via social media apps. In order to say up to date and engaged with what your teenage grandchildren are up to these days, it’s a great idea to make some social media accounts of your own and interact with them. By commenting on their pictures and posts, you let your teenage grandchildren know that you’re interested in what’s going on in their lives, and make you feel more engaged with them. Who knows, maybe once you get the hang of your social media accounts, you’ll even post a TikTok dance with them the next time that you see them! 

Bond With Your Teenage Grandchildren by Making a Virtual Family Time Capsule Together

One more great way to bond with your teenage grandchildren is by making a virtual time capsule that celebrates your family history. There are a number of apps that can help you make a virtual time capsule, or you could create a shared online document that you could both add scanned pictures and written material to. You could also invite other family members to partake in your scrapbook, so the whole family can bond together. Once you’ve uploaded all your material to the virtual scrapbook, you’ll have something that you and your grandchildren can look back on to enjoy nostalgic memories, as well as the memories that you created while making it together. 

In Conclusion

While it can be hard to connect to your teenage grandchildren, especially when you live far away, there are a number of things that you can do to interact with them even when you’re not in the same place. For instance, there are fun things to do over Facetime, like playing trivia games, enjoying virtual reality simulations, and watching movies. Additionally, you could engage with their posts on social media. Or, you could work together to make a family time capsule to enjoy for years to come. What activities do you find most helpful when it comes to connecting with your teenage grandchildren?