What's a Good Hobby for a Teenage Boy?

Well...my husband pretty much did what your son does. He had all the time in the world and he would experiment. He even figured out how to make Napalm. Are there are sports he is interested in? What about friends? Any clubs he can join that do stuff during the summer?

Girls! Hit the mall, grab a soda and start flirting. Plus he can play demo games at the electronic store. Feed him a pretzle (with cheese) and you'll be supermom once again. Or send him over here, We've got cable and mountains to climb and bikes to ride. Does he like chicken, I grill a killer bird. Plus, he will have a beautiful view of the lake.

First of all, an obsession with fire and wanting to play with explosives is more than just a teen that is bored looking for something to do. My first advice would be to seek counseling for your son. Next, download or purchase software that limits your teens access to certain kids of sites on the internet PLUS move the computer to a part of the house where you can monitor what your teen is doing when he is online. And finally, do find something constructive for him to do with his time. Undoubtedly, there are plenty of chores around the house that he could be doing. Neighbors may be willing to pay him to do odd jobs or mow lawns, etc. Check with local businesses to see if they have part-time work that he could do. Hospitals and nursing homes are always needing volunteers. Investigate what organizations exist in your area for teens - boy scouts, 4-H, church youth groups, the YMCA or other social organizations for teens that will provide exposure to other teens in a positive atmosphere.

Boy! Is it time to run him to a hobby shop...lol There is so much that he can try his hand at there. He can build model planes or ships. He could find a radio kit and build a simple radio from scratch. He could try his hand at remote controlled planes. He could learn how about bike repair and repair his bike himself. I'd keep him away from anything that had to do with experiments being he likes fire though...lol DCMerkle

The ONLY thing you should do right now is encourage him (safely mind you). If he likes fire, get a barbeque grill, make your own camp fire in the yard or at the beach. If you try to quench this it will only get worse. Maybe get him interested in being a firefighter or direct him toward pyrotechnics (spelling?). It is completely normal, Hell...I'm STILL obsessed with fire, it's a complete oddity and mystery to me. Research on the internet like he does and try to understand why it's so interesting to him, there may be something that you can do together to feel this out. Good luck! I'm looking forward to watching one of your sons AMAZING fireworks shows next 4th of July!!! Wooot! Happy Posting!

Hi I'm not sure as to when you posted this, and whether or not you have found a good hobby for your son. yet i have to question, if your son has such an interest in the field of fire, perhaps that's what you should give him. send him to a university and let them teach him all about pyrotechnics, a person with talent and inspiration for a certain field, should peruse it. he is young but sounds capable to handle pyrotechnics. with the right guidance and knowledge he could become something great. he should not waste his talent. how this gave you a good idea, if not oh well. thanks stephen

Wow you really need to talk to his doctorabout his behavior. Staying up all night, obsessing over things, pyromania. he really needs more help than a hobby can give. I am sure your boy is a sweet kid he just needs help channeling his energy into constructive things. Good luck to you.

Hi there momalisa, that is a great attitude since he was able to come up with his own work but you are true he needs to learn other stuff and not just be obsessed with that thing, how about friends? maybe you can ask him to hang out with friends who have different also interest and maybe they can share and in a way, he will be interested to do other stuff than that!

Oh wow, sounds like a dangerous hobby! I can't speak as a parent or even a teenage boy, because I am a girl. But I have studied psychology and even took a parenting class within my psychology study. Is your son into music? Maybe encourage him to learn an instrument, or start a band with a few friends. Or maybe just simply listen to music and hang out, or go to concerts. All of these things can be positive, and keep him away from the possibly dangerous influences and activities he is doing now. Another possibilty would be something like skateboarding, I know you said he wasn't really into sports, but I know that a lot of boys who aren't really athlete types get really into skateboarding. And yes, there are risks in that to a point as well, risk of injury,as with everything in life, but it can also be a healthy hobby that would keep him active and away from playing with fire. Other than those things I'm not really sure what else to suggest, but I am definitely a strong believer in music education and involvement for young people, and well, everyone! Good luck figuring out what to do, I can't even imagine how hard it is to raise a teenage boy, I mean, being a teenage girl was definitely no walk in the park, but I got through with the help of music, so I guess that's why I believe so strongly in it.

Man, that's not good at all...Um well, Model Building comes to my mind. Does he like Star Wars and Star Trek? If so, my husband loves building models of ships and things like that but you can also build models of other things like castles and cars. Also, I think that perhaps he needs good wholesome association. Have you tried to get groups of boys his own age together and perhaps take them somewhere to hang out, like perhaps a video arcade place or somewhere where they have games and food. If you don't have the money for all that perhaps you could just take them hiking or somewhere he could hang out with young men his own age. I know it was never easy on my brother to be surrounded by us girls all the time when he was that age. Anyway, this is just a suggestion but it's really important that he has good association and keeps active on productive and SAFE activities ;-P

how about making music, momalisa? =) ..learning to play the guitars not bad.

I suggest you construct him to do the good aspect he now likes to do.As you say,he once watched videos about making fire works.If he enjoying this ,just let him go in the case that he do not do harm to other people.however,to be sure,his behavior is under your supervisor.

THAT'S MY BOY!! -(for real...) Actually, it's MY fault. I told him to find a hobby/interest of some kind. I would have preferred one that didn't involve fire, explosives, etc. Actually, he is very responsible with fire. He does have other interests. The problem lies in the fact that his older brother was very sedentary and calm when he was the same age is my son. She's not used to all of this excess nervous energy. We need to try and channel it toward good use. This is just the fruitage of a healthy, active mind. However, one-(or more)-of us may not survive these teen years!

just a suggestion, but you might want to try metalsmithing and allow him to put his torch to good use. its a bit expensive but you can really get him started for a couple hunderd dollars. just do some internet searches for metal smithing kits or something. i got a kit from www.contenti.com for $216, and then got a small torch, some metal, and a block for another $100 form a local metalsmithing store, which also holds metalsmithing classes. just lock up the torch and make sure he is using it for possitive things.