Does Anyone Elses Older Children Not like to Play Outside?

I grew up in the country over 3 miles from my school. We had no close neighbors -- none of the kids I went to school with lived near me. No sidewalks and at the intersection of 2 major highways, so unsafe to walk or bike ride.
We had a long driveway too believe me it's BORING. It's not fun being isolated and alone all the time. He either needs to be able have friends from school over all the time or he's not going to want to go outside alone all the time.

I have to force both my girls to go outside. If we go to a playground with a friend they enjoy it more. My kids are now 11 and 14, and since they were little they have always rather be in a room with lots of little dolls and plastic dogs and little doll houses and set up some kind of story to play out with them. They both can play for hours with clay or paint (still) and talk to each other about games and all kinds of topics I can barely follow in rapid fire speech. They are happy, eat healthy, but I do make them go outside every day and tell them to "walk around the house 10 times", or they go jump on the trampoline, or take walk down a dirt road we live on. But if I left them alone for a week of vacation I bet they would spend the whole time inside.

I often just kick mine out and let them figure it out on their own. If they pout about it, I tell them to go pout out in the fresh air. Oh, my. My boys' would love to have 10 acres to run on, but I wonder if he's bored by himself. Does he have friends he could have over?

It's pretty boring to be outside in the middle of nowhere all alone.
Can you get him involved with sports or scouting, some organized activity that gets him out of the house?
I don't know how you feel about air soft guns but I bet he'd like playing outside with one of those! (shooting at targets only, obviously)
How about taking a family bike ride together? The best way to encourage a healthy lifestyle is to model it yourself :)

I think I'd just let some friend come home with him after school on Friday's to spend the night. He needs kids his own age. That would be a great start. We have a rule that "weather permitting" they have to be out at least 1 hour. I don't care what they're doing but they have to get sunshine and fresh air. I too have a homebody but he's actually starting to like the new rule...Thank God!! :)

mine would rather be in to, in fact they would rather be in the same room as me than be alone even in the house.

try going out with him for 15 mins i'm sure you could use the break too. maybe he'll get involved and stay out, but even if he doesn't you both get some sunshine!

My kids are always out the door but I don't restrict them to my yard which would be boring as heck. Nah, they play all over the subdivision with their friends. If they didn't have friends to play with I can't see them wanting to go out. Their games are more entertaining.

Oh gads, read your what happened. Yeah without a goal most kids will stay in the house. When I was a kid the only thing that got me out of the house when none of my friends were home was climbing trees. Do you have any good trees?

Can you get him started with a nature activity, like the Outdoor Hour (google it) or something else?

I've found that some kids are 'monkey see- monkey do'... if we go out with them to start and help them get busy building a fort or doing some other fun thing, they can often keep going even after we need to go back indoors.

LOL...kick him out! I was a homebody, too. Nothing was better than curling up in a warm spot and reading a good book. My mom would kick me out and tell me to get some exercise. Usually I would pedal to the library and read there or walk to a friend's house, so we both got what we wanted!

On the other hand, is there any way the two of you could take a "study break" together and go riding or walking your property? Any friends who can come over and play with him?

One thing I do with my sons is tell them they need to play outside and if they choose to remain inside, they can do chores. That usually gets them outside pretty fast. They have the best imaginations and, along with the neighbor boys, have the best time making stuff up. My backyard has gone from being a WWI trench warzone, to home of the coolest fort ever, to trampoline central, to play structure fun to the practice ring for nerf swords and battle axes. I've watched them play Star Wars, Pokemon, Knight's Tale and so many other fun, odd, boyish things. Just last Sunday they were playing in the back yard (a mere 1/4 acre) and they would shout "POOR LIFE CHOICE" every time someone made a bad move. Not quite what their father and I meant with the phrase "poor life choice" but at least they're listening, right?

It's hard, dear mama, but with 10 acres, your son should be able to find at least 1 hour's worth of fun physical activity.

Good luck!

PS: My boys are 17 and 13, if it that makes a difference at all, and their friends are in the same age range.