Parenting At 13: How One Family Is Navigating Teenagehood With Board Games And Backpacking

Ekil celebrated his 13th birthday on a month-long camping trip across Scandinavian countries with his parents Sahil and Ek Roohi in June 2025. They drove across towns, set up camps in the wilderness, kayaked through lakes and explored uninhabited islands. A love for adventure, sports and games is what bonds the three of them, and Ekil has been travelling with them since he was little. 

“Each parenting phase has been different. Age one to five was a different phase, five to ten was one and now is a whole different phase,” says Sahil. “13 is very different, he has his own interests and his own opinions. His friends are now very important. Earlier I used to be his best friend!”

Ek Roohi agrees with Sahil, but added that each phase feels like it’s the most difficult in the moment, but it often seems the easiest to have navigated, in retrospect. “When you’re new parents, and you’re losing sleep, it feels like one of the hardest things to have gone through. But now, reasoning with a teenager, and trying to make him see my logic, seems way tougher,” she said. 

Ekil calls Sahil by his name, and calls Ek Roohi ‘mumma’. “That’s just how it’s been. My friends used to call me ‘Sahil’ so he just got used to doing that,” said Sahil. 

For Ek Roohi, he called her by her name for a while. Called her “didi” for a bit, something he picked up from the househelp, and then called her “ma’am” as that’s something she was called at work. “At daycare, seeing other kids call their moms ‘mumma’, he picked up ‘mumma’ and that stuck,” smiled Ek Roohi.

Sahil added, “It’s the actions that show respect, and how you treat people, and not what he calls us by. So we never forced, or taught him to call us anything.”

Ekil’s friends also call Sahil by his name. “The parents aren’t very happy about it!” laughed Sahil. 

Being called by his name, also helps him be friends with his son. “Being friends, and being approachable is important. But so is knowing when to change the hat, to being a parent again,” added Sahil. 

Whether it’s exploring an unexplored island or navigating a dinner-table debate, the family’s journey continues, with curiosity, conversation, and a little help from board games.