My father is a recovering alcoholic and is getting his back on track. He is going through a divorce and all that good stuff.. I am away at college but my 11 year old little brother. I think it is important he finds another hobby that's not extremely expensive but he works a lot. Any suggestions? I'd like to get him a car or something for him to tune but I'm broke in college...

Thanks.

What about carving (wood.) you can start with soap and work your way up. Or maybe building model cars or planes though that can get expensive. Does he have an artistic touch at all? Painting, drawing, building things (such as those cute reindeer built from birch logs)

He's not very artsy.

OK, let me think then.. if he's not real artsy what does he like to begin with. What about reading, writing, stamp collecting. I collected stamps for years but it takes a fondness for pretty things you can lick for that :)

To be honest, he is very athletic. We ran a half marathon over winter break, and he did it with no training. He is a blue collar worker so I don't see him getting back into something like that again, since he is normally tired from work, and does not want to hurt himself.

What about sports. Not the regular ones but bowling, darts, vollunteering for youth group sports

Hmm... that's not a bad idea. Anything else?

Reading is a big hobby of mine.. not romance novels, but fantasy, informational etc... if he likes reading he could pick that up. There's also birdwatching,

Your Dad and Brother could take some form of martial arts .

My dad makes model tanks. They are relitivly cheap, an 11 year old can help, and there are some contests with cool prizes.

They come with instructions and, when painted, make everyone proud :)

There are all kinds of model kits now a days.. puzzle's have come a long way and both of them could do that, same as with model's.. I got my husband one of those kits to build something with the supplied wooden sticks, it was not costly and came with everything.. he has done 2 of them now, a big ben clock and a cool castle.. Good Luck

How about learning to play an instrument? Maybe guitar? Or he can let his music preference influence the instrument.

Maybe he should get a dog, that would work out for everyone and he could take it for walks and to the dog parks ans beaches. This way he could meet some new people.

***could someone with special privileges please close this, as its an old post and the OP hasn't been back in a while, not sure if they will be back***