To feel the weather is actually now making me a terrible parent

Rain is fine.

Torrential lashing rain and wind and falling branches, floods and storms maybe is a bit problematic though.

I hate the whole ‘no such thing as bad weather, just wrong clothing’ responses.
They are patronising.
Who wants to go out in the pissing rain, not me. It’s miserable and wet and then you have heaps of wet coats and damp shoes to dry.

I hear you OP. Everything is much easier if the weather is pleasant and it feels like we are overdue for it. I don’t want to go out splashing in puddles everyday with my two children and the older one certainly wouldn’t be up for it either.

Some of my 5 year olds favourite days have been getting out in the rain. We head to toe in waterproofs, go and count the snails, discuss their markings, where they are going etc 🤣. My 3 year old loves to make the biggest splash he can. We then come home get our Pjs on, make biscuits and have them with hot chocolate.

It does feel a bit more relentless this year I'll admit. Unfortunately we had to shield during COVID and rain was the only way I could guarantee we would have the park to ourselves. I just had to get creative on what we could do around it.

Please don’t bring up your kids in the belief that rain is a bad thing.

I reckon I live near the OP as we’ve had very few sunny days this year apart from the last three days! We are now under an amber warning for torrential rain with high winds, danger from flooding, interruptions to travel, damage to property and power cuts! The forecast is for rain every day for the next two weeks!

I no longer have children to entertain but I’m pissed off with the poor weather, I can hear the rain beating on my windows and my back garden is under water again. I’d love to say that at least it feels warm but I’m cold this morning sitting in the house, heating not on so obviously not below 16° when it kicks in but the damp makes it feel colder.

Ah well, it will warm up when I put the tumble dryer on as my wet washing cannot go outside yet again!

Sometimes a good moan is all we can do!

Has anyone said ‘children should learn how to be bored’ yet? Or suggested letting them ‘help’ you with all the housework so it’s a fun activity that will last the whole day?

I agree with this! Mine is a bit older (almost 2) but delayed walking and it’s really limited what we can do when it’s so rainy. I can’t just put her in wet weather gear and let her to splash in puddles and she always whinges in the stroller if I have to put the rain cover on. On days like this I’m glad she is at nursery most of the day as we would be climbing the walls at home. Attention span is still too short for crafts and play dough etc too

Another bingo
Walking in torrential rain is shit. It just isn't fun no matter what I'm wearing.

@RampantIvy no I'm not being "smug and self righteous" actually. I've always had dogs, the DC (13 months apart so pretty hard going when they were tiny and my DH away a lot) had to come out with me when I walked the dogs, I had no choice. I had one of those see through plastic rain covers for the pram when it was really bad, often actually as live near the sea so frequent howling gales. I had a properly waterproof coat and just get on with it. Now I have horses so still out in it every day sorting them out.
The benefits of getting small DC out in the fresh air every day rather than cooping them up inside cannot be underestimated.

They'd actually make more money overall, even if many are treating it as a free day out, the increased numbers will mean increased sales. People are also likely to spend in bad weather to lift their mood.

Will you and your children melt in the rain? How do you tackle bathtime?

Haha, if it was like this every day of the year I probably would get some waterproof trousers, or else look at alternative transport.
It is daft that people are advising that you can still have a day our that's just as good as a day out in fair weather. 1 rainy day out might be fun, but months of it would be intolerable for anyone. It's fine to complain about. You can't have a rainy day out every day of the year, especially when it's apparently almost summer!

You are going to get the "there is no such thing as bad weather with the right clothes" brigade here. No matter how prepared I am clothes wise, i still hate torrential rain and wind and like you, I have no motivation to venture out in conditions like that. My child also hates the wind and rain.

It's crap, although thankfully we've had a spell of a little better weather where I live, but it's back to the torrential rain again today and for the foreseeable!

There is so only so much soft play a mum can take 😅16 months is tough too as they can't really do a great deal at this age. Heading for a woodland area is a good shout as it will provide a little bit of shelter if you desperate to get outside, or a visit to a garden centre to have a mooch around.

I'm not really bothered if large, multi million pound, retailers were fed up with our presence. All the ones listed are also dog friendly so our, raid averse, dog came too. My DC were always well behaved and we usually bought a small thing we needed anyway (rabbit food, WD40, screws, flannels etc).

No one has to stay in in the rain. Its a choice. I didnt say it was fun, but it wouldn't keep me in on a daily basis and questioning if I'm a good parent or not. I'd make choices regardless of the British weather that I'm fully used to by now, otherwise I'd spend my life indoors.

I live in the wettest part of the UK, an average of 7 feet of rain per year. None of us take our kids out for 360 days of the year, we just sit inside, noses pressed to the glass for the risk of growing gills or webbed feet.

I wonder if these large retailers are getting fed up with the extra footfall but no-one buying anything?

These are brilliant. We always had to go out in the rain when my DS was little as we had dogs. Never bothered with full on waterproofs, just a coat and got changed when we came home.

Thanks @FanofLeaves . I’m probably biased as I hate the place! There is a crèche at ours but it’s three plus so no good for OP.

I remember pushing the buggy around every aisle at the retail park on a rainy day. I was gutted when lockdown put a stop to it.

Just back from a week of sunshine to this

And come out with d&v ? Yes afternoon well spent there

Yeah- if you don’t go when it’s mad busy, it’s a great activity. They sometimes have a crèche, they often have a playground outside too. The cafe is very good and cheap for children. It’s a huge space and takes ages to walk around with loads to look at.

Clearly you just need to invest in some "decent" waterproof clothing and your walk to work would be jolly good fun!