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

@ItsSerious

it’s not been sunny where I live for days

and no I don’t want a day of rain in MAY, ffs

This made me laugh, we love a morning out at ikea! We go on a Friday as lunch is cheap, it’s quiet, and we role play pretending the rooms are parts of our house😂

the restaurant is so family friendly, usually a little drawing corner set up to. Meatballs and mash for £1.99. We love it!

@Bringbackthebeaver

it is that bad. How could it be worse? It’s literally pissing it down

Shouldn't they be at school?

Being with other people will save your sanity.
Trailing around in the rain with a toddler is miserable (though a good puddlesuit and wellies which keep the child dry will make a big difference).
It's not too cold at least so if you can get out and least you won't freeze your arse off.
Even an hour outside so your toddler can get some fresh air and exercise will make the rest of the day inside more tolerable.
If you can meet up with others it will lift your mood.

My sister used to go on days out to Ikea when her 3 girls were younger!

Definitely see if any friends want to meet up or find a toddler group-even if you have to drive a bit further afield! Being with other people makes it more bearable for me.
Or a library or museum. Pets at home is always good to fill a bit of time.

Soft play?

It's raining here today (north west England) but before that it was dry for at least a week, so wherever you are, I'm sorry it's apparently been raining daily for weeks - I can completely see why that would be depressing.

I'm going to buck the trend here because I HATE rain and everything about it. I hate being wet, even if its in waterproofs, I hate the cold, I hate that it gets all over my glasses and affects my vision, its just bloody miserable. My kids loathe it (7 & 8) and always have done - they would never play in the park when it was rainy because the equipment was wet, even in their puddle suits, they just hate it. I'm not even taking half term off because there's no point, its going to rain all week so i'll just work as usual (I work from home). We will bake, they can watch tv, play online with their friends, we can go to the library and swimming, cinema with our two free Sky tickets, go round to visit nanny etc. Its not ideal but what can you do?

The puddle jumping thing does get a little wearisome. It might be fun for all of ten minutes but then there’s a lot of mud, washing, filthy cars (we would have to drive somewhere to puddle jump: the road we live on isn’t suitable at all) and it isn’t THAT much fun, is it?

We went to the park yesterday and I only have the baby today so am just doing some shopping later but tomorrow is forecast heavy rain so have booked soft play.

Not sure where she is but we’ve had loads of sunshine recently down south! Raining for 2 days now then back to sunshine again tomorrow ☀️☀️

This did make me laugh! 🤣🤣

Have you never seen a weather map?

It’s been so lovely and sunny here recently, 2 days of rain yesterday and today, then back to sunny again! We must be lucky here

I can relate op and live in the good old north where it rains 80 % of the time lol, when my youngest was a bit older I made a to do jar ,he did go to nursery 9 til 12 though but after that we would pic something out of the jar just a folded bit of paper with a cheap activity on , whether that be go to charity shop and make an outfit for a fiver, always come in handy for world book day ect, or making seasonal stuff together, sometimes it was just a visit to the Cafe as he used to love egg and chips and a trifle, we also had allotments nearby with animals on so we would welly up and go for a walk. Hope that's helpful 😌 xxxx

You have my sympathy OP. Ignore all the jolly types with their comments about how wonderful a time you and your child can have out in the rain. I don't live in the UK and I can barely cope with more than two rainy days in a row - and that's without children. I have a friend in the UK who I hear from every couple of days, and it's been rare that she has had sunshine for more than one day at a time for months and months. I would have gone quite mad by now.

The decent soft plays here are £10 + paying for bus return. Even the leisure centre one is £6.50. That’s without buying any drinks and taking our own lunch. Swimming is £6. We do make use of our local church playgroup and toddler rhyme time at the library but these are once weekly, term time only and short sessions. We have amazing toddler sessions at a trampoline place locally but it’s £14 bloody pounds for that. An art gallery with a toddler…. I’ll probably pass on that one 😆

Anyway most of us here don’t actually need suggestions on how to entertain our own children 😂we know. We are just pointing out that the exceptionally wet few months we’ve had make it harder/more expensive/tedious/uncomfortable. For anyone on any kind of budget or living in a small space with no garden, prolonged wet weather can make things quite shit on occasion, yes, even if we have puddle suits and wellies.

My experience with the sort of indoor activities that people suggest is that they're good for about half a day. You need the park or some outing for the other half. I've never been able to stretch crafts and baking and jigsaws and kitchen discos to cover a whole day in even when mine were older.

I guarantee not one of you would actually enjoy being outside for a prolonged period in pouring rain (and it is pouring here) with a 16month old. “I’d go out anyway” - total bollocks. Sorry.

Not only do they not believe that weather might differ in different bits of the country but that the options available to you vary. We don't have any art galleries or museums within at least an hour's drive, more like 90mins to 2hrs. The library is only open for a few days a week and the one in the next town over which is open more does a lot of outreach work which I totally support but it does mean that it is less accessible for others during the times that those groups are running. It also involves a drive, paying for parking etc. That's not to say that there aren't great activities in the surrounding area, they are just more weather dependent.

Go to your local library. It will be quite while the older kids are at school, they usually have a toy corner, they'll definitely have picture/flap books, there's often colouring in (paper to scribble on). The librarians at mine are lovely and usually bring me tea and biscuits at some point as well. While you're there, find out the time for any session, ours has ryme time (singing nursery ryme) and toddler tales.

Toddler groups are also good for getting out the house. We didn't do any proper classes, but lots of the ones where it's free/£1, and it's a pile of toys in a church hall.

Check out you council leisure centre, ours do toddler swim sesson during school time, there only a few, and they put loads if watering cans and rubber ducks in the smallest pool. One leisure centre near us even has a small soft play. Mine outgrew it by 3/4, but it was only £2 a visit, so we were regulars while it lasted. Even big soft plays often have toddler deals with cheaper entries during school day.

I sympathise. I think those few days of sun we had here in my corner of the world were so joyous that going back to rain again feels even harder!

We're on the coast for a few days and it's pouring down all day today. 91% chance of rain all day and heavy rain too! The wind has just blown the garden chairs across the patio and my youngest hates the rain as much as I do.

It's not pleasant taking them out in the rain. Even if I put on my best fake jolly parenting the kids wouldn't be buying it. Being wet and cold and getting blown about isn't fun.

If it's half term for the op I'm guessing most playgroups won't be on this week for them. Sympathies op.

We are going to go swimming this afternoon. At least having wet hair won't be an issue!

I’m a disabled single parent and don’t get to do many activities outside the home because of my chronic pain - regardless what the weather is. This doesn’t make me a ‘bad parent’. I spend loads of time with my son doing various activities, baking, gaming, crafts, Lego, etc. Just because that time isn’t spent outside the home doesn’t make you a bad parent.

Huge sympathy, OP. I used to live somewhere exceptionally wet, with very little to do indoors (and most of the limited indoor options were expensive) and it was very challenging and often lonely with a toddler. Staying indoors for a whole day with mine was out of the question. I found the trick was to break things up as much as possible. We did do playgrounds in the rain sometimes, but DC weren't that keen. I personally found it easier to plan a walk through the rain to a "destination" with toddler getting in and out of the buggy on the way as appropriate, even if that destination was just a particular shop, or the train/bus station or wherever. That way we all got some fresh air and exercise but without the loneliness of standing in a deserted playground in the pouring rain trying to persuade sceptical DC it was all jolly fun. If you have more interesting options like church playgroups, visiting local friends, grandparents etc then use them! We didn't have much of that sort of thing available to us, but I clutched at whatever straws there were. And I found that if we got out of the house and had a long walk somewhere (usually in the bloody rain) to tire them out in the morning then an afternoon at home was more manageable. Top quality waterproofs do make a difference also.

I know, it’s so Mumsnet 😆🙄