To ask if you take your children out alone

Yes single parent so always have. Day trips/holidays abroad etc. All just the 2 of us :)

When my eldest 2 were little I was a single parent. I loved going to zoos and theme parks with them. We would go blackpool pleasure beach once a year, all I could afford at the time, and honestly I look back now as some of my happiest memories. Now they’re 19 and 17 I’m lucky if I get a grunt! I have 2 year old twins with my current partner and reserve those things for when I’m with him. But i will defo do things just me and then when they’re bigger. I never do these things with friends. I much rather it just ne and them.

Hell yes, I became a single parent to three kids when the youngest was just 2 and the eldest 8. I took them to Eurodisney twice and multiple holidays abroad . I wouldn't have gone anywhere otherwise. It's fun and perfectly manageable. Only notable point was a 9 year old screeching around a corner with the then 3 year old on a pile of suitcases at Charles De Gaulle airport and her flying off across the floor.

Of course! Two boys under 3. Why wouldn't I? Have to take them when doing food shopping too. Always fun....

This is one of the most nuts posts ever! Sorry OP!
Both my DH and I took the kids out from early ages on our own. Sometimes to just give the other a break. Sometimes to visit family and then do side excursions alone.
i don’t see the issue if you get organised. Most SAHM manage. I used to do weekly visits to zoo with both mine when they were baby /toddler 18 months apart) and I just planned my day well.
DH was a bit more relaxed but similarly planned for emergencies and delays.
The worse thing was when one puked all over the other or the occasional explosion in nappy.
i enjoyed these days most when i look back.

Of course! There’s a big age gap between my two dc, so it‘s easy to do separate things with them. Sometimes it’s with both kids & without dh, sometimes it’s just me and one of them, or dh and one of them. Dc2 and I did Disneyland together last year. We’ve been for other overnight trips to hotels & dc1 gave me an evening with him for my birthday.
So important to be able to spend quality time together without other dynamics being at play.
We also do lots with the four of us together ❤️

Yes. All the time. Some of my favourite days are 1:1 time.

Yes, otherwise they’d be stuck at home! Next.

Was going to say the same. We tend the save bigger days out to go as a family but if there was something we wanted to do and my partner was working or didn’t want to come, we (myself and two children) would go alone!

Yes of course. I take them out alone, DH takes them out alone, we take them out together. We've also taken them away alone for various reasons.

Maybe you’ve just hit a difficult point. If going out for the day at the moment is too tricky and causes stress, don’t bother for a while. Just do the smaller things, the park, soft play etc. Also if you really want to do something, maybe look at taking your order one out on your own at the weekend when your DH is around to have the younger one at home.

Slightly off topic but I think parents can feel like they should be doing bigger days out (or even something “small”) every weekend. This is simply not true. Kids need entertainment or something to keep them occupied some of the time, but this can be as simply as sitting down with them for a dedicated amount of time and eg colouring in for half an hour which can be easily overlooked during a normal week of work and nursery runs. Tell them in advance and make it something special.

I fell into the trap when my eldest was about 4 or 5 and saw friends or school families going out to theme parks, sightseeing in London etc and thought I wasn’t giving my kids the best opportunities by not taking them to these places very often. It’s rubbish. They didn’t miss out and my eldest now still talks about our crafting days (tissue paper and pritt stick!!). And they weren’t days, they were a morning at the most.

Do what suits you now, Things will likely change in the future and you can change it up.

😂 I'm a single parent since twins were babies and also have an older child

I do all big days out and holidays etc alone

(Have to admit I get a bit 😳 at some parents of one child who agonise (can't cope with) their one child on their own )

I'm a single parent of one, and going on a little fun day trip for her might be quite easy, but I have a life as well. So I take her out to do things I like to do or I'd never do them. Meals out, museums, visiting new towns and cities. We obviously do the zoo/park things as well but if I only catered to her I would lose the plot. And I'm trying to bring her up to be well rounded. It does a child good to have behaviour expectations in a situation that is not catered to them. In a zoo, she can run about and have a loose rein, in a museum, she needs to stay close to me or if she can't do that, I hold her hand.

Also, your kids don't have that big an age gap? Soft play/zoo/aquarium were things my daughter loved and still enjoys now she's a bit older, and I like the second two as well. She likes museums well enough at 3, but will hopefully have a deeper appreciation as she gets older.

Sometimes it's crap, even when it's a day for her (which is worse) and I do love the odd fester at home but life's too short.

That’s not always true to be fair. Taking an autistic child into an environment that distresses them isn’t going to cure their autism.

By avoiding going out you are making your child's problem worst.

I think for a lot of people the incredulity is coming from the fact that many people have no choice but to take their kids out alone if they want to go out at all. My DH worked away a lot when mine were very young, so if I didnt take 3 under 5s out alone, we wouldn’t have left the house for weeks on end. And one of mine is severely autistic so it wasn’t like I had the easiest children! Taking your kids out is just something you do.

Of course children are different, parents may struggle and none of it is bad parenting.
I just find it strange that a woman out alone on a trip with 2 kids prompts so much incredulity because this is really an everyday event for many.

I agree with this. There is so much judgement (and a lot of smugness) on this thread. Some kids are just harder work than others it isn't always weak or lazy parenting that people struggle.

It's just baffling how taking two children out now is apparently a feat worthy of incredulity and disbelief.

Eh? Whyever not?
Who seems incredulous that you do it at all? What wierd comments are others making? God this woke bullshit is shocking.

Yes, I always have done. Trips to adventure parks, zoos and London museums and parks in the holidays plus a few short breaks / city breaks and holidays to Wales. I was a SAHM until recently, so the three DC and I had a lot more time for adventures than DH. I've always felt very lucky to be able to do it, lucky to go wherever we please in the holidays.
I have lots of friends who wouldn't though. Would be too worried about looking after multiple small kids on a trip on the London tubes for example. And I have several friends who won't / can't drive on motorways or in cities they don't know. So I understand the comments you've had.
There were a few challenging moments when they were smaller, I admit. And I felt so proud of myself when I did it anyway and got through those moments without another parent to help.

Yes, I took my two out alone when they were small all the time. However, not all children are the same. My nephew runs out into the road full belt and my niece (from a different sibling) doesn’t do a single thing you ask her. Both families have other children who are well behaved so more personality that poor parenting. Mine were quite ‘good’ when we went out. It’s easy to judge other parents but we don’t all face the same challenges.

Yes. I have taken mine to lots of different countries on holiday and lots of day trips on my own. I'm a single parent so if I didn't do it no one would.
We have been to a couple of places like Mexico and Jamaica where lots of people were on honeymoon so I felt a bit sad I didn't have a partner but it was a lot easier just me and the kids and we had loads of fun. Apart from turkey where my son was really sick and he was sick for weeks after we got back. My eldest moved out at 16 to do an apprenticeship 2 hrs away and I only see him holidays and weekends now so the time with kids is very precious and limited so you have to do things on your own with them if you don't happen to also have an available nice partner to take with you.

I get it. My 1 year old hates the car. I try and avoid any car journey, but if we have to go on a long trip, DH is coming too. When she was 8 months old we drove for 10 hours (bad traffic) for holiday, left the house at nap time feeling hopeful. 7 hours and loads of stops she still hadn't slept, just cried. She also doesn't like being in the pram for long and wants to be carried, which I just can't do for long. I have a pretty easy 8 year old, but a big trip out just the three of us would be wasted and I'd be all snappy and stressed. I'd rather go to a local playground and tread the big one to a hot chocolate in the cafe. Results in a much happier day, for us. Every family is different. My friends all raved about going to paultons park with their 4 year olds. We did the journey, paid the entrance, paid for a rubbery sausage no one would eat, and my dd spent most of the day asking to go to the playgrounds. Total waste for us, but a huge hit for others.

Yes, OP.

I've been a single parent since my youngest ws 6. My eldest was 13.

We've done wild camping, weekend festivals, climbed Snowden etc. Just the three of us.

If I hadn't been willing to do big days out, my children would never have been anywhere!

I have one diagnosed ND and another suspected.