What do you do with your young toddler at the weekend?

[LisaSimpsonsbff]

DS is 15 months. DH and I are both find it really hard work to have a whole day just at home with him - he gets whingey, we get bored. He will play with his toys for a while, and he loves being read to, but neither of those can possibly fill a morning, let alone a whole day! We've tried things like playing with finger paint and he is interested in it for approximately 10% of the time it takes to set them up and clean up afterwards. It's been pissing it down all weekend here - yesterday I took him to the park (in a puddle suit) and it was deserted, and this morning we went to soft play and it was us and two single dads, which obviously is fine but clearly this isn't what 'most' families are doing on a Sunday morning. You also mostly seem to see older toddlers at this stuff, so most people must not feel the need for it to entertain a 'young' (say, under 2) toddler? Are other people having whole days in and we're somehow missing some trick that makes that not awful? Or are they going somewhere we haven't thought of? Should we just let DS get more bored - are we trying too hard to keep him constantly entertained?

This morning we had breakfast then did some painting, played with balls, sang nursery rhymes.

This is where I feel like I must be doing something wrong - I could (and frequently do) do all this but then I look at the clock and, say, 25 minutes in total has passed?! People often list things like 'nursery rhymes' as an activity but singing every nursery rhyme I know takes 10 minutes, tops, and DS would wander off halfway through that!

2.5 and 7.5.

We just drag them around to what we need to do, food shopping, we’ve been to buy some camping stuff and new wellies. Apart from that we’ve stayed in and hung around the house - when my youngest (10 months so smaller than yours but still at that annoying age when they’re bored within 25 seconds) gets bored I tend to get something out that isn’t actually a toy, look busy with it and then leave it where she can get it. She gets very excited thinking she’s playing with my stuff, and it seems to entertain her for longer than toys! Today’s ‘not toys’ have been a big pile of Tupperware, the recycling and poker chips.

In the park we have a sandpit. And it is v toddler friendly. I am not required to do much barring the swings and DS2 hates the swings (it’s too windy he says!).
Playdough from about 18 months was a big hit.
Also messy play in the garden. I put cornflour, oats, milk, water, tea bags, lentils and rice in small bowls and with lots of spoons and let him mix and cook.

Dh has always taken ds grocery shopping on a Saturday morning then they go for coffee and a snack in the cafe. It all takes a couple of hours.

I don’t get how you can leave a 2 year old at the park?

Me neither, but I also don't see what I've gained if I do? I can't actually go somewhere else and surely I have to stay vaguely supervising, so now I'm just stood staring into space and I can't see how that's an improvement on playing with DS?

That's also a big part of the problem with staying at home - DS is actually I think quite good at playing independently for his age but if I try and do something on the laptop, or read, or do anything myself actually then that's when he gets really whingy - I can quite easily sit and drink a cup of tea while he plays but that seems like a dreadfully boring way to spend an afternoon, for me even if not for him! Doing housework also works ok (he likes to 'join in') but again it's me, not him, who doesn't want to spend the day very inefficiently doing chores!

Mine are grown but we used to get out with them for sanity reasons. NT membership, Zoo membership, local park, walks, shopping if necessary, family visits, days out with friends. Garden centres, city farms. Anything was on and preferably not expensive!

Memberships save a pile of money.

I did explicitly say I was asking about the younger toddlers, e.g. under two. I can see how the options to entertain them expand quite a lot when they get older.

We go out and about a lot, always have. People talk about a pyjama day at home but 2yo DS picks up his shoes and heads to the door at 9am!

I think people run errands like the supermarket, birthday parties, maybe classes for older DC which the toddlers get taken to?

We went for a rainy wood walj

What would you like to spend the afternoon doing? Can’t you stick a film on and sit and watch that while he plays, if he’s happy playing on his own? Take advantage of this time before you spend the whole weekend watching reruns of paw patrol 😩 You don’t want to spend all day playing with him, it’s great that he can play independently so you should try and encourage that if you can.

It is not clear what people want me to say. You can go to the park and engage with your kid (we do nature hunts sometimes) or leave them to it. But it’s an activity that I participate in and sometimes I don’t. Like train tracks. I will help to build it and then leave him to it. Sometimes his big brother will join in.
Yesterday DH and I lay on two pillows on the floor for nearly half an hour while DS2 pretended he was the pilot of a plane. Then he got bored with this and wandered off to play on his own and DH and I lay there chatting. Surely it’s a mix of engaging with them and letting them be? They will whinge and be a little bit bored but to me that’s okay.
Sometimes I find if I read a book but I sit down on the floor with him he’ll be less inclined to whinge. And then I can dip in and out of his play as I need to.

DS is only just two, and we did a walk not a walj!

I remember posting a very similar question once as I found weekends with young toddler so hard. They’re too young for lots of things to be particularly enjoyable but too old for you just to cart them around everywhere. It does get easier as they get older and soon he’ll be at the age where trips out feel a bit more worthwhile if you know what I mean.

We have two now and weekends can still be challenging. We were at church this morning and this afternoon we have taken it in turns looking after them while the other adult naps/reads. But they do play together which makes it easier. Also if we have jobs to do we try to take them along, so go pick up some furniture from eBay, pop to get some new towels etc. We do also do a lot of splitting childcare so it’s not all of us together all the time and one of us gets a break

My daughter has just turned 2- the park is not a sit back and let her play environment just let- its trying to stop her pushing past the other toddlers at the top of the slide or vice versa, making sure she doesn’t run infront of a swinging swing etc.

@kungfu That is brilliant! Dd 15months loves playing with my makeup and raking through my bag, well anything she's not meant to. You've given me lots of ideas now so my actual nice things don't get ruined.

I feel the same as you op
It's a drain Isn't it
I wish they would entertain themselves longer then 9 minutes without needing food, drinks, books or making a fucking mess.

DD is 18 months, if we’ve had a busy week we quite often have a day in at the weekend. I do a mix of actively playing with her (hiding under blankets, bouncing on the bed, building blocks, playing with her toy garage, water play, etc) and letting her play on her own while I watch tv or read a book- she’ll come up to me and show me things or ask me to open stuff, but she rarely whinges. She likes doing chores too, so we usually do some laundry together.

When we go out we do the usual stuff- shops, library, museum, park. Don’t do NT as I can’t drive. Quite often go to my mums when it’s nice as she had a massive garden and we don’t have one.

My husband won't go to soft play we don't have relatives here and my friends seem to have relatives they spend time with on the weekend
My husbands brother is religious and so is his mum so we never do a Sunday roast or anything with them which is a shame but tbh we don't get on well anyway anymore

I have a 3.8 years old and an 18 months old. With the older kid we take a lot of trips so the younger one comes along. Yesterday we went to an urban farm where they had a cafe, a playing area for the kids with bouncy castle and toys. It was pissing down with rain and we all got wet and muddy but hey ho. We then went to the shopping centre and had lunch out. We also went to the library where we go every Saturday. They have a really cozy and welcoming child area and it’s lots of fun.

With the 18 months old when it’s raining I tend to go to walk around in the shopping centre as she doesn’t like the soft play. She won’t play there. We also go to the garden centre a lot to just walk around. We walk around a lot. Huh. Didn’t realise that before lol.

With the older one we take a lot of pointless trips. Today I parked near a bus stop, catch the bus to the train station, caught the train to two more stops. Stopped walked around, looked around, went for lunch to Mac Donald and did the same journey coming back. It’s pissing down today as well. I guess the fun is catching the bus, the train etc. I also take the younger one with me but she was due a nap so stayed home with their dad.

We do a lot of pointless walking around. At home they love bath, books and a big fan of listening to songs on the radio.

When DC was that age we always aimed to go out for the morning- swim, soft play, country park walks with a trike if they got tired walking then followed by lunch/cafe afterwards.
Then home for a nice hour long bath (baths are still my goto to kill an hour with my now 5yr old). I always find a bath chills them out enough for a wee bit of playing, dinner, story then bed for 6pm!

My son likes a den to be made in the house and sometimes I'll give him his snack in there
Tbh I use the bath as a method of entertainment at home
I can't take him to the shops because he's very badly behaved when he is bored and he is bored very easily
If we had more relatives here and he had cousins his age I think we would have easier weekends I feel sad we don't have that

My DD was exactly the same at this age - very whiny and short attention span at home but usually lots of fun and easy going when out and about. I do think it's a personality thing - lots of my friends talked about having relaxing weekends in during the winter but none of us ended up enjoying that as she'd be so hard work all day. I've always assumed it must be easier if you have an older one to play with them as well.

I don't think I really have any words of advice - the winter after she had turned one was an absolute nightmare. By Sunday afternoon we'd just be desperately wracking our brains for stuff to do. I remember a rather desperate trip to a newly opened Dunelm when we were all bouncing off the walls (which ended in tears because we wouldn't let her jump on all the beds and sofas...)

But if it's any reassurance last winter(at 2) was mostly easier and I think this winter (she's just turned 3) will be fine. I still can't imagine not taking her out once a day but she's much happier pottering around the house or garden for an afternoon and things like baking/painting/craft hold her attention much better.

The only thing I can suggest was that my DD much preferred Pets at Home or a Garden Centre with fish to a farm park at that age!

I guess it also depends where someone lives?. For eg where we live we have easy access to a big NT park, snakes and ladders, a zoo, an urban farm, libraries, shopping centres, train stations, bus stops, garden centre with aquarium and soft play, big parks with ponds, hills, cinema etc These are all easily accessible so can spend weekend doing lots of different things. We don’t have a garden and we work full time so weekends we aim to take them out esp the younger one as she’s just learning about the world outside and it’s good to see her discovering new things.

We are very boring and often do stay at home all day. DS2 is 13mo. (DS1 11).

Definitely don't try to entertain the toddler constantly - how will they learn to entertain themselves? Admittedly, DS2 has always been extremely self sufficient, but for example today:

I got up with him around 8am. DH had a lie in.
DS2 emptied all books from book shelf, pottered, climbed on sofa, took all his clothing out of the boxes it's stored in, looked out of window etc. DS1 got up and played with him for a bit but he would have been equally happy (probably happier) alone.

Probably about 9.30 I got around to changing his nappy, getting him dressed, making coffee and breakfast. This probably took about 40-60 minutes as we were not rushing.

DH got up at 10.30, chatted/played with DS2 for a while and did some cleaning up. DS2 went onto balcony to look outside for a bit. Came back in and was tired so put him down for nap (11ish)

I went for a nap at about 12. DS2 immediately woke up so put him into bed with me and we both slept until about 1.30.

DH spent about an hour cleaning kitchen and slowly making lunch. I tidied the messed up clothes and put some washing away. DS2 pottering in kitchen being fed slices of apple/"helping" with dishwasher (I took him out, and we closed the kitchen gate, so he then played next to the gate while eating slices of apple)

Changed nappy, ate lunch (very late unfortunately) it's now 4.45, and DS has been pushing his wooden truck around the house and commentating on things for the last 40 minutes or so. I've put more washing away and gave him the odd socks to play with, which he has enjoyed putting them into his truck and taking them out again. DS1 has been cajoled into doing his homework. Robot hoover started beeping so DS2 went to investigate that and try to bring it back.

DS2 got a bit bored/tired about 10 minutes ago and wanted some milk, but has now gone off to play again. I can hear him putting things in and out of his truck still but not entirely sure what he is doing. I will check in a minute. :)

It's almost dinnertime, which will probably be a light snack since we ate lunch so late. Then he will have a bath and get ready for bed at 6. Some days we let him watch a bit of TV (he likes music/nursery rhymes on youtube) if he gets tired and grumpy for example in the afternoon but I don't think he'll need that today.

We did go out for the whole day yesterday, though. So it is probably an unusually slow day for us here but we do quite often spend our Sundays like this.

Tbh I do what I need to do and the toddler comes along! I will do some toddler specific activities but today it’s raining so we went to decathlon and b and m which took about an hour and a half, I’ve cleaned upstairs while she has played by herself and then she helped me clean. We have just carved pumpkins and lo has played with some of the pumpkin insides and now I’m just about to put her in the bath! I work all week too and could not be arsed to go to soft play on a weekend! Sometimes we go to the park, yesterday we went pumpkin picking that had a tractor ride! I also needed to go to b and q so she sat in the trolley, I can’t spent my hard earned weekends entertaining dd alllll the time!!!