Do you plan days with your kids? Or wing it?

[Toffeefee23]

I find whole days alone with my toddler stressful, but was wondering if planning the day in advance a bit more would help? What do others do?

Where you are going to get food (pack lunch), where I am going to park and, if a morning is a block of time and an afternoon another, how many blocks of time is the activity likely to take. Always how much it will cost including any food.

Carry pac a macs, pac a down coats, and first aid kit in car. Mini first aid kit in handbag

If you know where you are going to eat, have stuff to keep you warm and dry and can fix up minor injuries not much can take you by surprise

Mine aren't toddlers anymore but we still have to plan ahead lots because DS has SN.

Mine are school age now but I remember when they were young I did have to have some sort of ‘schedule’ of the day, but that’s just me I think ha! Even if it was - breakfast - dressed - park - painting - lunch etc. It just makes my head feel better!

I had to plan. It wasn’t a plan set in stone but I knew the things that would help me be less stressed.
One of the things was that none of us goes downstairs til we’re washed, brushed and dressed. It made a huge a difference as then we were ready to face the day.
I planned one daily trip out of the house and planned dinner for the day that I’d do some prep for in the morning (chopping the onions and veg)
Just those things made a huge difference.

Bit of both.
I’d have a couple of big things up my sleeve to choose between, eg outings (shops/park etc) and had a list of ideas on the fridge for things to do at home because I’d always forget in the middle of the chaos. Things like jigsaws, play doh, some water play etc.

My DS (2) has a really strict routine with regards to naps, sleep, bath, food etc so we map a rough day around those. It's not like I'm thinking 9-9.15 is craft time, 9.15-10 is construction time etc. It's more that the weather might look good around 9 so before snack time we'll aim to go for a walk outside. Or I know it takes ages to get all the painting stuff out so I'll only map that in my head for after his nap so I get it ready while he sleeps. Sometimes it can be knowing that one day was quite a lazy, quiet day indoors so I know I need to aim for some more physical activity outdoors the next day.
I also mostly like to read DS' mood and go with the flow for activities because there's been so many times when I've spent ages setting something up and he's had no interest in it.
I think you need structure within the day for every day things like sleep and food and then think of the time around then as little blocks to fill. The day isn't as daunting then and much easier to manage.

Yep always plan one “big” thing to do a day- my toddler even asks me the day before “what we doing tomorrow”.
These aren’t really big things, obviously before Covid they were fun things like: farm, play date- now it’s more like: Aldi, park with the swings, park with the ducks, ride our bike, Forrest walk, bake a cake, bake biscuits etc....

Then the rest of the time tends to be crafts, play doh, puzzles, play kitchen etc.

Yes, it was easier pre-pandemic as I had a schedule of classes and play sessions so everything was planned for the week (often for the whole term). But now I put in different outdoor places to visit into our online calendar, mostly parks or gardens, I visit a few new places every week to make it interesting for both of us. We go outdoors from 9am-2pm every day then I head home (she's napping by then) and we chill out at home with her choice of toys.