What are your Saturday mornings like?

[Bemyclementine]

Single parent, dc aged 6 and 8. We have a busy week with school, work, clubs. Friday night movie night. Sat mornings I always feel I'm missing something. They're watch tv/having their tablet time. I'm washing g up, pottering about. I feel like I waste time.

They don't always want to go out but I get a bit stir crazy!

I've avoided Sat morning clubs so we have a day without commitments. They go to their dad's Sundays.

If we don't have anything planned we tend to have a slow morning, kids lounging, I get some washing on, cleaning. Afternoon we will get out somewhere, even if its just a walk or the park

It usually starts with me bitching about the fact that, despite dragging myself into wakefulness Mon-Fri with multiple alarms and usually DP having to get some sense out of me before I'm capable of movement (or coherent thought), come Saturday morning when I don't have to get up, my eyes snap open at exactly the right time for work.

Then it's coffee.

How about planning to do something around 10.30-11am? That's not early enough for them to feel that they're getting no downtime at all and if you come back around 2pm, they've got more time to relax again. You could do it fortnightly, so they get one week of pure chill before one where they do something lower effort.

I used to take the DC swimming at the gym around 9am, but they had Sundays to chill, rather than always having to get up and go somewhere like yours do. They definitely needed it on the alternate weeks, as they'd be full on busy-busy-rest-is-for-losers-like-your-mother when at their father's.

Conscious they do all the fun stuff on Sundays.

It sounds like they need Saturdays chilling out.
Maybe you could find yourself an indoor hobby to do whilst they chill?

I have a 5 & 10 year old. They watch tv. I have coffee and sit on the sofa and read/look at social media. We have (farm) animals so must go feed the animals at some point. That’s it unless we have somewhere to go. Sometimes dd has an activity and then I take her to that and sit and have a coffee.

I think you're doing the right thing, after a hard week at school and a change if house on the Sunday they probably need a chilled day. Mt dc similar age we usually have a relaxed day 1 day out of weekend, maybe a playground or library etc but not much.

From your DCs’ perspective, one weekend half day (at least) should be spent doing a hobby or sport at that age. It should be fun, something they want to do. It won’t feel like a chore.

How you divide that between you and their father is between the parents.

I strongly believe children should be kept busy and productive: it’s social, good for their bodies, keeps them off screens, good for family relationships. It doesn’t have to be tearing about, doesn’t have to be classes, and at the weekends shouldn’t feel like a chore. Go for a bike ride together. Drive out to the woods and go for a walk. Take them to football practice. Let them play outside with neighbourhood friends. Go visit grandparents. Take them to a show. Get them enrolled in a local am dram group. Take them to the skate park. Get them to clear the garden of weeds and leaves, let them help mow the lawn. They can tinker with their bikes, join a Lego club, do dungeons and dragons etc etc etc. There’s so much out there, let them enjoy life’s opportunities.

I've had my usual Saturday morning footspa, my partner has hung the washing out, now we're.just lazing about for a bit!

We have a busy sat morning . Youngest does swimming and tap . Eldest does tumbling after lunch . Frees up the rest of the weekend and don’t feel guilty for chilling rest of the day.

Usually a chill day, i go to the village bakery for a fresh loaf first thing, she watches tv or plays (age 7) while husband reads the newspaper/watches sport, later we might meet friends at the pub or take her to the park/woods. She'll occasionally have or go on a playdate.
If nice we'll maybe get up early and go out somewhere.
In summer there is always gardening to be done at some point over the weekend. Still need to trim the trees and bushes and give the lawn another mow before the weather really turns.

Sounds ideal to me with the rest of your weekly schedule. You need to balance work, rest and play. When else do they actually rest?!

We also busy ourselves on Sat morning with swimming then football, but we don’t commit to more than one class during the week as too stressful. On Sat, we are done by 12.30, have lunch, then free for rest of the weekend. Usually Sat afternoon is chilling at home. We do sometimes have a clash due to a party or family commitments but it’s not that often.

OP, your Saturday morning sounds lovely. Downtime for the DC, few jobs for you. Don't doubt yourself!

You'd faint if you saw my schedule - single parent, 3 DC, many sports at quite high level.

We have training, often clashing, each weeknight. Saturdays are back to back matches so I'm on the road from early am to teatime, and still have to rely on lifts, and miss some of their games.

I'm a single parent, working full time. Despite their love of their sports, it's probably not very healthy way to live. We are often stressed, I'm shouty & I've just had a mini-cry of frustration in the car having been stuck in awful traffic trying to make a hurling match.

We've so little downtime - and even when we do we don't know how to relax.

Still ... I'm doing my best, kids are passionate about their sports & I have to hope I'm getting something right!

Love this post!

My DC are quite different. DC1 has lots of her own projects she wants to work on (making things, usually). She doesn’t have any structured activities on a Saturday, she stays home while I tidy, make lunch etc, she does her projects and helps me.

DC2 is sporty, needs to burn off energy and if she’s not kept busy she’ll mooch around the house rather than think of an activity. So she has swimming and gymnastics on a Sat, DH ferries her and gets in a run while she’s at gym.

Appreciate this is only possible with 2 parents however.

My DC did sports and drama on a Saturday morning.

Then stopped once they reached secondary school and just wanted to do their own thing or chill out and sleep

I hated getting up and taking them to their various clubs even though I car shared etc but I always had to take one or the other

It was a blessed relief when it all stopped

This morning I took one for a routine optician check up while the other did homework. Then after that one cleaned out the guinea pigs while the other cleaned out the fish tank. As a reward for doing all that nicely without complaint, I then took them to a local outdoor craft fair that they were nagging to go to, and we had lunch there.

We don’t have a regular routine on Saturdays; it varies depending on what’s going on and what needs doing.

I think I need to work on my downtime, and plan in a small activity. I did wonder if I should switch swimming to Saturdays and free up a weeknight. I havent done as said, they go to their dad's Sundays sosaturday is the only quiet morning they get.

We've met friends at the park this afternoon and had a bike ride.

We do a lot of the things @Raincloudsonasunnyday mentioned as a matter of course, tonight is board game night. We've had time outside with the animals. We often go to the woods/beach. Lego. Baking.

If your kids are saying they want the downtime, listen to them. Baffled by PP saying that kids should be kept productive and busy, on the contrary I think it’s really important to let them get bored.

Downtime is vital. It feeds imagination & creativity.

We have late teens now so out of this phase but we didn't over fill their days & weekends with prescribed activities. They weren't into it anyway.

We often had sleepovers for their friends. Or went to the woods to walk. We have lakes, woods, beaches all within a reasonable drive & regularly went to all.

Now Saturday mornings involve long lie in, coffee in bed reading my book

Dd is at home & had her lovely boyfriend over last night so the mooched about making breakfast. He left at lunchtime. She went to town to meet a friend.

I had a leisurely shower & sorted some laundry. Dh went to M&S & got some nice food for dinner so we're planning cozying up watching a movie.

I have to say I'm loving this particular phase of life!

My Saturday mornings are Parkrun followed by coffee with friends. My kids are teens and I don't see them until about 11 at weekends.

Yes it does depend a lot on what goes on during their week. I found that 2 after school activities per week was the max, with Friday night being a pizza + movie night. School is exhausting at that age, and for a while longer actually. They needed a lot of rest during the week, I found, to be up at 6.15/6.30 am. Sundays are sacrosanct for our family. A hangover from days when shops were shut! Late to rise, big and slow breakfast, normally pajama days with reading, indoor hobbies, newspaper reading, baking and later homework.

Me and DH always talk about how much we used to love Saturday mornings. This was mid 80s so a different time, but we'd be allowed to get up, put the TV on, watch cartoons and make our own breakfast while ours parents were either asleep or tidied up. Don't rush to fill these boots, they might be the ones your kids look back on with fondness in 30 years.

Fill these hours!