Please share your stories of disastrous days out with kids

[Chaosx3x]

Please send solidarity. Just spent an eye-watering amount of money on a day out in London. Took three kids, one cried all the time, one got stuck in a tube station ticket barrier, trains were cancelled, it was insanely busy, had to haul a buggy up and down steps, everyone was thoroughly fed up. Never again! In hindsight it was probably overly ambitious and the DC with SEN was totally overwhelmed. I was really looking forward to it and just feel totally deflated now.

What have been your worst days out with kids? And what’s the most amount of money you’ve spent on a trip/activity that you subsequently feel you may as well have chucked on a bonfire?!

I decided to take toddler DS to the local pool, as I had a million times before.

I can’t remember why, but I had to borrow my dad’s car. Not an issue- we had the same make and model of car and drove each other’s cars all the time.

I had been driving for about a decade- never had so much as a prang, ever.

So why on that day did I:

hit the barrier on the way into the multi storey and scratch the length of the left side panel?

hit the barrier on the way out and drag the right side panel completely off (as in I had to stop and go back to get it!)??

get home to park outside the house- the one I park outside of every bloody day without incident- so why on God’s green earth did I smash the wing mirror off on a tree???

Fucking hell that was an expensive trip to a £5 swimming pool 🤦‍♀️😀

Lots and lots.

I've blocked most of them out now.

DD is 17 and we've fine-tuned trips to her interests.

Most recently I took her to the Sir John Shane's museum in Lincoln's inn fields. We are both interested in art and she's pursuing an interest in photography. I love this museum and wanted to share it.

She lacked all enthusiasm and at the end, she said, "It was alright", which broke my heart.

The substandard Greggs lunch after didn't lift spirits.

So I suggested we visit the Japanese and China rooms at The British Museum. Off we walked.

Got there, found it was being ticketed only at the front because it was the Easter holidays. The security guard said, go round the back if you haven't got a ticket. So we walked for ages to find the other entrance and the queue was all the way down the street.

DD was about to have a teenage strop, I could see it.

So we abandoned that plan and took a 24 bus to Westminster, somehow saving the day slightly by having a walk along the South Bank and visiting Borough Market. DD brightened a bit. We went home from London Bridge.