Tell me about little, old-fashioned things you do for your kids

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

It's always so busy and zany these days. I try really hard to do small things that I hope they will look back on and remember when they are grown up.

I bake a simple cake most weekends. They eat it up really fast so it's mostly gone by about Tuesday! But they never have shop bought cake.

I read Brambly Hedge or Peter Rabbit stories in big deluxe illustrated editions with DS (8) as he still loves them.

When it's hot, I sponge their temples and the backs of their necks with a cool flannel before bed.

What are some simple, little, old school lovely things you do for your DC?

In the summer holidays we have a big wall planner that we use to plan out the weeks, the kids love doing that.

Every weekend we have nice bits in for breakfast.

I do the girls hair matching for special occasions which they still love even though the oldest is now 11.

We are quite a routine led household and every evening after the kids baths/showers they bundle into my bed and watch Netflix for an hour, even the toddler 🩷.

We spend a week in the same holiday house in Cornwall every summer, I really hope this is one of their core memories.

This is lovely! I had two of my adult children here last weekend and they were sharing their childhood memories with my daughter’s children. It was lovely to hear them reminiscing and sharing the daft things they remembered doing. Many of them were very small, insignificant really, but obviously made an impact.

What a lovely thread 😊

It's obviously only once a year, but I always make a homemade birthday cake for DD and make costumes if I can. They always look very homemade but everyone says they taste good!

On a Sunday evening after their bath or shower they are allowed to watch something very slow on tv (Julia Donaldson or similar story book to tv adaptation) and I make them “supper” which sounds very posh but it’s just what we call a snack before bed. It has to be something wholesome though so like porridge, banana, warm milk and toast etc. They have this in their pyjamas but with hair still damp and in the winter it’s so cosy

I also try to draw their attention to seasonal things (that are natural, not commercial stuff like halloween stuff in the shops) as much as possible. So like I always point out to them which wild flowers we can see at different times of year, what the trees and birds are doing, we always go blackberry and apple picking and make homemade fruit crumbles, just really noticing and appreciating the seasons. It feels quite old fashioned in many ways but it’s lovely.

On Sundays we have a nice walk and then get the board games out. I remember doing this as a kid and it’s nice to do the same with dd.

Hot water bottles in bed pretty much every night in winter.

A cup of tea in “their” mug in the morning.

Fridays I always offer to make packed lunch (they are teens so have been making their own for years).

Put flowers in their rooms sometimes - even when the rest of the room is a total pit.

I bought a bucket and spade at the seaside for DD yesterday.

She's 27.😂😂

A teddy bears picnic, with teddies and toys around a picnic blanket either in the garden or on the living room floor if it’s too hot.

A set of old-fashioned plastics cups, saucers and plates with cheery music on in the background and lots of nice food to eat.

Ah this is so lovely. We sometimes have a fancy breakfast (I got the idea from mumsnet I am sure) and start the day with a chat if the rest of the day will be rushed. We also get into long running series of audiobooks in the car, reminds me of my mum getting tapes ready for long journeys, and feels like stepping into a little world of our own whenever we go anywhere. We make handmade decorations for festivals and celebrations, not perfect but again feels so traditional and nice.

I love the flowers in the kids' bedrooms idea. My wee girls would love that and it would never have come into my head.

We have lots of old-school picnics, even on dreich days.

Do the obvious book before bed each night.

We go foraging, particularly for brambles, blueberries and wild strawberries at the right time of year, but also dandelions and wood sorrel.

We go on lots of walks where we make up stories and link them to fairytales along the way, like today we were out searching for fairies and looking for clues that they were there, like the little dots on foxgloves showing that they have crawled in for a sleep, or pixie cups. They've started making up their own signs too like my 4 year old was saying that fallen petals she found had fallen off the fairies' flower crowns. We might find a bridge and that becomes the Billy Goats Gruff bridge so we need to watch out for trolls or see a cottage that is the 3 bears cottage or little red riding hood's grandma's house, etc. They are only 3 and 4 so I know they will outgrow this eventually so I'm making the most of it while I can.

Definitely home cooked food and baking, recently we made homemade Nutella, and soon all the homegrown fruit and veg will be needing harvested and made into tasty things. They love all that. Foraging and nature walks. Camping in the same place with friends every year without fail.

Lots of the nature noticing/foraging/growing food things as above. Eggs and soldiers or porridge for breakfast most days which always feels like I'm making a cosy, old fashioned fuss of them!

Playing cards on holiday, they are teenagers and still want to do this,

One thing that stands out in my memory is that when my two were at primary, I put a clean, ironed cloth hanky in their pockets every morning. Both told me later that they used to like feeling the soft material.

I make cakes every week.

I always do a ‘fancy’ breakfast at the weekend (bacon sandwiches, pancakes etc).

I do any even fancier version on special occasions.

During school holidays, we do 'holiday cereal', as in they get to choose something more sugary and 'fun' than term time. They're 18 and nearly 15 now, but still look forward to 'holiday cereal'

We do that too, we usually have a villa, but one year we stayed in a hotel and played in the bar/lounge area- at the end of the week another guest who was in her 60's came up and said how much she enjoyed seeing us play cards as she did it with her parents when she was a child

My DD was saying this week how I always did things for Hallowe'en, Christmas and Easter . Planned decorations, food, activities and costumes .
Birthdays I made a cake and some decorations .

They're adults now but still like their Dec 1st Boxes .
I make cakes (iced fairy cakes or chocolate crispie cakes , brownies , flapjack )

Little touches but they like them.

I told my daughter when she was little that I sprinkle love dust on her food to make it more tasty. I now say the same to my granddaughter x

Not for my kids and not sure if it’s “old fashioned” but my little brother leaves flowers on my doorstep on my birthdays and he is a right annoying shit but I find it the sweetest thing in the world.

I always make my kids a cupcake on their birthday and they eat it for breakfast they seem to look forward to that

I make ice lollies. I have an ancient set of moulds that my mother had and I use them to make all kinds of ice lollies.Basic orange juice as a default, but also Diablo Menthe, cherry syrup, elderflower cordial, lemonade etc. We experiment and have come up with all sorts of delicious options. Also cheap!

We also like looking at nature (there was a grasshopper in our hall last week so I trapped it under a glass briefly so DS could have a good look before we released it). We’ve just moved and have our own garden so lots of time spent looking at ants and earwigs and ‘buzzy bees’ and butterflies.

We have a story in the rocking chair every night before bed.

DH makes him a birthday cake.

I don’t know if it’s old-fashioned but I make a point of telling DS how lucky we are, if it’s a beautiful day, if we have the park to ourselves, if we see a squirrel, if a stranger lets him pet their dog, when the bin men let him sit in their truck (he’s only 2).

I look forward to building more little simple traditions with him.