to be nosey and ask what you do with your DC's at the weekend??

[RachelHRD]

We seem to be in a bit of a rut of going to the same places at the weekends. DS (3.7) is hard work at the moment and we also have DD (1.4) so I tend to want to be out and about rather than spending much time at home.

We have RHS membership so go to a fab local gardens which has lots of stuff for the kids and is great for picnics. Also go to Hampton Court as we have membership there, down to the coast to Gunwharf Quays which has lots of retail outlets, restaurants etc and is great for DS to look at the boats and scoot around safely. Sometimes go to soft play or meet up with friends/family.

Just curious to see what other MN's do at the weekends??

Rach

one stays in bed till 3 pm then goes out with his mates to a pub/club

the other one spends the weekend at his girlfriends house

At your children's ages it was softplay or swimming if it rained. If it was dry/warm/sunny we went to places outdoors that you could take a pic nic to. They were bored with just walks, anywhere we went needed to have a play area too.

Now it is football and rugby and church.

Take DD riding in the mornings, pub lunch, meet up with friends, go to the garden centre, do gardening, visit grandparents, sometimes do some crafty stuff, generally chill out. DD is 6.

@ ooohyouareawful

Dh works during the week and I work part time with most of my shifts at the weekend so it's mainly "dad" time. He'll take ds to a dads playgroup, give him lunch then on a bike ride along the seafront. Sundays are usually a lazy day, catching up on jobs round the house, pottering round the garden then to my mums for Sunday dinner.

we do zoos, farms, beach in summer, birthday parties and library and clothes shopping often too

Ds has school football on a Saturday. Then we go to Dd's dancing class and by the time that's over we're usually at about 3pm. Sunday is Ds's football clubs football match then we sometimes go out or we chill out.

If it's school holidays we often go out for the day on Sunday

Rut it might be for you but I bet your kids love it. I put DS3 in the car and drive 2hrs across country to pick up DS2 from school on friday. Run wild on the beach on saturday, eat out in the evening. Museum then see family on Sunday for lunch and then drive DS2 back on Sunday evening. Its very predictable but I see it as we're making strong memories for our DCs.

We live by the sea so usually a day on the beach followed by a nice meal.
We do it most weekends in the summer.
Next week as my sister will be here we are off to gweek seal santuary and Eden project
But as any parent knows Rach we can't afford to take them somewhere every weekend. We certainly can't. The beach is free and she loves it.
Cinema is a special treat so is theme parks.

Saturday is lazing around DIY day but DH usually works at home all morning, catching up with emails and phone calls, and I supervise weekend homework and ferry the middle three children to tennis in the morning.

If the weather is clement enough though, we often start the day with a breakfast picnic on the beach, with brioche and hot chocolate for the children and warm(ish) bacon sandwiches and coffee for the grownups. We find a quiet spot, sit on a rug and watch the boats while the children eat and potter about.

In the afternoon, two of the children are at Stagecoach so H will mow the lawn and wash the cars (all things he enjoys after being chained to the car and office all week) and I will shop or visit friends until suppertime.

We have pizza, telly, children's bedtime, then a film and a cuddle for me and DH.

Sundays are our going out days so we use our NT cards or go to the beach (live at the coast) or see friends. If we do stay at home, we usually invite friends or family over for a big roastie lunch or a barbecue and make a day of it.

My oldest son has moved back home after university as he is on a poorly paid graduate programme, so spends most of the weekend sprawling across his bed or on Face Ache, and the rest of the time playing very noisy games with his little brothers and sisters (usually involving water guns at the moment )

It will all be changing soon as DH is about to buy a Boat, which I can see is going to take up Much Of Our Time.

My daughter has reached the age of chilling, rather than wanting to rush around. She does still goes to drama on a Saturday.

Lovely idea for the boat, Christina - there is nothing more relaxing....

I would love to be stuck in your rut!
Saturday mornings are usually, DH in work, DD doing homework, DS1 on the wii or pestering to go on the wii, me washing uniforms for monday, helping DD with homework, preparing for tea, looking after DS2.
Saturday afternoons, if DD is meeting friends in town we walk her in and do a bit of shopping, sometimes DH comes but usually he is on laptop working and watching sky sports news.
In the evening I make tea, wash up etc, BIL and wife visit while we are eating then wind DS1 up to a frenzy and wake DS2 up then they take over the TV with BGT or X Factor.
DC go to bed, if I am not too knackered DH and I watch a film but usually I end up having an early night.

Sundays are a little better, DD goes to church in the morning with MIL, Dh takes DS1 to rugby, I go for a walk with DS2.
In the afternoons we either go to the park or for another walk sometimes we go to PIL or my parents for dinner or visit friends but usually I cook.

We go out about once every 6 weeks to somewhere fun but generally the above is our rut.

We see friends on Saturdays, go to the park, swimming pool or cinema together, then back to one of our houses for dinner. On Saturday nights DD either sleeps over at her friend's house, or her friend comes to stay here. On Sundays we go to my parents' house for dinner along with the rest of the family. The kids play together, sometimes one of the adults will take them around to the park for a while. The rest of the adults just chat, watch tv or read the Sunday papers.

That's an average weekend, of course there are often other things to do, birthday parties, a trip to the coast if it's really hot, school fetes, local fairs etc.

Have 2 children - DD is 3.9 and DS is 3wk!

DH works most Saturdays, so we (DD, DS and myself) go to DD's dance class, then round to my mum and dads for some brunch. From there we go to a local soft play area, then into town for some 'retail therapy' ... DD usually stops at my parents on Saturday nights, so will go off to theirs around 5pm.

On Sundays we always do something - whether it be go to our local farm park that we have season tickets for, go to the seaside/ lakes, have a BBQ/ picnic in a local park and/ or go swimming.

DH is entitled to stay in bed till noon Saturday and Sunday. Which is handy as it coincides with DDs being entitled to watch TV from 8am till lunch then sob, scream and shout on being asked to get dressed. DDs are often reluctant too ...!

Saturdays is for chores- shopping, DIY etc while Sundays are for going out. We've been doing a lot of Geocaching recently.

One child here - 3.1 - and i'm pg with #2. Sometimes we go to visit family, but usually wkends are spent in nice parks or on beaches if the weather is good, swimming or softplay if not. We usually go out for food once, and i'll batch cook for the week on the other evening.

One 9 yr old boy -

*library
*park
*out with his mates playing football
*cinema
*homework!
*NT houses
*visiting family
*mates over to play
*ds to mates' houses to play
*watching telly
*helping with the gardening
*lazy days where we stay at home and just relax!
*trampoline
*walks on the Downs/Country Park
*bike rides
*family meals out
*the pub occasionally!

• shopping/errands/market *garden centre *Bbqs

obviously not all at once

Wow some seriously busy weekends there! I guess as they get older my time will be spent running them between activities!!

Love the idea of breakfast on the beach just a shame we're not that close to the coast. Christina I'm very jealous of your boat - would love one!

LoL @ oohyouareawful - the teenage years are something to look forward to!!

We are in a rental at the moment with a tiny garden but are moving to our new house at the end of the month which is bigger with a lovely good sized garden which DS will be able to run around and hopefully wear himself out in. Hopefully once I'm back in my own space I'll want to spend more time there :)

Swimming, football, cricket,both training and matches/galas.... I wish I could go back to when they were tiddlers and we could please ourselves....

Most Saturdays we will go bike ride/swimming or walk up a hill somewhere, usually take sandwiches out. Then all catch up on chores. Sundays I study in the morning while dd1 goes to church with DH and dd2 potters around happily at home. Then we will probably take scooters to park or go for a bike ride.

We have three DCs - DDs who are 4 and 2 and a half, and a 4m old DS. Must live close to you as we go to Bushy Park a lot, the swings, the library and otherwise just play at home - lots of baking and playdoughing (!?). Simple stuff is the best for us (and free stuff). Last week though we caught the boat from Kew to Hampton Court which was lovely - then walked home through Bushy Park via the big sandpit playground.

My kids are pretty much exactly the same ages as yours. We walk alot - well the older one walks and the 1yo gets pushed. Go to soft play if its wet or the park/garden if it's dry. Our local cinema does kids films for a pound which I sometimes take my eldest to.

We tend to spend quite a lot of time at home at the weekends. That's not to say we never go out, but the week days (and evenings) are always so busy it's nice to actually get some relaxing time at home.

If I have any shopping/jobs to do I like to get them out of the way on Saturday (with the DC either tagging along or staying at home with H). Then it's a nice feeling knowing that Sunday is free to relax.

I suppose it helps that we have a big garden - we have the room for lots of kids stuff which the DC love to play on - meaning DH & I can relax & watch them from the comfort of our sunbeds!

Sometimes friends will ask what I did at the weekend if the weather's been particularly nice, and when I say we spent most of it at home in the garden they're a bit surprised, as if when the weather is nice you should go out. But I wonder why I would bother putting so much money and effort into making our home/garden nice to then just use it as a stop gap....

Sorry for waffling!

BTW When we do go out, it tends to be the beach because it's not far from us - or the local park if the DC want to meet up with friends (there are always children they know there)