To not take my DC's on day trips every w/e?

[WinterSnow]

A lot of parents I know spend their free time heading off to different places with their DC's, country walks, zoo's, museums, soft play areas etc..

My DC's (3 & 5) are really happy playing in the garden, toddling down to the shops and can spend literally hours playing together with their toys.

We do go on trips sometimes and they have swimming lessons & DS plays sports but I feel a little guilty we don't visit more places with them, aibu?

"My DC's (3 & 5) are really happy playing in the garden, toddling down to the shops and can spend literally hours playing together with their toys."

Lucky you!

YANBU... Daytrips are treats and it's not a treat if it happens too often. Everyday weekend activities in our house are things like 'helping mum in the garden', 'helping mum get the groceries' and 'helping mum make the place look tidy' ... (do you see a pattern forming there?)

not at all, some weekends we dont go anywhere and ds and step dd's are always happy

YANBU.

My dcs and I love days at home.

I think it is all down to how comfortable you, as a parent, are hanging around the house and how happily your dcs will potter away by themselves or with each other.

Sometimes I have to get out of the house and sometimes my dcs niggle at each other and we are happier getting out for a walk somewhere.

I don't think my kids would want to go out every weekend.

There's nothing wrong with experiencing 'home life' and learning to amuse themselves from time to time.

you know people who do daytrips evey weekend??

Agree with Cogito - day trips are special things, not to be overdone. But then my DS is not yet 4 so he's easily pleased whatever we do. :)

We do a big trip about once a month, to a theme park, safari park zoo, London etc. We do weekend visists to soft play and go swimming most weekends.

My DC's have to be in the right mood to play together, and DS2 wont play with toys as such, so we like to be out as much as possible.

Not at all! My dc is a real homebird like me anyway we are incrediably happy to have time together at home as a family on the weekends. We love our home and worked hard to make it a lovely, cosy environment.

This weekend we maybe will go swimming but maybe not even that. We have small things planned for the Saturdays in July but always like to have Sundays totally free.

She is very busy in the week with school and three after school activities and playdates. She needs rest! We all do!

Of course we visit expensive places like National trusts or treat ourselves to posh afternoon tea but its more of treat as its occasional.

Besides we would be bankrupt if we went out every weekend!

We do loads of trips out, partly because although we live in a lovely spot we have no garden, but also as a family it's something we really enjoy. Hardly ever expensive though, a walk in the countryside, a visit to a free museum, a bimble round a market town browsing charity shops, a nature reserve etc.
going to something we have to pay for is a treat. (cinema etc).

YANBU. Daytrips to anywhere with an entrance fee are very rare in our house, purely because we can't afford it. We usually spend a few hours in one of the many local parks or go and feed the ducks etc. We akso go swimming every few weeks. Somewhere like the zoo only happens once a year. I guess we probably go to soft play once every couple of months.

I do have friends who do some kind of big trip every weekend......they are the ones with money!!

yanbu.

We had 'day-trip overkill' in April & May, London museums, seaside, country houses and now I am happy to veg out at home with cbeebies on all weekend.

TBH I do the big London trips on my non-working day in the week. I refuse to drag my pre-schoolers around museums when all the big kids are there too. We'll probably lie low over the summer hols then go out a bit more in Sept / Oct.

YANBU.

IMHO if you have to constantly amuse your DCs, then there is a problem.

We do go out every weekend but not to "attractions" that you have to pay for -those are rare treats and often not my cup of tea anyway.

We live in a gorgeous part of the world (Dorset coast) and so we usually go out exploring somewhere. Take a picnic and its usually free or cost of car parking.

Oh, you are lucky, emsies.

Would love to live there.

I am a great fan of 'pottering' around the house at the weekend. Kids should be able to amuse themselves sometimes imo. YANBU.

YANBU, we don't do many day trips as (1) we are poor-ish and (2) we don't drive. And (3) my DH has been on crutches for several months. I really don't think it's damaging the DCs!

I did feel a bit bad in the past, as DD's best friend (they are both 3 but her friend is 7 months younger) goes somewhere every weekend - theme parks, museums, zoos etc, and sometimes during the week as she is only in nursery twice a week. They are always doing something! But they have a lot more money than us so not really comparable.

Anyway, we went to the natural history museum a few weeks ago and I realised it was her first museum trip ever actually I'm glad we left it til then, it seemed just the perfect time as she absolutely soaked it all in and is still always talking about it, she did show and tell at preschool etc, because it was such a massive deal to her. That excitement totally obliterated any guilt I felt previously.

She's mad about Hercules (Disney movie) and we are thinking of going to the British museum to see all the Greek pottery, but only because she is just about the right age now. We can only really afford to do things once, unlike wealthier friend who is off somewhere several times, so we may as well wait until the DCs are ready to get more out of it IYSWIM?

I was talking about this very subject this morning. My mum is always banging on about 'making memories' and taking them somewhere at the weekend. I think they need to learn to entertain themselves, and on a Saturday between ballet, the park, and pottering at home, they seem happy to me. Having said that, we never stay in the house all weekend, or even all day.

Some people do that because they have small flats and no garden.
Some because they like to show off

Some of those trips are very expensive, better to spend some money on garden toys, pool etc that you will use for years. Or save it for a holiday.
We love staying at home.

YANBU

Hate these threads about ''lots of parents I know'' etc used to justify what the op sees as right when its just a bloody basic parenting choice and or type of kid you have - not something to bleat on about and pat each other on the back. My oldest and youngest are ''doers'' my middle one would stay at home 247 given the choice - as a family we meet somewhere in the middle - can I have a pack on the back???

I don't think the OP is unusual in knowing lots of people that do this. I am in the minority by not doing it.

I think it just depends where you live, when I was in London it didn't seem to be such a big thing but now we've moved, it seems that it's the done thing to go on a day trip out somewhere every weekend.

Personally, I just do what suits us and bugger anyone else

Gotabookaboutit - what a ridiculous comment. I don't see staying at home as 'right' or going on trips every w/e as 'wrong'

I don't know any parents who actually take their kids out on day trips every weekend. But then again when you say day trip I think of trips which involve some expenditure or effort or take a few hours to do - to the theme park, museum, to the farm, strawberry-picking, etc. stuff like that. We take our kids to the local park nearby to play on the swings/climbing frames or feed the ducks on weekends if the weather's good, if the weather's not good we might take them to the local indoor soft-play but we wouldn't consider those trips to be day trips.