Terrible holiday parenting.

[LewisAndClark]

It can't be just me?

Ds1 (nearly 14) has barely left the house. He's barely left his room, actually. He's permanently plugged in to his pc. I've coaxed him out a few times to come out to lunch with us and he's been on one dog walk. Other than meals and the occasional family film we've barely seen him.

DD (12) has only slept here a handful of times, she's either been sleeping over with her friends or at Grandma's. Again, we see her for meals and not much else, although she's come on a few dog walks.

Ds2 (nearly 5) has spent the majority of his time in pyjamas watching tv. He's been out every day with me and the dog and we've been to the park a couple of times, but mainly he's been either playing in his room or watching YouTube.

I've just realised that between them they've gone through a large tub of Nesquick in a week, and god knows how many biscuits. They are all constant grazers, although tbf ds1 has a fruit fetish so we've gone through oodles of grapes and plums too.

Am I an utter failure this summer? Please tell me there are others who are as slack as me? It's not the idyllic, adventure filled holidays I imagined for them, but they just don't want to DO much.

Am I going to be the only one to say yabu? Are all your kids really spending the majority of their holidays stuck inside on screens? How depressing. Whatever happened to the days of long days outside and adventuring? This is why children come back to school completely out of it, because they utterly wasted 8 weeks which could have been spent doing so many things. Our weird generation

Whatever happened to the days of long days outside and adventuring?

I don't know.
Cities, traffic, games and safety awareness?

As your mum is paying for the day out

That does not mean you can't play outside- even in cities there are parks, quiet neighbourhoods etc. Cities also hold whole kaleidoscopes of active, engaging entertainment such as child friendly museums etc.

Those are not adventures. That's going out with mum or dad.

No teenager ever wanted to spend time with his parents. I can only go for a day out with my son now he is 34.
Don't worry about it.

What about some independence? Teach kids safety rules early and they can be doing most things alone by 8-10 depending on how mature they are. For small children most activities outside the house are new and interesting in a way they may not seem to an adult. And user exactly the problem because they've spent their whole lives pigging out in the summer holidays which brings little motivation about anything.

You would have fun here then Hiker

No museums, only a couple of parks, one swimming pool and that's about it apart from shops unless you drive. Not many adventures to be having

I see it as an investment in my future, for when DS becomes a high earning youtuber.
Better than playing some rubbish sport and then going to the olympics and missing on the medals.

Polter I guess school time is always the best time? What about just finding some free activities around town which don't involve being exposed to pollen etc.

Need Sounds great. I'm not saying they should spend every day doing something, but it's important to be actively doing something the majority of the time.

So electronics, eat, sleep repeat it is...

Such as...

What's wrong with electronics? Give me a break

There's always one.....

We are going to the theatre to see Wicked today , then away at the weekend but back on Monday ready to slump again. Only two weeks till back to school then so just want us all to take it easy.

The op asked for reassurance that she was doing everything right- I disagreed. What's wrong with that?

Great for you and your family Polter but for the overwhelming majority of people here their kids have spent however many weeks in the summer killing brain cells and shoving down food in their messy bedrooms. Then you get defensive when I suggest that that might not be so healthy and maybe instead of remembering days in their bedroom children will think back to quality time in the summer sun. sigh...

Wow wicked!

Hope you have fun. It sounds amazing.

My oldest was like that polter he has autism. He's home educated now but it's not idyll people think! If anything we are much busier and all over the place getting him to activities and groups. The summer holidays are bliss to regroup and just not have to be micro managing everything and constantly watching the clock. There is way less conflict and meltdowns in our house over the summer holidays.