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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To already be dreading the summer holidays with a toddler and a baby?

42 replies

Bubbinsmakesthree · 14/02/2017 11:05

There is just nothing to do in the school holidays for small ones! All the normal baby and toddler groups stop.

Preschool will be closed so I will have toddler and baby all day, every day.

I think it might send me crazy! How can I cope with six weeks of it?

OP posts:
peppatax · 14/02/2017 11:09

Make a plan - there's plenty of things to do that aren't organised activities. Schedule in swimming trips, walks, visiting family, lazy days, chores and errands, have a coffee/play date arrangement with people in the same boat, push back bedtime but get them to nap at the same time so you get a break.

Pinkheart5915 · 14/02/2017 11:21

I have a 17 month old and a 6 month old every day it's fine

I don't really do any group anyway but I always try to do at least 1 activity a day

Go and see Grandma
Meet up with my friends and there babies
We go in to the village I have coffee and cake ds and dd have some lunch
Swimming
Walk in the park
Playing in the garden
Making bread ( ds loves playing with some dough In heigh chair, and helping me)
Ball pool in the play room
Painting ( ds loves painting buts it's messy so only once a week)
I just sit and play with them
Of course there is always peppa pig, Thomas the tank for half hours peace Wink

Afreshstartplease · 14/02/2017 11:23

Keep busy even if just to the shop make sure you go out every day

Fwiw this summer hols i will be home with 9 month old baby and DC aged 4, 8+9

livingthegoodlife · 14/02/2017 12:13

Some activities still run during the holidays. Our library still does bounce & rhyme sessions. What about walking around a farm? Go to the beach? Picnics at the park? Swimming. Shopping with a coffee/babychino? That sort of thing. Just play in the garden.

I think summer holidays are easier because the weather is warmer. This half term is proving hard due to the fact it is freezing and wet!

Original poster
Bubbinsmakesthree · 14/02/2017 12:57

Yes I think summer might be better because getting out and about is more appealing than when it is cold damp and wet!

But only 2 days into half term and feeling fed up with it already.

OP posts:
Tabymoomoo · 14/02/2017 13:04

Lots of picnics, trips to the park, national trust trips (often put on activities for little ones), library trips and lots and lots of play dates in the garden with friends and mummy sunshine juice 🍹

Kiroro · 14/02/2017 13:07

Second the suggestion of an activity every day.

I would say everyday do 'something' (swimming, friends, lunch, woods, relatives, library, meuseam, baking, craft) and also every day get out to your local park.

Then the rest of the time in the house you can have a bit more chilled out.

witsender · 14/02/2017 13:07

Park and beach!

formerbabe · 14/02/2017 13:10

Mine are school age and I'm dreading it. It's even worse when they're older and a trip to the park isn't exciting for them.

BoccadiLupa · 14/02/2017 13:12

Absolutely agree with everything on here. Mine and 6 and 9 and I still do this as I'd be driven mad. Plan one 'activity' a day. It doesn't have to be fancy - just something. People kept me sane too - seeing other mums, family etc. and there is nothing wrong with everyone getting under the duvet and watching a film on the ipad.

Original poster
Bubbinsmakesthree · 14/02/2017 13:49

I think not knowing many people locally in the same position is a problem - we have no family in the area and all my friends work during the week (as would I if not on maternity leave). Need to meet some more people in the same boat!

OP posts:
Original poster
Bubbinsmakesthree · 14/02/2017 14:18

Also all the people suggesting swimming - how exactly do you do that with a toddler and a baby single handed? I wouldn't have thought you'd be allowed in the pool with that ratio anyway?

OP posts:
witsender · 14/02/2017 14:20

How old is toddler? We went to the beach or pool with slope to walk in. Carried baby and held hands with toddler while they splashed around.

5moreminutes · 14/02/2017 14:22

Of course you can go swimming with a toddler and a baby - try it mid morning on a school day and you'll see loads of others doing it. Get them Freddie the Frog rings which you harness them into.

I have a 24 month gap then a 3.5 year gap, I took the 2 yo and baby swimming, 3yo and 1 yo etc til it was 5 yo, 3 yo, baby. Some pools have a 1:2 rule but I never came across one with a 1:1 rule.

5moreminutes · 14/02/2017 14:28

We moved abroad to a rural area without the plethora of groups I'd been used to with DC1, towards the end of my pregnancy with DC2, and spent a lot of time in playgrounds with DC2 in a sling. Also a walk every day, and once a week or so an "adventure" which can be a trip on a train to the next stop (during the quiet time in the middle of the day) a drink and snack in a cafe inside the station then home again (this was very exciting), or trips to soft play or places with animals when they first open, leaving before people who've had a lazy start arrive, or swimming Wink or just driving to a different playground seen from the car or to a garden centre with fish/ Small animals to look at and a cafe.

BernardsarenotalwaysSaints · 14/02/2017 14:30

I tend to do walks to the shop, trips to the park, playing in the garden/gardening, baking & painting etc in the week when dh is working & actual day trips at weekends. It'll be slightly different this year as I'm due early August so will have the older 4 (they'll be 7yo-2yo then) plus a newborn.

All 3 of my local pools have a 1 adult per 2 children under 5 rule so swimming should be a possibility.

Do you have a library close by? Ours does lots of different activities in the summer hols.

witsender · 14/02/2017 14:38

I must admit that I hate, and have always hated groups. So very rarely went to them even when they were on!

sabzii · 14/02/2017 14:45

Go to lots of toddler groups now and start building a network of new friends ready for summer! Then fill the summer days with play dates, walks, coffee mornings, outings, beach, swimming, picnics etc. All these things are so much more fun with good company! I'm already building my network, if you get to know people now you'll have a nice group by July.

Original poster
Bubbinsmakesthree · 14/02/2017 14:47

Our local pool doesn't have a shallow walk-in section so I find it challenging enough getting toddler DS in and out single handed. Moot point anyway as the pool has swim classes for older kids in the small pool all half term week and has a family swim session at 6pm Confused

OP posts:
Mol1628 · 14/02/2017 14:50

It's very hard. Especially if you don't know anyone locally.

Do you drive? That makes things easier. I go to country park type places where I can let them run free a bit and kick a football around, have a picnic, collect sticks and rocks. Much easier than scheduled actitivites with two children.

Also just using your own garden if you have one makes a difference. Mine don't get as bored in the garden as they do in the house. Plus I do all messy activities, so painting, playdough etc out there too so they can make as much mess as they like.

Guitargirl · 14/02/2017 14:52

Our local pool wouldn't allow one adult with 2 children that age.

When my two were that age, the beach, the zoo and duck feeding were the least stressful outdoor activities. Library story time often continues over the summer holidays.

newmumwithquestions · 14/02/2017 14:57

I have a 24 month gap then a 3.5 year gap, I took the 2 yo and baby swimming, 3yo and 1 yo etc til it was 5 yo, 3 yo, baby. Some pools have a 1:2 rule but I never came across one with a 1:1 rule.

Our local pool is 1:1 (under 5). Think it's something a lot of pools tightened up on.

superking · 14/02/2017 14:59

Last summer I had a just turned 3 year old and a newborn. I was dreading the holidays but to be honest they weren't that bad. We tried to go out to do something every day, even if only a walk to the post box! I also enrolled my 3 year old for one day a week in a nursery which ran a holiday club, so he got some time with other children/ doing interesting activities, and I got a bit of a break. My DH took a day off every week too, so I only had three days a week where it was me alone with both of them, felt much more manageable.

Mikethenight2good · 14/02/2017 15:11

I hear ya!
Has your partner got any holiday spare to use in the summer hols? Last year I hubby took an occasional Friday off and we did day trips to the beach, farm etc. Which definitely helped!

OnMyShoulders · 14/02/2017 15:13

YANBU although perhaps a little bit U as we've not even got to the Easter hols yet. I understand your fear. I have 5 DC and the summer hols give me the absolute horrors. My advice would not be not to aim to high. Try and have a couple of planned activities a week and if you can do them with friends or family, all the better. I'm a SAHM and it's a lonely business sometimes. Last summer, I bought some cheap emergency rainy day games (dominoes, tiddlywinks, juggling balls, Jenga etc). The kids am performances at the cinema are really good value and gets you out for a bit. Picnic in the park and at the beach in the sun with a ball/frisbee/bucket and spade and if you're losing the will, just pound the streets for a bit. It will at least tire them out a bit. Plan more exciting things for the evenings, if you can. You'll get through it!