What would you do with one child free hour to yourself each week?

[DarlingCoffee]

Posting here for traffic really.

My employers are introducing half days on Friday and as I start early I can finish one whole hour before I would normally collect my children from nursery.

The thing is I so rarely have time like this to myself that I just don't know what to do with this golden hour each week! I don't want to waste it. Ideas so far include going swimming and taking a long leisurely lunch. Do you have any better ideas wise mumsnetters?

[mylittlephoney]

Feet up. Good book. Cup of tea. Enough said.

[Gooseygoosey12345]

I'd love to say that I'd devote time to studying or a hobby that makes me achieve something, instrument playing or something but actually I'd just go and get my nails done

[SaucyJack]

Masturbate?

[AlohaBaby]

I finish college early and get home about an hour before I have to collect dd. I usually do housework or sit on the settee and drink a coffee. Unfortunately the precious hour goes by very quickly!

[Purplebluebird]

Sleep, or do a work out and a long shower!

[Purplepearle]

An hour in the day sans child.
I would alternate weekly; getting hair cut, dying hair. Doing nails. Have a bath. Read a book. Nap. Watch TV. Do nothing. Yoga, plates, swimming.
Would realistically just clean the house and catch up on everything.
Sounds wonderful though.

[pinkiponk]

Swim or run!

[Lesley1980]

I have an hour on a Friday when my mum looks after the kids & I go to a personal trainer. What I'd really rather do though is go to a coffee shop & slowly drink an uninterrupted coffee with a cake I don't need to share. I want to sit & do nothing, think nothing & enjoy not being harassed.

[Grilledaubergines]

Buy a newspaper and go and sit in a coffee shop with a coffee and cake.

[mummyofmoomoos]

Truthfully? I would go home, lock all the doors and turn the landline volume down, grab a book and have a huge poo in peace its the one thing i miss- private pooping, my boys (4&5)dont think its important, my 15 year old dd will stand outside the toilet door and witter on and on... even my dp will decide my heading off for a poop signals time to shout up to me that he cant find his phone/ wallet/ veg peeler and he must know where they are right this very moment!! i would cherish private poop fridays

[melj1213]

An hour is a lot of time, but at the same time when you factor in getting out of work and any commute it might not be such a huge chunk of time ... for me, I work & my DD goes to school on one side of town & live on the other, so by the time I got out of work and drove home, I'd have about 10 minutes to sit down before I had to go back again to get DD which would feel like wasted time, and I wouldn't want to go swim or to a class because I'd be spending the whole session clockwatching so I wasn't late to get my DD and wouldn't be enjoying it.

So if I had an extra hour I would be using it to do all those little errands out and about that are easier without kids (like nipping into the bank/Post Office or popping into the dentist's office to make an appointment) or just personal pampering appts that don't take a lot of time but I can still never fit in (like eyebrow waxing or getting nails done) so that the time I'd usually take to do those errands - usually a weekend morning - would then be freed up to do something more fun instead.

[BLM2017]

READ

[gincamelbak]

Coffee and cake with a book. 60 minutes of not having to do anything for anyone. 60 minutes to decompress from work and totally switch off and do something selfish.

After a few weeks of that then I might want to something more constructive like commit to going for a run or get home and see.

If I used it for errands I'd just have another hour where I'd be running myself ragged.

[flamencina]

I was going to suggest masturbate but I've been beaten to it! If DP was free, we'd have noisy sex. We have teenagers and a non-napping, no-nursery toddler so shagging has to be done silently at all times.

So if sex was out the window I'd probably just sit with a good coffee and enjoy the peace - at home or in a nice cafe. I like the suggestion above of eating something you don't want to share too!

Don't do boring practical things. Think what you most crave when you're feeling overwhelmed with the drudgery - is it solitude? Adult company? Reading? Exercise? A walk in the park at something other than child pace?

[willstarttomorrow]

I would have good intentions I would never get around to. The possiblities are endless.

[Whitelisbon]

I'd go for a shit in peace.
Possibly then a coffee, a pile of junk food, and a trashy magazine.

[Xmasbaby11]

1 hour isn't that long and not worth going home for. I'd probably buy a magazine and read it in a coffee shop, or go swimming.

Sometimes I leave the DC with DH at the weekend to 'do some errands'. This usually consists of rushing round a couple of shops, then settling down in Costa to read a magazine.

[MotherofPearl]

I know you said you don't want to waste the time, but I'd be tempted to do absolutely nothing.
Every second of my time seems accounted for, and I feel like I have so little headspace, I long to just sit, gazing into the middle distance, and guiltlessly do nothing at all!

[limon]

Exercise

[ImTakingTheEssence]

After work i normally get off the bus and go to subway. Then get few bits of shopping go home and clean if theres time. Theres a mad rush to the childminders after that as my hours up, its not long enough!

[OneLumpOrSeven]

Have a cup of tea in peace. Bliss.

[NeedMoreSleepOrSugar]

Oh, lucky you! :)
I'd probably go home for a nap (in my defence I'm pregnant and permanently knackered!)

I agree with pp that it is probably best not to go home though, as the temptation to either do housework or just 'waste' the hour generally slobbing would be too strong. I think I'd probably alternate between a cafe with a book and a walk/swim.

[MyBreadIsEggy]

Have a nap
Distinct lack of sleep in this house at the moment. 22 month old and a 4 month old who have both decided sleep is optional rather than a necessity to life

[sixandoot]

Exercise. Probably a run or weights. Maybe swimming or a bike ride.