No thought has been put into the fact that DC are on school holidays - AIBU

[FatalDistraction]

DC are off in school holidays after being stuck in for months before hand. There is very little for them to do. It's OK to shop till you drop with a mask on, but opening places for children to play and get some exercise....oh that's just too much.

I just logged on to book some cinema tickets to have something for my DC to do. There is one movie, opening at the end of August and it is a 13. There are millions of DC off school, not going on holiday, with nothing to do and they decide to put a violent, older movie on. They could have rehashed Frozen, Trolls, put on some other loved movie if there is nothing new, but no, they think we all want to see Tenet.

No one has put any thought into the fact that DC have been off for ages, are on holiday with nothing to do and are going round the bend. But shopping, that's ok. It is no wonder there are children in my town turning on others in the parks when they have nothing to do.

Shame on the lot of them.

Some ideas
Make ice cream (cheaper than buying at a park)
Making dens
Hunting monsters and looking for clues in the woods
Camping in the garden
Use an app and make play doh stop animation movies
Enter the lego competition that they are doing with the national trust
Tidy out the toy box, that keeps them occupied for ages
Wash the car with water pistols
Put paint outside and do painting footprints.
Paddling pool
Baking anything
Pulling weeds out of the drive for a quid then walk to the shop and buy a treat
If you have a busy road do a road survey with a prize for the most trucks spotted in 15 mins
Obstacle course in garden or living room
Male pizza for tea and decorate it
Get food colouring and tubs of water and mix and play

If the OPs kids are too young for a 12A film they are pretty easily entertained with what is currently open. It is teenagers that I would be more concerned about.

Years ago parents didn't take kids to venues that cost money all the time. There would have been a few treats but lots of days of entertaining yourself.

There is plenty for kids to do with what is open now, and a bit of boredom is good for them.

The weather is glorious why would you want to be stuck in a cinema? Get outdoors, have a water fight or chase them with the hosepipe, wash the car, do some gardening. Make a picnic and take it to the park. Camp out in the garden. Play football/rounders/cricket, or something like tag or grandmothers footsteps. Go for a bike ride or a walk in the country, go to the beach. Read a book together (the libraries might be closed but they have e-book services). Play a board game, or a card game. Make a scrapbook or time capsule.

Arrange to meet another family outdoors for a picnic and games.

Have a BBQ and get the kids making things - not just the food you can really stretch this over a few days if you want with meal planning, shopping, writing menus for the restaurant, making a table centre and place mats, wrapping the cultery in paper napkins, planning and making a non-alcoholic cocktail and decorating the glasses, making ice-lollies for pudding, being a waiter etc. You can theme this too and incorporate some educational elements, so a bbq one week, next week an italian theme, then french, mexican etc and learn a bit about the country and some words of the language.

Put on a play, concert, poetry recital or puppet show for the adults.

Learn some new skills, a few cheap ideas depending upon ages would be:
Making a simple cold meal
Making a hot drink safely
Cooking a simple meal
Baking a cake or biscuits
Baking bread without a bread maker
Sewing a button on
Embroider a basic sampler
A simple hand sewing project like a face mask, hair scrunchies, bunting etc.
Knitting/crochet/macrame
Make your own play dough and make something with it
Read a map and do a simple orienteering task.
Use a compass with a map
Identify birds/butterflies/plants

There is so much you can do that is much more enriching and memorable than a cinema trip.

Well I don't think you're being unreasonable OP. Luckily our local cinema is an independent so there's a real mix of old and new for young and old. But the pool is lane swimming only and my DD can't swim well enough for that, and she likes to mess around with me in there. It's a shame as we would have been down there loads. I don't know how old your kids are, but mine is no longer interested in things like nature trails & going to the park!

Sorry that did have paragraphs.......

There's loads of stuff open. Me and DSC have been a few places the past week or two. We went to a petting zoo the other day, an aquarium, possibly thinking about taking them to a small 'theme park' near us (nothing huge like Alton towers) in the next week.

Zoos are open, parks are open, swimming pools, a lot of activity places are open with some minor restrictions.

I've really not found it that difficult to find some stuff to do with them

I have a 7 year old and have got loads of things booked for the holidays. We went to a local farm the other week, trampoline parks are open, cinema, crazy golf. Only things that are still closed are the swimming pools and soft play!

@winewolfhowls

I would turf them out with a bike, a mate, and a picnic and get them to explore themselves

Not sure THAT is such a good idea in a public space 🤣🤣

funkyblackbird thank you for your suggestions which have already been enjoyed many times. Please note i said “go out when it is very hot or raining for days on end”. I don’t need ideas for at home. Thanks for skim reading and assuming I’m thick or unimaginative. I also don’t have the money to throw at expensive things. People who haven’t had newborns and preschoolers in lockdown have no idea what it has been like. I know it’s be hard for everyone (I’m certainly grateful not to have to work at the same time as I’m on mat leave) but honestly, talk about teaching your grandmother to suck eggs with those suggestions!

awww the kids will have to make their own fun. Like we did in the 70s.

Well what would you usually do if you can't afford days out? Places are open, if you can't afford to go to them though, I'm not sure that's anyone's fault

Is there not a cinema a little further away you can try? I've just looked at our local Cineworld and they have 5 kids films showing today, all either U or PG.

Seems like they are just showing a lot of old films, which is fine.

Hi OP, guess what? We're in a pandemic, and now a recession. People are losing jobs, people aren't getting routine hospital appointments or cancer diagnosis. In the coming months many people will be evicted or made homeless if they can't pay rent or mortgages due to losing their incomes. Coach companies and beauty therapists cannot get the government to listen to their concerns so they have to start petitions.

Tomorrow, thousands of 18 year olds risk having their A levels downgraded and therefore missing out on their hard earned university places, without ever having sat an exam. Next week the same scenario will play out for GCSE students.

But yes, you're being treated unfairly.

Cinemas exist to make money. If there was more money to be made showing family films I expect they would be showing them. They wouldn’t deliberately set out to drive profit away.

@dayswithaY

Super helpful. I told my dad I had tonsillitis, he replied well friend A has prostate cancer... yes that’s sad but doesn’t make my tonsillitis feel any better in that moment in time.

@DeepTreacle

funkyblackbird thank you for your suggestions which have already been enjoyed many times. Please note i said “go out when it is very hot or raining for days on end”. I don’t need ideas for at home. Thanks for skim reading and assuming I’m thick or unimaginative. I also don’t have the money to throw at expensive things. People who haven’t had newborns and preschoolers in lockdown have no idea what it has been like. I know it’s be hard for everyone (I’m certainly grateful not to have to work at the same time as I’m on mat leave) but honestly, talk about teaching your grandmother to suck eggs with those suggestions!

What do you want to do that you can’t?

Most playgroups etc would be closed during the summer holidays anyway; I suppose soft play would normally be open but that can be pricey.

Pre-schoolers in lockdown can’t have been fun but primary school children weren’t a piece of cake and I imagine secondary school children would also have had their challenges. There’s not much point in trying to play toptrumps with how hard we’ve all found it.

Oh come off it @FatalDistraction, there’s loads for kids to do. There’s literally what, one or two things still closed? Stop whinging

@OverTheRainbow88

The OP has a problem that is easily solved. Maybe she should get some perspective on the world and find something for her children to do.

I actually said eight at the start of lockdown that the only positive I could ever see coming from this is that it will reset some of the worst attitudes in the country.

The must have now attitudes of needing amazon prime or Maccy Ds/Costa and also the sheer reliance kids have on provided entertainment from all the leisure industry stuff and screen etc.

But people are still confusing the fact that this has undoubtedly been hard with their sense of entitlement to have non necessary luxuries available 24/7.

You can’t compare this summer to summers of a 80s childhood when the whole neighbourhood would be playing out.

I was an only child and lived in an isolated village with no other children my age.
I made my own fun. I was never ‘entertained’.

I know where you are coming from OP. It is trickier at the moment. Where I live everything is still very limited. Zoos, farms, theme parks etc.are very expensive, not everyone can afford that sort of thing. Also trying to entertain at home whilst a heatwave is going on...i think the cinema is a very good idea!

We've found lots to do but admittedly it's cost a fair bit of money - eg water sports , outdoor pursuits etc.

Some free things we've done have been kite flying, bike riding, football, park etc

When I was younger there was nothing to do in our town and we just got on with it - we didn't turn to a life of crime.

I can't think of anything worse than taking my children to the cinema!

Total shame on who exactly ??

I’d rather be a bored kid than some
People who are way way more affected

You sound really entitled and out of touch with reality to be honest

What do you think those of us who don't have masses of money to spend at the cinema do?!

I'm a childminder and I've actually relished using our imaginations and having to do different things. We've had messy play in the garden, all sorts of nature hunts. We've explored the woodlands each day and the children have abs loved it. They seem to find something new every single day