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.

Businesses aren't there to care about your kids!
And why do they need to be entertained - back in the day we just 'played out.' No playdates, no outings, and an introduction to a sinkful of washing up if you whined!
Think of it as character-forming!

Some families entertain their kids for zero every summer holiday. At least you have the money to "buy in" entertainment.

Have you thought about going away for a few days? You could go to a town /city with more businesses that are open and parks that they've never visited for entertainment?

Re Jacks. Just checked on eBay. yes they do still sell them. But I don't think my set cost nearly a fiver!

OP theres a few people here talking about cost. Use the cost of the cinema to invest in badminton or tennis equipment (you'll hopefully get it for even cheaper and it'llbe the best money you ever spent!), or a basketball or if they're smaller a paddling Pool and or a board game.
I'm in Ireland too, we've been to parks, deserted forests and climbed mountains, we've had tv days, movie days, lego and colouring competitions ( Tesco do fake medals in a packet for a euro or so), baking, painting (paints about a tenner for all the colours), water fights, nerf fights, chasing and donkey, made up our own version of The Cube (count out tiles and follow them, blindfold and step over pieces of wool, that sort of thing), had quiz games where eg everyone had to come up with ten star wars questions, the who am I game (stick a label to you face and you have to guess who you are, or the real fame is called headbandz and I think it's about a tenner), throwing the ball to each other see can you get to 50, then 100, xbox evenings where adults had to play too and we're planning a pub quiz with the ils by Zoom. Best of luck OP and enjoy.

^*My kids would be in heaven if they could go out the back door and play with their friends all day but as it stands they’d be the only ones out there, and it’s an urban environment so they aren’t going to off running through fields. You can’t compare this summer to summers of a 80s childhood when the whole neighbourhood would be playing out.

The onus now is on parents to entertain their children whether we like it or not. Mine are primary age and it’s been fine. Walks, play dates at local park, trips to beach or National Trust etc. It’s all got to be organised by me though.*^

Same here. Mine would love to play out, but there's no one to play out with.

I agree you don't have to do lots of paid for activities to have fun. But after months of walks, baking, garden, bike rides it is a bit boring.

It's harder as they get older as they aren't impressed with a picnic at the park and they end up wanting to play on screens all day, because that's what their mates are doing.

Really?? Your post reads like you're a sulky child yourself!! Who is this 'they' that you think is responsible for everything & whom shame should be brought upon??

You do realise that this is an unprecedented situation we find ourselves in & the country's safety is a tad more important than amusing your kids for a few weeks?

There's plenty of fresh air, exercise & entertainment options if you look hard enough or put the effort in.

Get a grip.

I remember playing those ball games against the house wall too. Used to spend hours doing that as well as skipping, either singly or as a group with a big rope. I also remember my home made stilts (2 repurposed posts of wood with some blocks screwed on for my feet.) Hours of home made entertainment. We were lucky enough to live near fields/woods and a stream. Tadpoling with a net and a jam jar was great fun as was paddling in the stream. Den building in the woods, tying a rope to a tree branch and making a swing and picnics in the fields. It was all done without adults back in the day but no reason why the same fun can't be had by children with an adult in tow now (if it is felt necessary). Going to the cinema was a birthday treat and soft play didn't exist. I'm so glad i grew up when I did and that my son was able to experience some of that outdoor fun growing up too.

Ps if you think you're kids wont take part, they will. Make them! And after a while they'll be enjoying it (just prompting in case you say my kid wouldn't do that, sure if we leave out bubbles even the 13 year old gets in on it, we force him into stuff all the time cos he considers himself too old, and afterwards hes always going on about how much fun he had!)

I remember playing those ball games against the house wall too.
Whether a small tennis ball or a basketball, you'd be there forever!!!

@bashcrashfall

Its odd how some people are so insistent everything is open because things near them are open. Not all things have reopened. My local pool reopened today but not to children. Lots of play parks haven't reopened. Museums have opened but missing all the interactive stuff thats actually fun for kids. Options are limited so what is available is very £££ at the moment.

Water pistols from Poundland aren't £££s neither is any if their outdoor toys.

Buckets of water and plastic cups are ££££s

Designing your own scavenger hunts, making skittles, are games, walks etc aren't £££££'s

The issue isn't anything to do with money or facilities being closed.

But everything to do with people relying on supplied entertainment for their children instead of using their imaginations - or better still encouraging the children too - and coming up with just as fun alternatives.

I thought entertaining your child was called parenting

@Insearchoffitness

^*My kids would be in heaven if they could go out the back door and play with their friends all day but as it stands they’d be the only ones out there, and it’s an urban environment so they aren’t going to off running through fields. You can’t compare this summer to summers of a 80s childhood when the whole neighbourhood would be playing out.

The onus now is on parents to entertain their children whether we like it or not. Mine are primary age and it’s been fine. Walks, play dates at local park, trips to beach or National Trust etc. It’s all got to be organised by me though.*^

Same here. Mine would love to play out, but there's no one to play out with.

I agree you don't have to do lots of paid for activities to have fun. But after months of walks, baking, garden, bike rides it is a bit boring.

It's harder as they get older as they aren't impressed with a picnic at the park and they end up wanting to play on screens all day, because that's what their mates are doing.

Think you might be missing the point!

You have listed loads of things that are open and you can do with the children.

OP thinks "will nooone think of the chillllldddddddren" because some of the splash parks aren't open and she doesn't like the film at the cinema.

Your summer of NT with picnics sounds lovely. My ds can't walk far due to a disability so we can't do these things. But I would if I could!

My local Westfield is doing Disney movies in an open cinema.

They've drawn circles on the ground for each family. Maybe you have something similar.

“Shame on the lot of them”

I’m also puzzled at to who you are holding responsible for the lack of open facilities your DC would like to use ?

I’m afraid you have come across as rather ignorant and lacking in initiative. In all honesty if this is your complaint to come out of Covid then you should be counting your blessings.

YABU take them to the park or open countryside, send them on a bike ride? Picnics.
If you want them to play and get exercise the cinema is hardly the place.
There's loads you can do.

The only kids place still closed by me is soft play. It would be a pretty awful holiday if you were stuck there!

Most cinemas are showing older films for children.

My parents didn't ever consider that they had to provide entertainment for us in the school holidays and expected us to entertain ourselves. This was well before there was even daytime TV, a far cry from the entertainment centres that homes have become for kids.

I know that's old git territory, but many kids are able to keep themselves occupied these days.

Get off your backside and do something with them. It is not everyone else's job to entertain your children. If you are working g out with them at 5pm when you finish. Play football, go for a walk, go to the park, get on your bikes if you have them. Everyone is trying to keep there head above water so top blaming everyone else and deal with it.
Teach your kids to be more self sufficient.

Cinema distribution is fucked right now, you do know there’s a pandemic on?

I have a toddler and a baby. There is nowhere affordable to go when it is very hot or raining for days on end, it’s all barred to toddlers, and I can’t afford to take them to the zoo or a NT property every day. We used to go to lots of museums or the library. But people on here will just say you’re a feeble whiner (forgetting that they were probably the ones saying “just take them to a museum, can’t you entertain your own children?” a year ago)

Buy Disney+ for a month, there's loads for younger kids to watch.

We should have been in Turkey the last 10
days, we cancelled but still had the time off. Have done so much with our 5 year old - some that cost money and some that didn’t. We been to parks we haven’t been to before, including ones where he could paddle in the river, we’ve has picnics, been to the beach, been down into some caves, safari park, Treetops Nets, paddling pool in the garden, watched the entire Star Wars franchise on Disney+. Definitely not been bored. Back to work this week and he’ll be back in his forest school holiday club.

There’s plenty on for kids, just maybe not the same stuff as before.

Tenet doesn't have a rating in the UK yet: www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/tenet

The links posted previously are to its trailers, which are rated 12A. It's likely the film will be too though (certainly won't be lower, anyway).

But there is plenty to do outdoors and in; children don't need structured activities to be entertained.

Both the Showcase and Cineworld cinemas near me are playing a selection of older classics (think Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings etc) as well as stuff from the last 1-3 years, including plenty of kids movies.

Check another cinema?

Anyone else old enough to remember having a box of cards with something to make on each card - list of materials and method detailed on each card. I remember making a pop up puppet out of scraps of fabric, a plastic cup and stick and also a 'telephone' out of 2 baked bean cans and some string and passing it out through the bedroom window to ndn's so we could talk to the kids next door. So many suggestions on here about things that can be made from junk/recycling but it seems now that parents/children only think they're having fun if they go to a venue and have money spent on them