To wonder what other parents do with their kids all day

[Frolickingfoam]

It's been raining non stop. We don't live near family. We don't have childcare help. Got two under 3.5 who wake up at 6am, and one doesn't nap at all.

Genuinely what do other people do with their kids all day? We do try to limit tv but just do not have the mental emotional or physical energy to entertain or play with them all day. If I put out an activity they might engage with it for 10 minutes, max. The hours drag on. There's only so many stories I can read/they are interested in. They play together for a bit but then it descends into fighting.

I feel like a terrible parent for hiding in the loo just so I don't have to engage with them for a minute. I give them far too many snacks because it's something to do. Am I missing some kind of amazing parenting trick? How do other people stay sane? Helllppp

I took my toddler out to the park (rainy here, too) - we've gone out every day since the first lockdown, it drives me up the wall being stuck inside. Despite the rain, it worked out OK, it wasn't non-stop rain and we have wellies and puddlesuit and a towel to wipe down the playground equipment. We go out to a different park/outdoor place in lockdown each weekend to make it interesting (today was a new one which I'd never been to before), and we've been visiting nature reserves, zoo, farms and botanical gardens as well.

Outside of lockdown we go to museums, galleries, theatres, concerts, library, soft play, restaurants. Looking forward to being able to return to them - we have to book in advance to limit capacity and we have the next few months booked up every weekend. During weekdays we have toddler classes and stay and play - music, dance, yoga, swimming, plus nursery on 3 days. When we're at home I don't have to structure activities for DD, she just chooses which toys she wants to play with.

Anywhere we can go walking , to a park , a field to kick a ball .
Wet suits on , etc .

Indoors we have TV on however do various things ..

*Sand play
*Shaving foam in the shower or bath !
*Put a small toy in a balloon fill with water and freeze peel off the balloon and let the kids smash the toys out using things like toy spoons etc .
*Pasta to play with and can paint too.

• Messy play in the bath give them some flour, glitter, whatever you can tolerate let them make a mess then wash them off.
• Get straws and some frozen peas and get them to blow them along having a race along a table etc.
• Get them to catch rain in buckets (oops im cruel) they love it;
• Let them wash their toys , either in bath or get huge tubs and fill . *Make dens *Let them put teddy in wash machine and watch him go round.
  Anything messy in our house is a winner . It's tough , our TV is on more when wet and rainy ! Don't feel guilty at all. Xx

I could have written this post! I sympathise Op. following for ideas :)

I have older children now. From memory rainy days were:

• baking
• train sets
• building things out of cereal boxes
• looking after guinea pigs
• telly
• ipad
• easy board games (wally the washer etc)
• full waterproofs and running through muddy puddles

Not during time of corona:

• soft play
• cafés

My kids probably have five hours a day of screens. I shouldn't beat yourself up over it.

Sort all their toys out and divide them into 3 boxes, and put two away. Every few days, if they are being difficult, swap the toys for another box.

@riotlady

When things get dire I play fetch with my 3 year old, she loves it

Haha @ when things get dire 😂

Thanks for starting this thread OP, you are me!! Such a relief to see responses

I always dragged my 2 out in all weathers, for walks of even just to get the bus into town, go to the bakery, busbzck home

I also believes big ocbeign neglect is OK. Let them get bored a bit, esp once they get a bit older

Using activities/crafts/screens turns kids into helpless consumers of entertainment.

Much better to let them get bored, or help find activities such as "who can count the most red cars going by". Who can find the biggest stick (if you live near parjs/woods). Low key stuff

It is hard though, that age is hard! Itgets better every year though

You've no childcare or local family, but have you got friends with similarly aged children you can meet up with? Just to go to local playgrounds or similar. It's a lifesaver as the DC amuse one another and you get some adult company. We do this regularly. Toddler groups, classes, playgroups etc are also a lifeline! Walking to them or at least part of the way is a good way to get them some exercise and fresh air and kill some more time.

I have a rule that we always go out in the morning. I find DC much less grumpy in the afternoon if we've been out already. Invest in some excellent waterproofs.

Any chance of tweaking their sleep a bit to give you more of a break? E.g. the older one doing quiet time in their room with an audio book while the younger naps. And maybe a gro clock or similar to encourage longer sleep in the morning. (May not be age appropriate for your youngest, not sure of their age.) An hour or so to yourself during the day, or a bit of extra sleep in the morning, can make all the difference to your energy and tolerance levels!

Also agree with "play to your strengths". What do you enjoy doing? E.g. I like reading, so we do a lot of that. Maybe for you it's crafts, or cooking, or outdoor pursuits, or games, or sports, or music.. Find a toddler appropriate way of sharing something you really enjoy with them.

Toy rotation helps with time in the house. Also reminding yourself that their concentration does improve rapidly with age and you're just in a particularly tough phase.

Get out of the house, go shopping if you have to. Also remember there is no such thing as bad weather just inappropriate clothing!
If you absolutely cannot go out then -
Tubs of water and toys out on a towel
Big cardboard box
Dens
Bubble baths with bath crayons
Baking
Obstacle course
Hide and seek (use a teddy to hide and help them seek if they don’t get it)

We go out in the rain.
They went out on their bikes today in the rain, they loved it.
Also agree wellies and jumping in puddles is fun for them all, they love squealching in mud too.

A cardboard box, any size but the bigger the better. Don't even offer it up as something to play with, just leave it there.

If you have a long hall or passage way then an 'obstacle' course. Put markers on the ground (like pieces of string or something). They have to walk to the first marker, then hop to the second marker, then crawl to the third etc. Then do it again with their right hand in the air. Then do it again with their left hand on their left knee, etc.

My almost 2 year old loves... chores. Seriously. She loves me vacuuming and mopping, doing laundry and changing sheets is a thrill. She also loves baking.
So... not exactly a fun day off for me but the house is sparkling!

Also, take them out in the rain! Wellies and waterproofs are your friends. This is my grandson aged 3, wearing goggles that were given to him to protect his eyes during a Forest Schools activity. He decided to use them to look in puddles.

When mine were that age my motto was get out of the house at least once a day. We did have toddler groups, but also on a wet day we would walk to the library and home we would probably only be in the library for half an hour but there and back could fill a good chunk of time. Or around the local woods/nature park. The TV was on for a bit in the morning, just before lunch and then late afternoon, sometimes more than that if needed.

I was not really a fan of indoor assault courses, but we read a lot, did puzzles and board games (orchard toys, picture dominoes, beetle game etc), gluing and sticking, play doh (latter two often reserved for wet days) very occasionally painting. I would happily be a customer at a restaurant or cafe, or help dress babies but that's about as much of pretend play I could handle.

I think the trick is not to mind the rain. We actually went to the seaside today, with rain coats and wellies.

Mine are quite a bit older though.

It’s harder when they are younger, but I think it felt almost more important to get out and do something in the toddler days.

3 and 2 year old here.

This morning we went out to the park with a friend and ran off some energy before it started raining. Then we watched a movie, did some painting, did some gluing with glitter and Pom poms, had lunch, drove to the shops and let them potter around a toy store for ages - bought a couple of toys, played with the toys till dinner time.

It's bloody tough in lockdown and this shit weather with toddlers isn't it?!

I used to take mine to Garden Centres quite a lot- especially the ones with a pet section or aquariums. That would kill an hour or two on a wet day. (Though I haven’t been to one in years...perhaps they’re a bit restricted in current times?)

As a PP said, at times like this you need to play to your strengths. You will never have more stamina than a toddler, so you need to fall back on guile and cunning. My plan- make a hot cup of tea and put it, along with a packet of biscuits and my phone, in the utility room. Suggest a game of hide and seek, and volunteer to be the hider. Retreat to the utility. I can be in there for hours. There are advantages to being the only person in the house who ever uses the hoover or washing machine- I swear they don’t even realise that room exists.

Also, during lockdown I told DH that, for my sanity, I was taking up an online yoga class and needed an hour undisturbed to do it. I now regularly hide upstairs with a cuppa and a good book for an hour, while I play a yoga workout in the background. One day he will work out I still can’t touch my toes, let alone contort self into a crow pose, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it….

I’m a single mum to 4, I refuse to drag mine out when it’s pouring down just for the sake of it, none of them want to go and I really don’t believe that many people actually do take their kids out every day even in the pissing rain because the few times I have taken them to the play park in the rain it’s been completely empty and we are the only ones there. We baked cookies today and watched a film.

On a rainy day like today we would normally go out for lunch, Cinema or ssoftplay. Great for those who welly up and go out but kids crying as they fall splat in the mud is not great. As they get older the rain is less of a problem - when little like yours it’s just hard work

Play doh was my go to for wet days. Would work at keeping them calm and quiet for 30 minutes.

Or just let them make a den in the sitting room (table cloth over chairs), and occasionally growl as the big bad wolf coming to eat them up.

Mine are teens now but I had two very close in age, no family support and a DH out of the house with work and travel 12-13 hours a day Monday to Friday.

Getting out of the house once or twice a day is absolutely key for everyones mental health yours and the DC in the rain or between showers. Sometimes splashing in puddles, a woodland walk, walking to post a letter, collecting shells on a beach in summer, leaves in autumn etc etc.

I also tried to minimise time spent in front of the Tv I used to do messy art with them on a large piece of old wallpaper, we built dens indoors, played trains with dining room chairs, had indoor picnics, made necklaces by threading pasta or cheerios, baking, reading, playing sleeping lions or musical
statues, playing snap, building lego, Knex or similar, watching a film together ours loved the chronicles of narnia, the railway children and disney films at that age etc etc etc.

Its not easy and it is exhausting but all part of parenting. I would absolutely love to have a wet day with a two year old and a three year old now. We hardly see our two now and neither really wants to spend any time with us anymore. I will get easier OP and not helped by Covid situation.

I wonder this too, this thread has some brilliant ideas though