Parents of older children: if yuu had your Pre schooler back for one day what would you do? (Lighthearted feel good please)

[Thatbloomindog]

Inspired by the other thread about having a whole Pre children day to yourself. I’m asking those who are out of the small child trenches now, what they’d do with their pre schooler if they could have them back for a whole day.
My youngest starts school in September and gosh while I need the time to myself, I’m sure going to miss her and our carefree days pottering around together.

Funny how so many people mention cbeebies- every time I hear the intro to In The Night Garden, I’m transported back to DD being a chubby toddler cuddled up on my knee after her bath, smelling of baby shampoo 😥

Yes i think we all owe a huge debt to CBeebies

ha ha ha exactly the same here

Go to soft play during school hours when it's quiet. Go to the really good toddler group with the sensory room. Go to the park and push him and his teddy on the swing. Come home and watch postman pat.

Up to the loft, get the trains back down and listen closely to them telling me all the various engines’ names and personalities. To the pool, get the water-wings on, do some jumping in and I’ll catch them. Carry them high on my shoulders. Go to the bakers and pick a cake. Bundle them up in a blanket and watch the night garden, sit with them until they fall asleep.

Wish I’d read this thread when they were little🥲

Oh god, I want to revise my answer.

Go to the zoo, aquarium or Natural History Museum on a school day. With no crowds.

I read on her once that there comes a time when you pick your child up and when you put them down you’ll never pick them up again. I’m there with DS1 as he’s 18 and a foot taller than me and nearly there with DS2 as in I could pick him up but it would be a struggle.
So what would I do? I’d pick them up and hold them, squeeze them, stare into their gorgeous toddler faces, spin them round to music in the kitchen like we used to and let them snuggle into my neck..all day long.

You just never know when it will be the last time you will ever dry them after a bath, brush their teeth, read to them, carry a sleepy little body upstairs, or even wipe a snotty nose.
But instead, my adult children now make me meals and gin and tonics, talk to me about books and films, still sing along in the car when the mood takes us, and we still say 'I love you', with a hug thrown in for good luck.

I'm in BITS reading this thread. Absolute bits 🥹

Ah, a mummy and *** day. I still miss them.
We'd walk the older one to school and have a leisurely walk back through the village chatting about everything.

We'd hold hands, oh my heart ❤️ I miss holding his hand, he's 13 now, taller than me with bigger hands, he's lovely and will occasionally still hold my hand for a while but it's like holding hands with a man.
We'd come home and pootle about, maybe play in the garden, do some painting. In the evening he'd climb on my knee for cbeebees bedtime hour and we'd just be still. Then at bedtime I'd carry him up and read a story lied on him bed for a cuddle. He still gives the best cuddles, he mends my heart.

Cuddle them when they wake. Listen to them playing together making ‘potions’ with my bath stuff. Indoor picnic if it’s wet. Out to a petting farm and watch their little faces when they hold the chicks. Home for tea and ‘cinema’ night. Baths and kisses and stories and sleep. Popping in while they’re asleep to just look at them. They’re 35 and 39 now and it feels like yesterday.

Really needed this thread today as dd is up at 5am everyday and DH and I are struggling. Going to try and appreciate it more, we are so knackered tho

Have a yes day.
Put on music and dance and dance and dance
Read all those wonderful books again

Go to the farm or the beach, take a picnic. Get back and do some baking or get the play doh out. Take advantage of the many willing kisses and cuddles. Have bath and story time. Cuddle them to sleep.

I love my big kids but I do miss my little ones sometimes.

Collect them from their morning at nursery and appreciate the greeting of smiles ,hugs and cuddles, because for those few short years I was the centre of their lives.

Go to a farm and feed the animals and then have a picnic and watch a film snuggled on the sofa before bathing them and tucking them in

Oh god just thinking about this made me well up!

This thread is amazing! Following for all the simple and wonderful ideas

Love this 😍

Relish the joyful arrival of a small, happy munchkin rushing into my bed for cuddles & tickles.
Go to the park, push her on the swings for ages, sandcastles on the beach, chips, ice cream, crazy golf, laughter. Visit my parents for more cuddles & surreptitious gifting of chocolate from Grandad (who’s no longer with us ☹️).
Home for tea (always tortellini followed by strawberries), a bubbly bath & then watch Fantastic Mr Fox for the millionth time in pjs, with our panther-like cat on our laps, whilst sharing a box of Maltesers.
Cuddles, tickles, giggles then bedtime with a game of hundred kisses & stories. Asleep like someone had flicked a switch by 7.30. I miss this so much. She’s left school now!

One child at a time so there's no squabbling. Other child could stay in their pit all day and wouldn't even notice as long as there was food in the fridge.

Go to the safari park and do all the added extras: train, ice cream, feed the birds, swan boats. Race them around soft play. Then carry their sleepy little self back to the car for the drive home before giving them a bath and tucking them in with a story.

It sounds idyllic now they're 13 and 11 but I was too knackered to enjoy it when they were actually little.

Go a walk and hold their hands. Then come home and cuddle on the couch. This would be bliss.

This is such a lovely thing to look forward to - a lovely post (DD is 13, we are at the beginning of the teenage years).

Be called mummy, too

You don't notice when they just say mum, but mummy is the young years before school and friends and being self conscious kicks in

My girl are 30 and 29 and the youngest has just moved out. This post has made my heart ache. I love my life now but would give everything to turn the clock back 30 years and relive every second of it. Time really is short.

Once they got older, I always wished to have a magic power to make them babies or toddlers again when I felt like it! So this thread exactly mirrors that sentiment. They're 16, 14 and 12 now and of course the baby and toddler years were challenging but in a completely different way to how they are challenging now. Like most others, I miss bedtime stories, watching Cbeebies together and just being able to pick them up and cuddle them. Particular favourite memories were seeing them just contentedly gurgling in their cots in the morning and then the absolute joy and love on their faces when they saw you approach...I would love to feel that again.