Sick of wasting my life because of the rain

[GoodnightAdeline]

I don’t care how many people say ‘it was always like this..’ yes it rained a lot when I was a kid but now it does nothing BUT rain.

I swear to God out of the last 30 days we have had 1 or maybe 2 where it wasn’t fucking raining. And they’re always midweek.

I feel like all we do is sit inside going stir crazy waiting for the rain to stop. I have 2 small children and while they’re desperate to go to the park/beach, even they’re not keen in a torrential downpour with everything covered in mud.

I’m sick of all my plans being cancelled, staring out of the window at depressing grey skies and trying to figure out how to pass the weekend without spending a ton of cash on expensive (and brief) indoor activities.

It’s driving me fucking crazy and not an exaggeration to say it’s sending me into some kind of low level depression. 🍷

Where are you?

I grew up in Cumbria and moved to the Midlands. Holy moly it's SO dry and sunny here compared to Cumbria!

Whenever I get wistful I remember the rain and snap out of it reet quick.

Love the dryness and mild winters, so much easier to deal with the short days when it's not also pissing down!

Where I live (SE England)!we've had double the usual rainfall every month since November. Everything is beyond saturated.

It has rained a lot and I'm at the point of thinking it's time that & the cold just fucked off. That said, you just need to suck it up and get on with it. I still do whatever I had planned and just dress for the weather. I go out hiking however, and have to say that the mud at the moment is ridiculous -it's on another level.

I’m North West. Everyone we speak to feels it’s been raining pretty much non stop (or at least some rain on most days - more than any of us remember) since July last year. We agree.

I hear what you're saying OP but unless you can move to a warmer climate or swan off on a long exotic holiday, there's nothing we can do about it! Cheesy as it sounds "always look on the Bright side of Life" is our Motto, a more Postive outlook might help you enjoy your free time more!

I'm struggling with it too, but I have SAD so bad weather isn’t great for me on the whole.

Why would a park not be safe??

Are you made out of sugar?

Another of our local parks was shut due to flooding in January so that must have been considered unsafe.

I’m in Sheffield and agree it’s been an exceptionally rainy winter. Luckily my kids are older and don’t need to be outside in the same way that young kids do, but I still want to be outdoors more!

You're not imagining things OP. It's the wettest March on record. For those of us living in Scotland it's utterly miserable.

It was not like this last year or the year before and I have photos of us eating picnics and ice cream in shorts and suncream to prove it.

Mumsnetters just like to be contrary and have a competition over who's the hardiest. If one person says "no bad weather, just bad clothing" another 20 people have to repeat it.

It's shite. It's objectively shite compared to previous years. It's ok to have a moan and wish for a bit of sunshine. I crave some dry weather and I'm genuinely feeling down at the constant rain. Looking at the forecast for the week ahead is depressing.

@baileybrosbuildingandloan this winter has been far wetter than average www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/weather-rain-flood-met-office-b2473794.html

Although … it was lovely and warm today and we did have a picnic.

Back to rain tomorrow.

Completely agree with you! I've had the same conversation with my husband today. We have a 2 year old and 1 year old and I'm just sick of waiting for the rain to stop, or going out and everyone getting soaked and freezing! It's been a bloody long winter for sure, brighter days are ahead xx

Raincoat, umbrella, wellie boots.

Can’t hold an umbrella and push the pram.

I am fed up of it too OP. I get my kids out alot but I am sick of the wet and cold!

I take mine swimming alot at the moment and am grateful for our gym membership so we have nice indoor activity - there’s soft play there too and they run football and sports classes.

I agree OP. The rain has been unusually relentless this winter, anyone who says otherwise is talking rubbish. Our garden has turned into a swamp, the local park is a bog. My son’s rugby season has been massively disrupted due to cancelled matches because of unplayable pitches. It is depressing.

@GoodnightAdeline whereabouts are you in the UK?

Someone moans about not being able to have picnics and feel the sun on their skin in the UK in March… and someone else blames it on fucking climate change.

What happened to global warming, oh yeah they had to change the narrative on that too.

@NoSnowdrop warm air holds more water

No amount of the right clothing changes the fact that a wet muddy park is a horrible environment to be in with small children. A walk alone I wouldn't mind but trying to keep small children happy is fucking grim.

OP I agree, it’s been a particularly wet few weeks - and it’s difficult with very little ones as even puddle-suited up they don’t tolerate it for very long.

People are being a little unempathetic IMO - you can’t have a toddler out all day in rain / mud. And I say that as someone who is often the only parent standing in the playground in the rain.

I hear you OP. I actually am one of those annoying folk who slaps on the puddle suits and heads out anyway. Mostly because the pain of parenting outside in bad weather isn’t as bad as the pain of parenting 2 under 4 inside all day everyday. But it’s a chore and neither myself or the 3 yo (or probably the baby) enjoy ourselves as much as if it was dry. Between all the bloody layers, fighting wellies on and off, putting the rain cover on the pram, taking the layers off when DS needs a wee, half the play area equipment being dangerously slippy, getting caught out needing to breastfeed in the rain and DS complaining he has rain in his eyes it really is an almighty faff compared to a dry spring day!

But in the UK in March, you can't really enjoy those activities, so you have two choices - sit inside and moan about it or get good waterproofs and embrace the weather you've got.
Yes, bad weather does make things a bit trickier with kids in terms of wrestling them into puddlesuits and wellies, but they love being out in the rain, and experiencing all kinds of weather without it being labelled as "bad weather" is really good for them in all areas of their development.