To say I'm dreading Easter Bank Holidays ?

[Pappadontpreach80]

DH & 2 mid teen DC at home. They will game, maybe see mates etc. They are too young to be left at home all day alone. Me and DH are always around, even if we're in & out the house doing errands etc.

There is nothing going on this bank holiday. Its due to rain the whole time. DC refuse to go away (uk). They might come out for a day. I do not want to be stuck at home doing jobs the whole time. Which is what I do most weekends.

I'll go for a run, see local family etc but apart from that it's going to be be bloody boring. I could go out with friends but I would feel bad leaving DH at home, alone, bored on a bank hol weekend. I don't even know if my friends are around tbh.

What on earth am I going to do ?

Tbh, Friday night I just wanna piss off to the pub with DH. But a bit meh just the two of us. DC like us to be at home, even if they are gaming in their rooms. They like to know we are there. Boring.

Saturday we will go out with DC in the eve for food.

To add, DC don't do walks/ national trust/biking etc so anything like that is out of the question. We don't do the theatre. There's nothing on at the cinema.

Please can someone give me some inspiration. I can't face 4 days in the house/ doing jobs.

I started reading through the comments for ideas because I can relate to this post! My DC are 9 and 12, so definitely too young to be left home all day and too old for Easter hunt trails, visits to Easter bunny etc! It’s so difficult finding things to do as a family now! We’ve recently renovated house so we are constantly working on it over the weekends and it’s also taking up all our cash! This is what we’ve come up with for the weekend. 9 year old had a sleepover, 12 year old has been in and out with mates. Today we are hoping to go for a walk, both kids resisting atm, but if we find a straight path so DD can blade instead and offer a treat we’ll hopefully make it, we are going to family day at races tomorrow and god knows on Monday!

Why are your CHILDREN telling you how to live your life. By all means let them have some time to game but absolutely no way do you live around that.

At 13 & 15 they are definitely old enough to be left alone all day, unless there are additional needs. My DD just turned 16 this week and I’ve started to leave her overnight now when I travel for work. She’s absolutely fine, cooks her own meals through choice anyway and is just revising when she’s here alone. I’ve been leaving her in the day since 11, same as her brother. As long as there’s someone who could go in an emergency you’re fine to travel somewhere for the day. I talk to my kids what to do in an emergency - fire alarms etc. My DD travelled to Bangladesh last February age 14 (almost 15) to see her dad who was working overseas. You need to start preparing your kids for looking themselves a bit in mid teens. If they don’t want to do things now is the time to spend time with your DH. You don’t need to go far the first few times.

Exactly! I know lots of people who moved out at 16. When I was 10, I was baking with a friend without adult supervision while her mum nipped to the shops. One time we accidentally caused a fire by leaving a plastic fork on the hob, but also knew to close windows and doors and get out the house. The fire was tiny and went out by itself in a matter of minutes, but the main thing is that we knew exactly what to do and I don’t think we would have had we not had the freedom and responsibility to do things like that. I was expected to help out by cooking lunch for myself and my brother at the age of 15, and I don’t mean sandwiches but a proper hot lunch.

The problem is, even if she is willing to leave her kids at home, there’s nowhere she wants to go anyway.

There must be something to do. If they really have no hobbies or interests then they might aswell save their money and sit in bored watching Netflix

There’s no reason you and DH can’t pop into town and look round then shops and grab lunch or something? Or go for a nice pub lunch? Local…

& At 15 my mum and dad went on holiday for a week and left me home alone. I LOVED it.

My husband and I are also quite boring and sometimes struggle to know what to do so I’m going to try not to judge you for that.

Things we like to do out of the house are:
Crazy/mini golf
Going to the Arcade Club (retro gaming arcade)
Bowling
Visiting a large garden centre just to potter around and having lunch
Wandering around Ikea for a few hours
Going out for a meal
Going to the seaside
Going to a zoo/aquarium type place
Go Ape
Jogging
Visiting a museum

Basically, we like to be entertained or fed!

OP, why not use this time to find something for you.
Maybe start a new hobby, a craft (I have a million projects on the go!) a new book, a different class at the gym, climb a mountain, whatever floats your boat but get out there and grab life because right now its massively passing you by.

Cinema trip? Escape rooms?

There's loads to do but you just sound really stuck in your ways!!
Go for a long walk with your husband and your children who cares if there's a bit of rain, get your wellies on. It's a good chance to talk to each other
Cook a roast dinner and get the family to help
Make a fancy dessert and again get the family to help so it's a group effort
Play a board game
Learn a new skill

I live on my own. No plans for the weekend as friends are doing family stuff. I’m gonna do a fuckton of housework, a couple of long walks, cook lamb curry tonight, pamper myself and have some lie-ins. Bliss.

Do you work fulltime? If so, there is plenty of painting, house maintenance to be done.

We work full time with tween dcs. Sports for them takes up lots of time.

I only get 25 days annual leave, so there is always housework, painting etc to be done.

I know you don"t like doing jobs but that is part and parcel of working full time.

I go food shopping and coffee with dcs Sat am. Sat pm, cleaning, etc. Sat eve, some tidying then sit down and read/tv at 8pm.

Sun am, swimming with dc or a match. Sun pm, some baking, visit parents for an hour. Sun eve, exercise, tv,read. I am NEVER bored.

In fact there is so much to be done that we only go on few afternoon trips a year. We have a week in the sun for hols.

If you work full time with no option to buy hols and do all your own house maintenance then you will NEVER be bored esp if you get to mid 50s and continue all this, despite less energy.

Why don't you have any hobbies in common with your DH? Seems a bit strange.

A lot of parents would love for their kids to be so low maintenance and entertain themselves for a weekend so they can do whatever they want.

I find this whole post so weird. Why are you being dictated to by your kids so much? They're kids!

You want to go on a day trip for the day, then you tell them that's where you're going and then you all go. Or you leave them at home for a few hours while you go to the pub. 13 is fine to be left with their big bro for a few hours.

And why can't you go out for the day with your mates? I'm sure your husband can cope by himself for a day. He can go out with his mates tomorrow.

You're martyring yourself @Pappadontpreach80 , and there's really no need to. Family like is about compromise, you're not the only one who has to compromise.

Op you and your family are not joined at the hip! @Pappadontpreach80

go out and see your mates or whatever it is you want to do

your husband and kids don’t need you with them all weekend

I’d be bored of spending all my spare time doing house maintenance! It’s fine to want to spend your Easter bank holiday weekend doing fun stuff. The problem is that the OP doesn’t know what she wants to do!
We both work full time and have 3 young kids but we definitely don’t spend every weekend doing house maintenance. We have at least one weekend day out somewhere every week. We aren’t doing any chores this weekend bar the day to day stuff.

Why are you letting your kids rule your life?

They don’t want to go out but you’re not allowed out either?

Get a backbone, be a parent and get a fucking grip. Infuriating!!!

We don't do clothes shopping other then online, neither of us drink tea or coffee, we don't read, we have no interest in the arts/theatre/cinema/NT/gigs/long walks (due to rain anyway)/nature reserves

Crikey! What are you interested in?

And why are you letting those two Little Emperors run the show?

DH and I would either go out for the day together and leave DC with a pizza to put in the oven (yours do know how to use the oven, don't they).

Or we'd pack a picnic and tell the DC to get into the shower NOW because we're ALL going OUT in an hour.

Good lord, how dull you sound, op.
My teens (15/17) are a joy to hang out with. Yesterday we went to the farmers Market, they tried lots of food, we bought lots for tonight's picky tea. I took them out for lunch. They chose to go out for a walk in the afternoon together as they like.each other.Then in the evening they stayed home whilst me and oh went to a bbq and to watch live music with friends.
Today, its a catch up day. Studying for them, shopping delivery, batch cooking. Tonight we get to eat our farmers Market tea, which they chose, whilst watching a family film.
We regularly hang out as a family (two older kids who have left home too) or a couple. We find live music to watch in the local pub, go to local events, go walking, have family meals, go away for weekends (as a couple or a family), cinema, film nights. Basically, we actually love hanging out with our kids, and as they're always given a choice and often join us, I think they like hanging out with us too.

Have you any idea what I would do to be bored???? It’s an absolute luxury!

Even my daughter with SN’s stayed home on her own when we went out!
Why are you letting your teens dictate what you do or don’t do??
If my daughter didn’t want to come out then she had no choice but to stay home on her own!
There was no way I’d put my life/ hobbies on hold because my teen didn’t want to join me!!!

As mid teens they are old enough to be left on their own in their own home for 10 hours. At that age we were babysitting other people's kids for that long! What on earth is wrong with people these days. You will have your phone, they can call if there is an emergency.