Weekends with an only child

[Sofullicouldburst]

Curious what you do at weekends if you have an only child
My Dc is 6.5, curious about all ages though really.

Swimming, bake, park, craft.

Go out and about? When she was that age we did all sorts of things. Visit family, meet friends, go swimming, for day trips. Sometimes it was simple things like the park and baking, movies on a sat morning. Those were fun days!

Dd is older now but we used to go to soft play with friends, get out into the open air (park, NT place, beach), we would eat lunch in the Asda cafe a LOT (she loved it!), take her to watch the rugby, go swimming, and go shopping if necessary. Now she’s nearly 12 the last is her preference every time 🙄

DS is twelve now but over the years we've got into a bit of a routine of Saturdays being busy, then relaxing on Sundays. We go out for breakfast on a Saturday then either swimming, go for a walk, a part when he was younger, shopping or treat day out.
Sunday we'll normally relax at home or go to breakfast and bowling, cinema etc.

DS is 8. We take him to parkour on Saturday and climbing on Sunday (both paid classes). He often has a birthday party to go to. Sometimes he’ll have a friend round to play.

We watch Gladiators and the Masked Singer as a family. He does his homework. We eat brunch. He plays on his iPad. I can’t imagine it’s that different to what people would do with multiple children?

Pokemon Go!

Saturday- library, town, Costa, park, playdates, national trust
Sunday - swimming, home time for art, crafting, baking. Film in the afternoon.

My aren't only children, but a big part of the weekend is their sports. With one child, that would be Saturday or Sunday, not both.

We have brunch on saturdays then then parties/playdates/our own thing (DD likes riding her bike, rollerskating etc). Sunday swimming in the morning then out for lunch, supermarket shop etc. We are usually out all day.

Son is 12. I spend 48 hours alone while he plays with friends at the park or online most weekends 🤣

I loved those years. We had membership to a couple of different local attractions and would spend a day there (swapping which attractions to get membership of when they started to get a bit samey). Swimming. wheels days (cycle scooter skateboard rollerskates). boardgames. Visits to cousins/grandparents. There's only 52 weekends a year and it would be tough fitting it all in. I never let DC join any of the myriad of activity/sports clubs that practice at weekends as our weekends were already too busy as it was.

DD is only child.. we go caravan holidays for long weekends.. I take her on days out to the zoo and farm or adventure park, she's very sociable and has various play dates and parties.. we have one lazy day on a weekend every month where we get up, shower, put lazing on clothes and either watch films, play games or do crafting. She loves those days. When it's the last weekend before pay day we either take her bike or scooter out or have a friend over.
There's loads of things you can do..
I'm taking DD to Cornwall in February half term, just us 2.. we'll have a fab time.

Reading all the comments so far I don't see anything different to what I do with multiple children (I am nosy and wondered whether there was some mystery of people having one child doing something really different).

Why would it be dramatically different to other parents? Odd as I would expect this question to come from a parent who gets their DC to occupy each other all the time, and that doesn't seem to be the case

I have two dc but my sister has an only and she swears by a routine at weekends.

Term time she and her dh took their little boy to a Saturday morning activity and she enjoyed that couple of hours in town with her dh by themselves.

Then they had lunch out as a family. Then they did family chores and cinema night. Or her ds had friends over and cinema night.

Sunday morning they always went out in to the countryside with their dog and followed a Conqueror challenge.

https://www.theconqueror.events/multi-walking-challenges-v1/?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADqeaEOUkwqr4A9jHqaHUFc6Ur_pc&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-5a9BhCBARIsACwMkJ4GK-398S3R_Hv9Ohs_IrucNz_rU3OkQbgxvAA1T6vRYTbhowyJqEcaAkd7EALw_wcB

Then Sunday lunch at home.

Sunday afternoon was more chilled.

My sister found life with an only child quite intense so her advice is to not feel guilty about getting a baby-sitter for one weekend morning or afternoon or book your child in to an activity for that time. Don’t feel you have to entertain them all of the time.

DD is 6. At the mo, she is definitely in need of her downtime at the weekend. An average weekend might look like:

Saturday - chilled start to the day with some books, games, crafts, TV. Swimming at 9.45. Either home 10.45 ish or go straight to a farmers market or out for brunch.
Potter about in the afternoon. Games, crafts, bake, cook, science kits etc. Out on her bike or to the park if the weather is nice, indoor energy release games if not. Then nice dinner together, watch a bit of TV (Gladiators is a favourite at the mo!)

Sundays we tend to meet up with friends. If not, and its just us, we'll usually book an activity or something. This time of year, it might be climbing or a trampoline park if the weather is bad. Or get out to a local national trust if the weather is good. Farm parks etc in better weather.

Other weekends we might have grandparents visiting or friends and the weekends are a completely different shape.

Mine is the exact same age. She has gym/ drama on Saturday then we normally read, go for walks, go birding, visit family, go away for the weekend, craft, bake, go to the park, swimming, the beach/
she likes to play Lego or Barbie as well and will sometimes do that by herself.

Mine danced for many years on a Saturday.
So that took up Saturday afternoon with various classes.
Sat am usually more chilled. Pottering at home. Classes in afternoon.
Evening we’d go to friends with her or them to us. Or perhaps watch a film/pizza.
Sunday maybe out for breakfast. Church sometimes. Walks. Homework. She’d play with friends on estate when older junior age and older.
Trips out with brownies. Birthday parties- Reception/yr1 it seemed like party every week.
Sometimes shopping, museum or theatre (ballet/panto/musicals)
Baking, crafts. She’d play with toys.

Dd same age. Usual routine is gymnastics Saturday morning then some TV time. Then it could be swimming or a birthday party, go to see family, if at home she plays with a neighbour a fair bit, go to the shops, dog walk on the beach. Sunday we go to the gym (has kids clubs) then varies honestly. Having to get out with the dog does help with some structure and we've had a lot of birthday parties the last month or so.

DS is 8. Saturday morning is climbing, then back for lunch then normally a dog walk while he cycles, play in the park, back by about 3pm and then he can play on his Switch or watch TV. Sunday we have swimming in the morning then we'll do the weekly shop, go somewhere for lunch, back to cook a roast and he'll play upstairs, read or do his homework.

Not an only child but we tend to do more things separately with ours (4&7) as they bicker sooo much, weekends are usually swimming then something like soft play/library/meet friends for coffee or lunch/birthday parties. Once every 4-6 weeks we'll do a proper day out to a farm or zoo or bigger soft play. Sundays are often spent at home reading, play with toys, movies and crafts.

Cycling, swimming, baking, beach walks (better with metal detector) , indoor climbing wall thing, cinema, occasional soft play with friends, crafts, reading, board games, library local museum/planetarium/sea life centre, sometimes bigger days out like the zoo, visiting friends, meeting people for lunch/coffee, all the usual things you'd do with more than one

It's just myself and DD at home. Saturday mornings she has a dance class and then afterwards, depending on how we're both feeling, we might go to a nearby art gallery, or for lunch somewhere. We sometimes go for a walk, hit the park and have an ice cream. Sometimes we go swimming together.

Sundays we do nothing. Breakfast in my bed together, watch a bit of TV, sometimes do homework. DD likes crafts, she draws a lot so she might do that whilst we're in the lounge together.

My 4 year old dd isn’t an only child but my DS is a baby and a bit young for her to play with properly yet. We usually meet up with friends who have kids at the weekends or if we’re having an at home day she’ll play with some friends from school who live in the same road.

Flipping everything, but then DS (5) is incredibly social and wants to be out all the time! (So do I to be fair. Not sociable but seem to parent better out of the house)

Only fixed activity is swimming one morning, but the rest of the days tend to be:

• Birthday parties
• Soft play (members)
• Zoo (members)
• Meet-up with friends for the park/NT properties (I find if I phrase it as happy to take both children instead of 2 families meeting up I normally get more takers!)
• Host playdates. If it's really rainy/bad weather we'll do it as movie afternoons with popcorn and frozen pizza so the house doesn't get trashed.
• Occasionally bake/craft
• Bigger days out like museums/adventure playgrounds/theatre/trails/galleries (we're near London which helps)
• If all else fails literally go ride the DLR from end to end several times. DS is Transport obsessed and never gets sick of this.