Does anyone have weekends like this anymore?

[Ranoutofideasfortheelves]

Friday night, got in, made chilli and nachos, fire on, throws on, pjs on, dh, me, dd (7) and ddog on the sofa watching films
Saturday, Dd did colouring in the morning, had pancakes, then her friend came to play, then she went to theirs for a few hours. I watched xmas films and sewed a top, Dh messed about on his computer.
I made lasagna and Dd came home, we had a dance to Christmas music then watched Home alone and bed.
Today we took ddog out to the woods, dd did clay, we made chocolate Christmas tree biscuits and played with her elves, played in the garden on the trampoline with the elves, had a roast, bath, fire, stories & bed.

Just been looking at Instagram etc and so many posts of visits to cities, girls nights out, santa spectacular shows, Lapland, London visits etc and just feeling a bit 😬
We will do a few Christmas outings for sure, but don’t seem half as busy (or wealthy)as lots of people. I remember lots of weekends as a kid being slow, but I was perfectly happy. We definitely do a lot more with Dd than I did as a kid, but do most of you do these kind of outings most weekends? Is Dd missing out?

Sounds a bit stealth boasty. You know some people do normal things at the weekend. You also know most people don’t have the time or means to have a weekend you’ve described. You know the people you’re seeing on IG aren’t doing that every single weekend.

We have (adorable but) totally bonkers 4 and 1 year olds with wildly different needs so frankly our weekends feel a bit like a sort of survival exercise/Japanese game show / test from God and I’m often quite relieved to see Monday morning and my desk. 😂 Yours sounds lovely, and I’d spend not a minute being jealous of anyone at Winter Wonderland paying £8 for a watery hot chocolate.

You have one kid. You had a nice weekend. All wholesome needs met. Congrats on being perfect.

Don’t believe everything you see on social media media. Your weekend sounds fabulous.

Don’t compare
Come off social media - without it gou wouldn’t be comparing as gou wouldn’t know

No FOMO
So liberating

YANBU. Your weekend sounds relaxing, fun and cosy. We do similar with our young children. It’s lovely to have unhurried time to play, read, eat and spend time all together. School eats into so much time during the week.

Your weekend sounds lovely BUT I have a five and a two year old who would make me tear my hair out all weekend if I tried to do a weekend like that, not least because I can’t ship them off to a friends for a few hours.

We have something planned each weekend in December, it won’t take all day and it won’t be both days but I need to get out of the house with them for a good few hours else we all go mad. I might post photos on social media, this doesn’t mean I’m doing something all the time, I’d just never post photos of me making lasagne and watching a Christmas film (or my kids fighting, the endless piles of laundry to put away, the stressful dog walk with everyone bickering)

I wish families would do this more. The kids I teach are just so busy they don't get to just be kids. My cousin's DD
does dance, swimming, karate, piano, football and singing. Every weekend is filled with doing things once clubs are finished. Whilst I know they want her to have lots of opportunities she just needs time to play. To occupy herself as her time is micromanaged to the nth degree.

This is the cause of some classroom behaviour as kids need entertaining constantly. .

The people I see are doing it every weekend, that is what I see around me, so it’s no boast as they’d be doing it if they wanted to and probably find it bloody dull, hence my seeing if others do almost sweet fa on a regular basis

Also I need to know how you get your child to colour for a whole morning because my kid can manage 20 mins max and that is incredibly good going from him these days. Those acitivities you mention would probably take up two hours tops here.

That sounds like the type of day we might have in the Christmas holidays, but on a normal weekend it's not as chill as that. We're not doing fancy days out etc, but we do have football matches, swimming lesson for DD and there are chores like cleaning and homework.

Yes I have one kid, would have loved more but took 8 years and ivf to have her and ivf so mo chance of more.

We are always hectic busy but with 4 kids so more clubs, play dates etc. Went to London yesterday. We never get any housework done at the weekends now. There has to be a happy mid point but I can't find it. This time of year and summer I cram.in so much. To balance that out I won't be doing anything much at the weekends from.Jan- March. My eldest is 22 so doing Christmas things with dd11 before that all stops. We are lucky we aren't rich but this is how I spend rather than takeaways booze fag's etc which are 0all fine of course. It's just my choice.i love Christmas and want to do everything. Looking forward to a boring January tbh now.

Your weekend sound perfect btw

Yes, you’re right, I think this is probably the crux of it, I feel fairly happy, if a bit bored and wishing had more money sometimes, but generally ok, then see all these amazing activities

Picked up some prescriptions for me and ddog. Visited friend in morning had a coffee, helped her daughter make some dough for mince pies and chatted, short walk with dog and friend, drove home had a sleep and cleaned kitchen and nipped to shop. Friend came round at teatime with a m&s Chinese, we ate that chatted- I was in bed by 9.
Today. Tidied, washing etc. Brief walk with dog in rain again 😬 Had a nap. Spoke to my mum. Put up a couple of Christmas decorations. Played ball with dog.
Had dinner and watched a couple of episodes of a series whilst needle felting a mushroom 😅
I have a chronic illness and am in a lot of pain hence all the naps and early nights but it was a nice weekend for me!

Me (and my DD/the GC Auntie etc) are very conscious that we are coming to the last years of my GC wanting to do soft play/bounce themed stuff etc, so we do tend to make the most of weekends. We also have December birthdays so the whole month is full on. Do what suits your family. Not everyone has a dog, so walks can feel a bit flat.

Instagram isn't real life.

Of course some people will be out and about more than you (although they might not all actually enjoy the fact they are busier) and some people will have more money for trips, but your weekend sounds perfectly normal and very nice.

Comparison is the thief of joy, so if it's worrying you come off insta

Don’t forget that a lot of people will be accessing these activities with discount vouchers so maybe check out what you could get in your area? I think Tesco clubcard is good for this kind of thing?

I think most people have quiet weekends for the most part, but then when they do something exciting it goes on SM.

So what you see is the one weekend in many for each person, but because you have more than one or two friends, you see someone different or some different people doing an exciting thing every week.

Me and both of my children are ND so we love nice chilled weekends, we only tend to go out and do things when it's the school holidays and we have a few days afterwards to chill out

Sounds perfect to me. I do try and do Christmas themed activities especially with my youngest but it’s usually free or cheap events in our local area - library, light switch on, church events, our free kids Christmas disco. We also have a lot of time at home or doing the usual weekend activities like football and chores.

I see loads of people in a different city or at a different Christmas market/santa grotto/big event every weekend and it is easy to feel downbeat and compare. But honestly I don’t think happy memories need to be expensive far flung days out. Time together at home is lovely too. Social media is a bastard for comparison and dejection. Maybe I’ll give it up in 2026.

Do you think it's possible other people only post selected bits of their lives?

This is what most of my weekends are like with my husband and our boys who are 6 and 3

It sounds a nice weekend. If you fancy a change add in some cheap outings eg church Christmas fayre, look at decorations in garden centre or walk around estate to see people’s decorations not the woods for a change.
If you feel you are missing adult company mix it up a bit and have a trip out with your friends, doesn’t have to be expensive and let dh and dd have some time together.

Your kind of weekends are what matter and what's important. I am still amazed you could fit so much in!