Is three year old ds doing too much?

[Wallace]

He is knackered by supper time and dh has been accusing suggesting that I am doing to many activities with ds and tiring him out too much.

I think we are doing a normal amount and dh hasn't a clue doesn't really understand what it is like to be at home all the time with children.

A typical week might be:

Monday - 2.5 hours nursery in morning then at home for the afternoon.
Tuesday - swimming in hte morning then at home for afternoon
Wednesday - nursery in morning then park in afternoon.
Thurs - at home in morn and maybe for a walk or softplay occasionally.
Fri - nursery in morning and an hour visiting granny later.

weekends - varies!

Sounds normal to me - my 3 year old is knackered by 6.30, and will have a sleep in the day if we are in the car as well

My three year old is knackered by 5pm every day regardless of what we do - she does preschool four mornings a week and on the other day I generally take her out for the morning. The afternoons, she's generally flopping around playing/reading/whining.

Sounds entirely normal.

Suggest your DH look after her for 24 hours solely and see how he fills her day without her getting bored and whingy!

sounds normal to me too. reads like a perfect balance for you and for him. How to explain to one's DH though is the issue ! If DS isnt tired at bedtime surely that would be worse?

Its probably around the same / a bit less than what we do. I do try and let me him have an 'easy' day now and again which seems to re-charge his batteries a bit though.

Sounds normal - and anyway - even if I am home with DS he's no less active than if he visits friends/is at preschool/at the park. What are you supposed to do to make them relax? They don't - do they? - they're 3!

Thanks, I didn't think it sounded excessive.

I think the problem is that he wakes up far too early (was earlier than 5.30 today). Dh thinks he wakes early because he goes to sleep early and doesn't seem to see that even when he has a late night he still wakes early.

Does your ds have a nap still ? It is tricky to strike the balance betwen being out of the house and being too over stimulated.

I know my ds2 who goes to a childminder 3 days a week goes to alot of stuff when he is there so I always try and keep his days at homevery low key. I think with the change of clocks etc it does seem both my two are ready for bed by 6.30pm - yes they are up at 6am but thats kind of always ben that way.

I bet you were up with your ds this am not your dh

You're little DS sounds totally normal to me, doing totally normal amounts of activities (well... certainly the same as mine!).

I try to get out as much as poss with my two DS's, but since DS2 arrived I find either a morning activity OR an afternoon one is more than enough ( I He can't manage all day at all ).

Re the waking early... maybe he just does wake early! I'm with pippy, bet you get up to him and not DH!?!

My ds1 who will be 4 in feb does nursery all day on mon, swimming tues morning and friend from swimming here for lunch and pm every week, nursery all day wed, quiet day on thurs but always out to park or swings or soft play or something and then nursery fri morning with either granny here in afternoon or to swings or park etc etc. He almost never has a day just at home as we all go stir crazy and he is happiest outside. I have nearly 2yr old twins as well and everyone is better off outside running around than at home!

Don't think it sounds too much to me. They are 3 and get knackered by days activities but that's good really ?? DS 3.4 years does nursery 2 days a week when I work. Wednesday is either with grandparents if it's a work week or with me if not and we then do cafe/park/see friends. 2 days he's at pre-school for the morning and then in the afternoon we either see friends or go out somewhere like the park if weather ok.

One thing I do try is to make sure he gets some down time at lunchtime after lunch. I have a DD too who still has a sleep so we have lunch together and then he has cbeebies quietly on the sofa for an hour or so. I find if we're out all day and he's on the go all day without any downtime he's a horror by about 4pm !

I agree though that your Dh should try looking after him all day on his own day in day out and he'll see why you go out a lot. It's the way we all stay sane !

sounds ok really - we do same kind of things except for the swimming - maybe it sounds a bit regimented because you stick to the same timetable each week - we would swop park for garden if weather was a bit unreliable and scrap visit to grandma if ds was too knackered for instance

Thanks for all the input He doesnt nap at all but usually when he comes back from nursery he lies on the sofa for a while with the television on. He does seem to need that time to "chill"

Must go - ds trying to drive a tactor on the keyboard!