Having a toddler in lockdown is god fucking awful

[ivftake1]

I've finally cracked.

I'm so so so bored.

It's fine and it will continue to be fine but it's so shit.

@BoudicasBoudoir

OP

Doing IVF is hard enough without all the extra crap at the moment.

It's gruelling. Plus I'm convinced it hasn't worked.

At least my toddler is actually hilarious, bless him. Just wish we had more variety! I miss soft play! Imagine saying that 8 months ago.

That post must be ironic surely?

Mine are teens now but at that age used to love putting stones in drains. For hours

I know :( I have a 2 and a 1 year old and no garden in a tiny flat. Moving to a big house next month though hopefully unless another lockdown so excited for that

@Orangeblossom7777

That post must be ironic surely?

Mine are teens now but at that age used to love putting stones in drains. For hours

Great! I'll spend the next four weeks watching my son put stones down drains! Problem solved.

I feel your pain! 2yr9mo and a 6mo (born in lockdown). SAHM, no help nearby although thankfully husband is WFH. We can't afford nursery yet. Nearly cried at the 'just get puddle suits' thread and I'm generally quite happy putting on wellies and going for a splash and pretty handy with creative activities when required!

Check out your local youth centre type place, ours is still doing drop in childcare sessions, £10 per 2 hour session - could be just the break you need. Support groups can still run too so toddler play sessions at the church have been rebranded as stay at home parent support group

I feel my ds has just turned 3 (and a single parent)and doesn't start preschool until Jan and it's been so difficult not to crack up day after day.
I'm in Scotland tier 3 so everything for little kids is mostly shut, no groups or soft play etc and as been since the first lockdown.
It was so difficult the first lockdown and it feels never ending now.
It's so hard to fill the days and I feel like I am a robot on autopilot every single day.
My degree is online just now and I can only find the time to study at night when he's in bed but by then I'm absolutely shattered.
It's really is hard going

You know the thing of meeting up I suppose could pair with a friend and do toddler minding perhaps for a break? Would that help perhaps

I agree, I'm fine with cold and wet too - just not all day every day! Who would have known it was possible to miss soft play so much? And playgroups.

Mine has turned 3 and can go to nursery now which has made a big difference. I'm actually dreading them having to close. I just can't do that again.

I get it OP, I'm in the shielding group so no childcare or even going out except for walks, it's just mind numbing. DS has just turned 1 but can run like a 2 year old, just without any sense of danger, spatial awareness or ability to dodge toys so I can't take my eyes off him for a second. I've got him some reins but he changes direction like a distracted butterfly, I need toddler groups soon or I'll go batshit!

I sympathise so much.

My son is nearly 2. I have no family near by. I have chronic pain in my back I'm trying to get resolved and DH works long hours.

The days are hard and long. And I agree walking round the same park in the rain every day is really boring no matter what people say.

It's so tough

I really feel you. I had a 1 year old in lockdown 1.0 with the attention span of a gnat, who didnt like naps and a DH who worked long hours. As much as I love him it was fucking awful. A small light this time is the local forest school stay and play is staying open as early years education. Plus I can meet a friend in the playground. Parent support groups are still allowed so some toddler groups are saying they do that so maybe there could be something like that near you? I found setting a routine last lockdown with an activity or theme for each morning or aft just about got me through (eg under the sea theme - played with jelly, did bubbles, stuck fish stickers on paper, bath). Childcare bubbles are allowed now too - if theres anyone you could beg to have your DC for an hour or 2 for a break maybe that could help? But it's tough

Ah, bring a picnic! Yeah, no thanks. ‘Cos that sounds shit.

There’s no solution is there. The things you did to pass the time (which were fairly shit anyway) like soft play, sitting in someone else’s lounge, aren’t open to us. It’s fine to feel desperate about it.

I feel you OP. I have a 2.5 dd and a 4 month dd. It's hard work, relentless, boring and isolating. No toddler groups here. DP is NHS so is at work before kids are up and often home after bedtime.

Walks involve a lot of picking up every stick, stone and leaf as well as at least 2 tantrums which aren't easy to wrangle if dd2 is in the carrier. As much as I adore my children, I have an urge to run away and hide somewhere until this is all over.

I just tried to take my toddler out for a walk for some variety but it turns out his legs don't work outside so that was obviously absolutely not stressful at all.

We got a good 5 metres further than yesterday though.

Toddlers and lockdown sucks.

My ristorante funghi pizza - my ultimate favourite, was just proclaimed as his

I have a 2.4 year old. Today has been a nightmare and we’re only on day 1!

Haha about the puddle jumping. Fun for them. But for me very, very dull. Luckily my small one goes to the childminder and has a lot of fun.

I agree OP, it sucks. Mine is the same age and we used to go to art group, soft play, toddler playgroup, coffee with friends, walk round the shopping centre, visit the pet shop to look at the animals, feed the ducks, visit various family members, and he had two days per week at nursery while I study... we can’t do any of those now. The duck pond is too busy and therefore unsafe because everyone is there due to everything else being closed. We can’t even go to the playground because the council takes away the swings over the winter to prevent teens congregating there on dark nights. DC’s nursery went out of business during the last lockdown and the rest are all full, so I no longer get any days off. I end up trying to study while he watches YouTube and interrupts me with cars.

I keep thinking how nice lockdown would be if I could just watch tv, read a book, play a computer game or have a nap. But I’m not allowed because I have to supervise a bored toddler. It’s a living nightmare.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

I would like any of the male Cabinet to spend a month in a 1 reception room house with a preschooler and a newborn in winter- then see their policies!!!

I take your pre schoole and newborn with a reception aged kid and newborn twins 😂

@GeorginaTheGiant

I take it you didn’t enjoy the other recent thread on lockdown with toddlers then, where a couple of arseholes were snootily berating everyone who wasn’t jumping for joy at the prospect of traipsing around the same old parks in the cold and rain all winter!

Don't suppose you have a link to that thread do you?

@LesLavandes

Don't be silly. You are sounding pathetic!

Parks are open. Bring a picnic!

It can be fun... I know

So at hime... creative activities - art, cooking, baking, tv

Loads to do. Maybe it's you who doesn't want 'to do'

Picnic with 10 month old twins....

Lots of eating inappropriate things till I end up putting them filthy in the pushchair because even of I take a mate she can't touch them to stop them crawling in opposite directions.

Creative stuff ,- a tortuous hour of trying to make them not eat stuff or touch the furniture

Baking, see above.

You're right @LesLavandes I'm just another shit parent.

As you've obviously spent the last lockdown doing amazing things with your pre schooler everyday, maybe you can use this one learning empathy

@SleepingStandingUp that last sentence😂😂😂😂😂

As you've obviously spent the last lockdown doing amazing things with your pre schooler everyday, maybe you can use this one learning empathy

😂😂😂

OP, you have my sympathy. I have three small ones and it is fucking intense. I love my kids and I am a good mum when I’m allowed out but oh boy, the days at home are loooooooooong. And then there’s work as well, and my husbands job. Etc. I’m lucky we’re all healthy-ish but fuck me, this is hard.

Yeah, it’s bollocks. Today:

Spent an hour with dad in the morning
Too much tv
Walk to park, I try and fail to interest her in making a hedgehog out of leaves.
Park is like the Somme. We sit on a bench for 30 seconds while she has a snack.
She goes off the slide at about 10km/h thanks to her shiny new puddlesuit.
Walk home, another attempt at generating interest in the hedgehog activity.
We spot a neighbour’s cat, that’s a happy five minutes.
Hide in the kitchen while making lunch.

At this point it’s about 11.15am.

OP, playgroups are open this time round. I know you've said about IVF and nursery, but would you be happy to go to a playgroup? You could find a quiet one. A friend of mine runs a gymnastics type class, so there wouldn't be much mixing at that kind of thing. A walk there and back sorts a morning at least.