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Original poster

If you have a child in Y1 or Y2 what is your after school routine?

60 replies

Criteria16 · 08/09/2025 15:20

DS(6), an only child (and no pets) seems to only be interested in food and watching TV after school. And we are relatively ok with it as he's in extra curricular activities most days and we recognize the need to chill. However, while we are not opposed of a bit of TV, this is getting out of hand as doesn't want to do anything else we suggest or ask (going for a walk, helping out with preparing dinner, playing together, talking to the grandparents over facetime....). We never ever watched TV when eating dinner, but now it's such a struggle to ask him to switch it off, and then he wants more before going to bed.
While we are still firm in saying no, this needs to end and we are considering not having the TV on at all.

What do your children do that can inspire me?

OP posts:
JillMW · 09/09/2025 10:02

I fetch my neighbours child from school. He will sit and eat and I know his mum does not like that. I have found that if I ask mum to invite a friend round they have a lot of fun either in the garden or being creative in the kitchen, I get whatever they suggest, glue, boxes, paint 0r maybe a wood kit, they love Lego. Outside they have football, rugby, tennis, gym balls, skate boards, hoops, If they feel like it I take them to the park or we might play hide and seek ( inside if raining) or learn football skills.Sometimes we walk to see horses or cows.I always get them to make a snack which could be home made pop corn or something more substantial like pizza ( either from scratch or with bought dough) if they are hungry.

Atina321 · 09/09/2025 19:44

Nobody needs to be ‘engaged’ all their waking hours - that sounds exhausting! Some down time watching TV every day isn’t necessarily bad. I bet they are still not sitting completely still! As long as they aren’t watching age inappropriate content then it can actually benefit their learning as most kids TV is semi educational these days any way.

SurreyisSunny · 09/09/2025 20:42

My DS is in year 1

2 nights a week we have clubs (dance and beavers). 2 other nights he’s as after school club so we then get home at 6, he then watches his iPad until it’s time for a shower and bed (shower around 7 and in bed by 8). By Friday he’s exhausted so I’m ok with him watching his iPad. I have limits on all apps and downtime so can restrict

i think school can be exhausting so im ok with screen time. We always have time for reading too .

FancyCatSlave · 09/09/2025 20:51

DD is Year 1 and 6 next week.

She gets home at 5.15 and if it’s nice she plays outside with her friends that live next door from same school. If not she has some TV time or plays with her toys. She only has a light supper at about 6.30 as she has hot lunch and after school club tea.

Shower and up to bed at 7.30 where we do reading until 8.30.

Only night that’s different is Monday as she has swimming instead if wrapround.

Most nights she has about 45 mins of TV which I’m fine with as she likes really factual stuff like Operation Ouch and learns loads!

ManteesRock · 09/09/2025 20:57

Honestly after school decompressing for a few hours isn't a bad thing. And if you've got something like cbeebies on they'll still be learning without knowing it!

TheAmusedQuail · 09/09/2025 21:00

Out of school. Snack. Quick bit of homework (10 minutes or so). Do reading. Park / soft play / something active until 5-6pm. Dinner. Chill. Bed at 7-8pm.

Dramatic · 09/09/2025 21:03

Year 1 girl, age 5. She does activities every night other than Thursday so usually we get in from school and she has a snack, gets ready for whichever activity she has that night, when she's back home again she has tea and then will usually go on the switch for an hour before winding down for bed. We don't allow TV or iPad during the week, she seems much more willing to come off the switch than to stop watching the TV or iPad.

JoB1kenobi · 10/09/2025 07:08

Criteria16 · 08/09/2025 15:20

DS(6), an only child (and no pets) seems to only be interested in food and watching TV after school. And we are relatively ok with it as he's in extra curricular activities most days and we recognize the need to chill. However, while we are not opposed of a bit of TV, this is getting out of hand as doesn't want to do anything else we suggest or ask (going for a walk, helping out with preparing dinner, playing together, talking to the grandparents over facetime....). We never ever watched TV when eating dinner, but now it's such a struggle to ask him to switch it off, and then he wants more before going to bed.
While we are still firm in saying no, this needs to end and we are considering not having the TV on at all.

What do your children do that can inspire me?

My son is also 6. I’m also a teacher at his school and I know how hard they work. My son (and daughter, 8) have a few after school activities too like swimming, football etc. if they’re not doing that, they are watching Netflix, playing the switch and the odd occasion they’ll do a craft. I do not allow YT videos.

He does zone out, so I have to make it clear, dinner is 5 minutes. Or if we’re going something like going out, where possible, I say ‘when you’ve finished this episode/race/level’ then put shoes on/eat/wash hands’ etc.

If he doesn’t abide by that, he loses the remote or controller. I stick fast to my threats. It works with a couple of reminders. He’s still young.

You sound like a great parent, and you have the balance right.

rainylake · 10/09/2025 15:43

6.5 year old.
She does a multi sports club that extends the school day to 4:00 once a week.
One day a week she has a swimming lesson, so by the time we've got there and got back, that takes up a good chunk of the afternoon.

We allow an episode (i.e. about 20 minutes) of a show after school to help relax/reset after the mental effort of the day. Otherwise it's up to her what she does (play in the garden, crafting, play with her toys), though she has to read to one of us if she didn't already do that before school. She is quite good at independent play and will often just disappear up to her room and tell stories with her toys. But of course I try to have a mental checklist to offer as alternatives to TV, e.g. 'shall we get out the playdoh', or 'we haven't done a jigsaw together for a while'.

I find this age they are very compulsive about TV and we have had to really clamp down and be firm about boundaries as otherwise it causes drama every time we switch the TV off. Her older sister is much less screen addicted, so it does get better! But we got some an improvement just by managing expectations and being very clear about the rules, e.g. 'you can watch one episode of X, but if you watch it now then you will not be able to have more TV later'. Or 'You can watch TV after dinner and if you have done your reading and got your pyjamas on, but not till then. Now it's time to think of something different we could do'.

lostinchaos · 10/09/2025 16:04

We have a no tv policy in the week during term time, to avoid all the inevitable melt downs that would happen when we go to turn it off! I am quite relaxed at weekends with tv... but they do around 4 hours of sports clubs on both days and often have birthday parties to go to, so i think its fine to let them watch tv in the morning beforehand and have a family movie night before bed.

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