deadtime

[madmomma]

How do you get through 'deadtime' in your house? (the hrs between end of school & tea/bath/bed) I, and every other Mum I know, struggles to find ways to enjoy/fill this time. I find that I have a purpose for every other time slot in the day but this one. It gets to 3pm and sometimes I feel dread about how to fill the next couple of hrs. I'm always tired at this time, he's all played- out and bored... My son is 11 months old and I'm heavily pregnant. Also have a 13yr old girl. Would be grateful for any advice or suggestions. Cheers.

Homework and then play out with friends/have friends over here. Mine don't do 'all played out' , fortunately this means they also don't do bored and whiney.

The 13 year old should be entertaining herself. Which child are you struggling with?

Oh the 13 yr old is no problem. It's the cantankerous 11 month old that strains me!

A wander to the park? A trip to the shops? I often find that being out of the house between 3.30pm and 6pm works for us.
DD was under the weather today so in that time period we read some books, watched Dora and did some cutting and sticking. We did similar in the morning after her trp to the doctors. Oh and her sticker book and Playmobil farm killed some time til tea too. DD is 2.2 tho, when she was 11 months I found that time hard.
Could 13yr old DD be left home alone whilst you take DS to soft play centre?

11 months is a tricky age -guessing he is not walking yet as that seemed to help
although I have 18mo and 5 yo and find it tricky too -
does his sister interact with him - at the age my DS2 was always delighted to see his big brother and that distracted him - from grumpy/hungry/tired whatever - or have some of her friends round maybe - lots of people in the house is good
could you hide some toys/books and only get them out at that time
or a walk round the block helps

Thanks for the suggestions. No he's not walking or bloody crawling - the lazy sod and is ridiculously high maintenance. At this age, my daughter would happily amuse herself with whatever objects she could find and just explore stuff, but my son is the opposite. He'll play with something for 30 seconds then start whingeing. All he wants to do is walk around holding on to both my hands! Infuriating. He won't cruise the furniture, cries when he's on his front, won't watch a pingu or thomas dvd, and gets distracted when I read to him - Aaaarrrggghhh!! I don't have a car at the moment, and the nearest park is a 20 min walk away. My daughter makes a bit of an effort with him, but she wants to do her own thing, which is understandable. At that time, I'm so tired I just don't want to go out again. I think I'm just ranting now. Sorry. Hopefully once he's walking he'll be less frustrated...

Hi lady, sorry for late reply. Gosh it's amazing how quickly kids change isn't it?! Since my opening post my son is back to being the sunny baby I remember from months ago! He's just had a big leap forward developmentally, and things are loads easier. He's cruising like a madman and has even taken a couple of shaky, pannicked steps on his own so he's like a different child. He doesn't seem frustrated anymore and the whining has decreased by 90%! I forced myself to walk him to the park today, and then the library on the way back, and I think the change of scene really helped. Deadtime feels less depressing now that he's happy again. Thanks for the advice.x