What does your after school routine look like?

[CautiousOptimist]

Hi, I’m just after some ideas really as stuck in a bit of a rut after school.

I have two DS aged 6 and 4.

Two school evenings we have swimming and a music club but I’m just talking about days when you have no clubs on.

We walk home from school and get in the door around 4. We eat at 5:30 and do bath, stories and into bed from 6 as they still need to be asleep from 7ish.

So that gives us 2 hours, and I don’t know what happens to it. We don’t do homework at this time of day (just reading at bedtime). Generally the boys run off and play for a bit, build Lego or make a camp etc. They play together a lot and don’t seem to need me really. I sort washing or whatever, then suddenly it’s 5ish and I need to cook, so generally I put the TV on for them.

We have cupboards of craft and shelves of games which don’t get touched in the week, we used to use them all the time :-( Am I just lazy? What does everyone else do after school?

I have all these grand plans of doing their homework with them, playing cards, listening to their music practice. In reality though, I get back from work, collapse in a heap on the sofa for half an hour, eat dinner, send them to bed them start my second job.

It’s crap, really. I wish it was different.

I have a 3 and 5 year old so only ds in reception (dd goes to pre school 2 days a week). We get in at 3.45 , four afternoons a week. We get shoes/coats etc sorted, uniform off and deal with the inevitable letter from school. 4-5 we play. Lots of Lego, Orchard games, play doh, drawing. On dd's pre school days she can be pretty tired so we sometimes watch tv or read. At 5 I cook tea for them, eat at 5.30 ish, read ds's reading book. Then bath and dp gets home. Bit of tv or a game then bed.

On the evenings we don’t have a club, we could visit a family member (great gran, nanny, I have cousins who live nearby, my brother and his family), we live near the sea so we go for a walk on a beach, play on the beach,walk on the prom, go for a hot choc in a local cafe, skatepark with scooters (mine are only 5 and 3 but LOVE this), or just the park beside the school, play in the garden or playroom (I usually leave them to do that themselves and have a cuppa 😂 then if we are home I light the fire, make dinner and start the bedtime routine,

I sometimes incorporate a trip to the park or corner shop on way home, and sometimes a neighbour playdate but usually just let the kids play and unwind.

Don’t beat yourself up OP, if your two play well together that’s great: children need down time after school imo. They’re still very young, I never did much with mine at this age, we’d usually stop at a park after school for a bit if the weather was ok. The school day is long, they don’t need organised craft and games if they’re not asking for it, the best you can do is give them your time and be around for them if they want to make/do something. My six year old likes to do craft activities on her own while im cooking dinner, it helps her relax and I don’t get too involved but I’m there if she wants me. My older dc are out doing sports four evenings a week or seeing friends. They only had the energy for this when they got to about 8, in my experience before this age after school time is mainly about managing over-tiredness!

I have 3 children age 5,8 and 12. If it isn’t raining we always walk home, sometimes a walk to the park if the weather is really nice.

My 2 older do ballet on a Monday night.

I would love for all 3 to do swimming but being a single dad I don’t think I could cope doing that each week on my own. I’m going to try it once a month with the help off someone and see how it goes.

Apart from that we are a lazy family! Home kids play or watch their iPad, dinner bath story time and bed.

I feel a bit of a useless parent. Kids aged (10,9 and 5) youngest two have asd and adhd. I get home with the eldest two around 3.20. I try to get them to do 15 minutes of reading each. Youngest gets home at 4pm. And we mostly unwind but academically I feel I should be doing a lot more but they all want to relax 😕 and the middle one is struggling a lot emotionally at the moment.

Thanks all for the different perspectives and ideas, that’s really helpful.
Hearing about all your trips to the park, and with the weather improving, I’ve been reminded how we pottered out in the garden after school most days last spring / summer, and will be able to do that again soon :-)
Thank you for the reassurance @Hazytimes, you’re right, mine are soooo tired by the end of the week. It’s easy to forget sometimes that this will change in a few years and they’ll have more energy and a later bedtime.