My little boy is awesome (if very hard work!!) But I found maternity leave quite a chore and struggled to keep him occupied. I took him to a mum and baby class most mornings, and out to the suoermarket or for a walk etc most afternoons. I found the classes stressful as he was the 'difficult' baby, but needed something to fill the day.
But now he has recently started going to nursery 3 full days a week while I'm at work. This means I only have 2.5 days alone with him, plus 1.5 days where my husband is also around. this has been going brilliantly for the past few weeks that I've been back at work!
However, now that he's in nursery... should I still be taking him to mother and baby classes and playgroups? I am probably in the minority here but I find those places really hard work and quite stressful! I took him on mat leave so that he would have some sort of interaction with other babies but now I'm wondering if he needs it if he's in nursery 3 days a week? I'm thinking about starting swimming classes or baby sensory or going to rhyme time... but hes SO loud and enegetic and doesn't sit peacefully like other babies so I'm basically just trying to keep him happy and quiet and occupied with something and stressing out that he's going to throw a tantrum if he can't so something he wants (he's very willfull and what some call 'high needs' I think).
If this stuff will be of benefit to him then I'll take him to classes. But otherwise... is it so bad if we spend our days on trips to national trust places and hikes and doing the supermarket run and the farm and the occasional soft play? That's basically what we do most of the time - I take him out twice a day, before and after the lunch nap - and it's nice!
Please either motivate me to book classes and playgroups if you think it would be good for him, or if you think nursery is enough, please reassure me that I'm not disadvantaging him!
Many thanks for reading :)