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What's it like at home with a 1 or 2 year old?

28 replies

BabyQuestions · 18/01/2022 16:29

I'm weighing up full or part time work until baby is 3. What's it like being home with a 1 or 2 year old? Is it difficult/expensive to entertain them? Can you get any housework done? What joys will I miss out on if I'm at work and baby is in nursery? What else do I need to know! Thank you.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
tetleyteafan · 19/01/2022 14:25

It totally depends on the child. I had one chilled child that asked for a nap after lunch and one nap refuser. The one that napped was happy and good company. The one that didn't was an over tired angry mess by mid afternoon and that lasted until bed time. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether I enjoyed being at home with each of them or whether I would have rather been at work! Also forget getting chores done if you have a nap refuser.

I'm a big fan of nursery though for the social side and building confidence away from home. It always amuses me that puppy owners are encouraged to attend puppy classes to socialise their pups to be comfortable around other dogs, and yet many children are dumped in pre-school or sometimes even school with very limited experience of the dynamics of fitting in with other children.

Quamora · 19/01/2022 14:29

A lot of it is mundane and repetitive, there’s only so much lining up of cars that I can do (although it’s preferable to the imaginary play 4 and 5 year olds like).

I have older children too so have lots of school runs and after school activities to navigate so it’s not quite as chilled as for other posters.

Doing stuff can be a bit why do I bother sometimes when it takes you 20 minutes to wrestle them into outside clothing, you get out and they wee themselves, they refuse to hold your hand and try to leg it onto the road, they stop and look at every single stone and worm and try to step on every dog poo, they have a huge tantrum when it’s time to leave and it takes you another 20 minutes to wrestle them back into their shoes and coat and they spend the whole way home screaming at you…

I’ve done a whole mixture of hours since having children and in many ways it’s easier to work when they’re babies and toddlers than once they’re at school but I also love being at home with them and seeing them develop because they change so much in those first few years. Obviously if you work you still see their development but it’s not the same as being with them all day and seeing their little interactions etc. Just things like using an open cup to drink, the children that were in childcare as toddlers learnt that there and could just do it one day as far as I was concerned but the ones that were at home with me I had to teach to do it with sometimes hilarious and often frustrating results Grin

On the downside I do rely a bit on the digital babysitter while I get chores done so he does miss out a bit compared to if he was in childcare.

I seem to have listed mainly negative things but it’s a real mixture and I love it in the main!

In terms of cost I go to a couple of cheap playgroups a week (£1/£1.50)and have a pass for the local farm park and softplay. Other than that we go to outdoor spaces or sometimes to the local museum which is free. Other than that he just gets dragged around after his siblings a lot.

DorotheaHomeAlone · 19/01/2022 14:37

I’ve worked 3 days a week since going back after my first mat leave 7 years ago. Agree with many others that this is the ideal. I love my days with my toddler and being able to collect my primary age dc two days a week. We potter, go to the park or shops, urban farm, meet other mums with little kids etc in the morning. Then she naps for two hour after lunch and we head out on the school run again. I find it easy and fun. But that’s because it’s balanced by three days of adult interaction and an empty house. Couldn’t do it every day.

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