Anyone else slightly dreading 10 days off with a toddler?

[pinkfong1]

I must be a terrible person, but I'm dreading 10 days of the nursery being shut! My 3 yo is hard work right now. Anyone else want to wallow in self pitty? What's your plans?

I’m with you. I have a 3 year old and a 3 month old. The 3 year old is much harder work and very high needs. Meltdown city. I love him to bits but I find it really stressful with the two of them at home.

Only dreading it because 3yo has d&v, our second is due any day now and my husband's bastard family will descend on us at some point, no doubt to lord it over us in our hovel (so inferior to theirs). I did start my maternity leave today though, so, silver lining and all that!

Yes 😂 Fortunately we have a bit of help in that my parents will be here for five days of it. Today I've got my toddler alone though and am basically sofa bound with morning sickness so we're muddling through with Christmas films at the moment 🤦🏻‍♀️

Totally normal. I still feel a small bit of panic at the beginning of the school holidays, and DS is 7 now - when he was in nursery it was full scale terror. It is always fine once you ease into it though .

I am also pregnant and suffering with morning sickness. I feel you it's so tough
:-(
I wish we had some help but we won't have any, I might ask my parents to have him for a few hours one day but that's about all I can ask for.

DS is very moany at the moment, always has a runny nose and is in that 'too old for a nap but too young not to nap phase. God I miss the nap but I wish he was 4 sometimes and just a bit easier..

I hear you!! My DD has severe SEN and we broke up today…not back till the 10th. I have no living family to help and am up the majority of each night dealing with medical issues so am exhausted. People say, oh well they’ll have lots of new toys to play with but they don’t get it at all, it’s an overwhelming time of year for many children.

My toddler has just turned 4 and has returned to the child I like (terrible twos for us had nothing on the threenager 3 )

I feel your comments in my bones as I remember it vividly last year. It will end !!

Three year olds are bloody hard work and I have a baby too.

It will end and get less hard until then 🍷 helps

I have to work nexr week so don't have experience of the holiday dread... I don't know whether i'm glad or not having read this!

I do find that dd copes better if she kniws what is happening and has some age appropriate choices built into the day. We use visual timetables

I have a 3 year old and a 4 year old. We've started the holiday today, back to normal on 4th January. Feels like a looooong time. So far we've walked to the shop, made some biscuits and watched a lot of paw patrol. It's going to get tedious very quickly I think.

Last year DS attended a different nursery and they opened between Christmas and New Year. This new one? Shut from tomorrow. He's only 2.5, I guess next year will be even more "challenging"

I hope his key worker enjoys the silence for the festive period

Haha that's true I guess the nursery staff need a break! 😂

I find it hard to fill up all the parts of the day, like in the morning I'm quite positive and we have breakfast and play, get dressed, take it easy etc before doing something before lunch.
Come lunch time I start thinking shit, what next...also i start losing my patience and fancy chilling on my phone 😅

@hourbyhour101 thank you I needed your reply ☺️ it's great to know things might be easier this time next year. Glad you're out the other side xxx

Not too bad. He’s only been since September, and only mornings a few hours.
Kind of miss him sometimes and Dh is off the next 3 weeks so with both of us tag teaming it’s not as hard work as alone. A few things scheduled to break it up

Yep. I am planning a series of activities so we are out of the house as much as possible. The two year old needs to be worn out every day or she will be unbearable. It'll be the only week of the year she doesn't get dragged around with the four year old calling the shots.

Dealing with a 6 year old here but happy no school morning rush for a few days ☺️ 1 to go tomorrow ☺️.

I have a nearly 3 year old and 5 year and feel like this; I’m excited for the big days but not so much all the ones in between

Oh I very much felt like this last year, you are not alone! The dread of filling all those days. We went out every morning even if just for a walk somewhere different, lots of visits to Grandma's house and into town to look at the lights.

Mine is nearly 4 this year and I'm relieved to say I'm not dreading it this year, he's a much more reasonable human. Not looking forward to the lack of free time though.

My little girls preschool closes for 2 weeks in line with the regular school holidays. I'm 6 months pregnant and permanently exhausted and still getting back to normal after covid and chest/sinus infections. She's now got chicken pox but doesn't seem effected by it she's still full of beans! To say I am beyond done with the holidays already is an understatement!! We've watched TV all day today. 😞 So looking forward to my husband having next week off!!

I felt guilty that we're sending our 3 (almost 4) year old and 10 month old to nursery for 2 non bank holiday days next week. But DH pointed out that otherwise it's 10 full days of the 3 year old, it's his (DH) birthday one of those days, and we've not been alone together in more than a year 😂I don't feel guilty now - I imagine one day we'll lay down silently and watch separate screens just to recover!

Yup! My DS will be 3 next month and is an absolute nightmare atm. And now my 5yr old is home too 😬 I love having them both home but they've done nothing but fight so far. DH is NHS and literally has 1 day off through the whole of Christmas, so just me and the kids. I'm going to be a nervous wreck by the end of the holidays!

Yes, dreading it! Dd6 and DS3 are also fighting more because DD's bedroom is cold during the day as we are only heating the living room so they are getting under each others feet.

Plan is to do at least one long walk outside a day, possibly one film a day and do crafts etc but it all feels so 2020 lockdown to be honest! Might have to set up camp in the soft play.

I also needed that @hourbyhour101 !! Just started a thread about how relentless it is parenting my almost 4 year old. I love him but parenting is HARD. He’s 4 in March, so hope it gets easier.

@pinkfong1 my friend told exactly what I said and I will admit I scoffed a bit but honestly THANKGOD she was right my Dd was a Velcro baby and fairly easy at 2 but 3 😭😭😭

That said I have a baby and dreading the 3 year period

DD has been off nursery for a week with a virus, so we’re going into the shutdown period already knackered and ill. Sigh.

DH has a theory that nursery keep a jar of infected baby snot and smear them with it to give themselves a break at the end of term.

(Nursery are lovely, I just wish they didn’t sound so happy when I call to report DD as sick. She’s been at that annoying stage of “fine with calpol and getting very very bored”, but of course “fine with calpol” is Not Ok for nursery.)