Parenting young kids is so boring

[VisitingMouse]

I have a 2 and 4 year old. Our house is too small and we plan on moving later this year but for the time being we are in a cramped, claustrophobic, chronically messy house full to the rafters with all the crap two children and two adults accumulate. It's also obviously shit weather and we've already done to death all the age appropriate indoor activities our area has to offer. My eldest is possible/borderline sen and doesn't follow instructions well so I can't pack him off to activities aimed at his age range. I'm stuck in toddler city and my God I am finding it dull.
They are both cute but pretty naughty (or simultaneously in particularly naughty phases anyway) and so I'm on constant surveillance mode which is exhausting and means I'm pretty much stuck to them all day. Can't really leave the room for more than a minute tbh (when they're both together anyway as they egg each other on). I'm stuck watching them in the same room probably on my phone feeling absolutely suffocated and bored as hell.

I don't know what I want from this post, probably just to vent as at the moment I'm finding parenting absolutely dull. I do things with them every day obviously but any activity derails pretty fast at the moment and other than that it's just watching them do their thing and trying not to die of boredom.

Stick them both in puddle suits and take them out whatever the weather! I had to get Dd out of the house even when it was cold and wet because we went mad otherwise. Find them a puddle go jump in and they’ll sleep well at night 😂

It’ll get better when the older one goes to school, and you can get the 15 hours free for your younger one and you have a bit of time to yourself again.

Tricky ages to navigate.
Seconding PP - get outside! I have twins and there are a bad influence on each other if they are at home for a whole day. They behave so much better out on a walk and I find the day passes more quickly for me too. They sleep better when theyve had plenty of time outside too.

Sympathies about the mess. Even my eldest (7) needs reminding to tidy up after herself. The 3yos create utter chaos some days. Mine have just started preschool 2 days a week this week and i already feel more in control as there are nearly 6 hours between drop off and pick up where it's just me and the baby.

Take control of the situation, supervising them is both dull and not satisfying. If you put music on and get them dancing, dress them up and splash in puddles, fill a big tub with water and make boats etc.

Honestly, the more you put in, the more you get out of it, the time passes quicker and they'll be more engaged with you off your phone and listening to them. It will feel dull for the first wee bit until you get into it - just channel your inner nursery nurse.

Also, don't waste the bath on bedtime - it's prime rainy day entertainment!

You are roght. Are you SAHM? Go back to work!

It gets better in spring, time to start an actual day by day countdown (so sick of winter with small kids here!)

I have a very small house with 3 kids - twins age 2 who will kill each other if they are stuck in all day every day - we go out come rain or shine even if it's just in the garden for half an hour. It doesn't rain 24/7 - walk to the train station to wave at trains or the fire station - you'd be surprised how much they like simple (free) activities. They both think going on the bus is an adventure in itself so we often just try a different route and watch the world go by. Walk in local woods - although wouldn't call it that as it's just a small area of trees at the back of a housing estate 😂 walk to the shops to choose ingredients and then a bit of baking.

Buy waterproofs & get out more

Yes it’s really boring but it does get better! I went back to work. They are 7 and 6 now and much more entertaining

Have you tried listening to podcasts instead of being on your phone? Helped me so I wasn’t bored but could still hear them

I agree it is boring. My DS is much older now but I remember in the toddler years I found it hard to “play” with him, probably because of problems with my own upbringing. DH was always better at the endless make believe games, cars, Lego etc.
However I was better at “doing” stuff and that can be anything really as long as you’re getting them involved and chatting away - cooking, washing up (give them stuff they can’t break to play with the bubbles etc), even “cleaning!” We also made forts from cardboard boxes, flattened the boxes and drew and stuck craft things to them (cut up old clothing etc) and once had a “snowstorm” with old shredding paper (that one took ages to clean up but I still remember the giggles to this day and it must have been 14 years ago).
Harder with >1 I admit, and I do identify with the brain numbing bits.

I have to get out of the house with my 2, it drives me mad to be stuck inside dreaming up activities for them. When I've done all the local activities I branch out and head further afield- can you take them on day trips to museums or other activities like soft play further away? We have a list of all the ones in London and all the travelling time takes up a big chunk of the day so it helps to fill the time. In dry and mild weather we'll look up a big park on Google maps that we've not been to before and explore it (this weekend already looks decent enough for outdoor trip - we don't do puddlesuits in the rain much as there's enough indoor entertainment on offer).
We also go around all the children's centres in our borough and nearby boroughs (you are supposed to live locally but I register with a relatives address and it makes life more interesting to try different ones out).

Thanks everyone for responses. I do agree I need to get outside and get us doing more. I think with the horrible weather I've gotten stuck in a bit of a rut which I need to pull myself out of. I think I need to break the day into chunks and I liked the podcast idea for when I'm having to sit and supervise (which I'm hopefully going to be trying to do less often).
I'm just finding the particular stages they're both at just now quite difficult.
Anyway I've gotten a bit of inspiration from this post so thanks everyone for responses.

Podcast tip....'a slob comes clean'! I listen to her to help me try and declutter a tiny bit....also have very busy house full of children that gets messy, she has a method of decluttering/tidying that means you can get something done even if you've only 5 mins without pulling everything out and making things worse....I feel so much better every time I get rid of something out of the house. It gives me hope for the future! Maybe I will one day have a tidy house 😂

Also do a big (ruthless) declutter if poss!

Decluttering is definitely something I need to be doing! Maybe I'll take them on some runs to the dump with me. It's ridiculous how much stuff builds up and we've so little storage here too.

Breaking the day into chunks really helps, especially if you arrange them according to everyone's regulation/energy levels - so for example getting some outdoor time in early in the day and downtime (with screens if you want) in the afternoon, shared play in the morning if they're calmer then, more individual/one on one attention in the afternoon if they are more easily wound up then, you focusing on other things like cleaning jobs at times that they are safely occupied and focusing more attention on them at times they are more volatile etc.

Also I quite like making progress on things, problem solving and being creative so I find it quite interesting to pick some kind of skill for each child and then try to work out how to support that. For example my 5yo struggles with emotional regulation so I've been learning loads about this and we build in stuff like breathing exercises and yoga when he's in a calm state (you can't just try to bring them out when they're already dysregulated!) and try to get him to pause in the moment and think/communicate/problem solve rather than exploding, and (totally separately) I was trying to do some letter recognition with him, but having picked up some info about pre-reading skills, realised that he's not actually mastered those yet so I tried some of the suggested games/activities for this and realised that he doesn't understand how to recognise a rhyme. So now I'm going off into an interesting track about what comes before the part where they recognise rhyming words. It's all fun with no pressure - he's not at school yet so no rush here at all.