Am I damaging my child by not doing many “activities”?

[WheatCrunchies86]

I’m a FTM to a 19 month old and we don’t do much on weekends and spend a lot of time at home. Is it bad that we don’t do things like swimming or soft play? DH and I have always been introverted home birds so we naturally tend to play together at home a lot, do crafts etc. We might go to the park, see family or have friends round but we don’t do full on activities. Am I causing my son to miss out? Will he be disadvantaged in any way?

It sounds to me like you are doing a fantastic job! He's not even 2 yet. Nursery is an opportunity for him to socialise with other kids. You spend a lot of quality time with him when you're together. Getting outside and having fun in nature is great for their development. I agree with other posters who said kids also need to learn how to entertain themselves. As long as you have a good mix, I think that's all that matters. The only thing I would think about starting a some point is swimming.

What you are doing sounds great. Nice mix of social time and down time, some fresh air and stuff out of the house and time doing stuff at home. Even a trip to the shops is "an activity" for kids that age. I dont think mine did proper signed-up activities at the weekend until they were school age. Swimming or soft play was once every few months def not every weekend.