Weekend activities

[seaseer]

I feel this constant pressure to be doing "something" as a family at weekends. This pressure just comes from me. Our child doesn't ask to do anything, but I feel like we should be doing something with him.

We do have an activity planned for the Sunday but is that enough? I feel like I am not filling his childhood with memories. I am not sure if this is a me problem or I am not parenting correctly? Any advice appreciated.

How old are your children? My husband works every other wkend so his work wkends we see my parents one day and then stay home thr following day. I work in the wk so need a day at the wkend to do house work. If dh is on an off wkend we'll go out one day. Sometimes it's just a walk and a picnic lunch lunch or maybe a trip to town and the other day we stay at home.

Our child is 11. I don’t work weekends and my husband works occasional wknds. We do go out for walks etc. I am maybe overthinking, bit of a problem of mine. Thanks for replying.

My ds is 11 too. He appreciates the downtime. He started having a friend round some wkends too now. They just play on the playstation, make videos or walk up the shop for sweets

We have busy weekends and I feel a bit of pressure (from myself, not sm or friends) to get out and do things. Part of it is from going through Covid lockdowns and making up for lost time, but some of it is simply because we live in London where there's an enormous amount of things to see and do, and we want to do it all!

I don't see it as a problem as long as you're enjoying it and the dcs are having fun. They only have a limited time really before they get too old to want to hang out with parents, or get involved in sports/music etc which might have to take place at weekends, or focus on homework/11+ prep. And parties/spending time with relatives takes up another chunk of time through the year, and then there are some weekends you have to write off with illness. We just try to have something booked for each weekend like a theatre show or play experience, that way it gets the big things ticked off and it means we have things to look forward to

My adult DC remember very little of their childhoods - the clubs, the activities, the outings. I often say to them ‘it really wasn’t worth taking you anywhere’. If you are all happy pottering about at home, make the most of it. In a couple of years he will be off out with friends.

At that age I'd have been driven mad being taken on outings constantly. I think one big activity a month at most is plenty. The rest of the time just enjoy pottering at home and doing more low-key stuff together: bike ride, walk and a pub lunch, family board game/movie night etc.

It's hard to find a balance isn't it? My DF tries to fill every single day, often with multiple activities. That would drive me bonkers. I'm a bit more on the relaxed side of things, probably a bit too relaxed.

I think if you've got 3 days together and have an event on one of those days that's enough, especially if you are doing things like having walks on the other days. DC do actually need downtime and you'll probably have some jobs that need doing.