Is it ever OK to have a lazy weekend and not stimulate your dc in any way shape or form?

[Feelingbetterslowly]

This weekend was dd and my first weekend at home since xmas. (V long and convoluted as to why!). DD (4) wanted to go on an open topped sightseeing bus and go to the dinosaur museum. Great weekend I thought.
Yesterday was bus day-have had a v stressful time for the past few weeks so feel sick now when I even look at food, so we went to a restaurant for lunch to try and get something down me. Torrential rain and hail then ensues, so we hot foot it home and don't leave the house again. I do housework as house hasn't been cleaned properly (except for weekday "keep on top of it" cleans) since before xmas-and still isn't any better now!. Dd watches Charlottes Web. We make biscuits, fall out, dd has bath, goes to bed.
Today is dino and bus day. Day starts with snow-no bus. Have lunch, weather brightens, go to the park for a bit to get rid of dd's energy before riding on bus. I get severe stomach cramps within 5 mins, tell her we must leave the park NOW, dd in floods of tears as she has probs stopping things if she hasn't done it the way she always does, i.e. has to go on everything in a certain order. I spend rest of afternoon in the bathroom, dd has tea, goes to bed, the end.
I feel dreadful, this is not the weekend I had envisaged and we will not have another weekend at home now for another month at least. Is there anything I can do to make up for it?

tee hee. Imagine the headlines "Mother gets snow blindness requiring laser eye treatment". But yes you are right in your second reading.

Everyone always comments on how my children can entertain themselves. I always think it is that they get a lot of practice.

Homely is one way of describing it.....

Post-nuclear explosion is another,especially when you survey the living room at 8pm when you come down after tucking them in...

I found felt tip scrawled on the walls (dd)

A collection of cars behind the setee under ds temporary den (arms of chair and sofa covered with spiderman blanket) plus a couple of random sticks.Where they materialised from I do not know.(ds)

Drinking vessel full of juice under table with yoghurt smears on (dd)

Several small plastic animals strewn around(dd)

Somehow dd had upended her walker and it was laid on its side.

Various pieces of artwork.

It goes on....

I finally sat down at 9PM!!

I am rubbish at doing nothing. Luckily it is DP's area of expertese. All week I race around with DD doing activities and learning experiences. Hate to admit it, but she probably gets more out of doing nothing with DP all weekend. They slob, veg, hang. Sometimes they chill... She loves it and it does her the world of good to relax, recharge and calm down.

Oh wrinkle-you poor thing-I hate clearing ANYTHING smeared with yoghurt! Sunday night is my tv night, so I sit down at 8 come what may, to tigers with David Attenborough where mummy tiger always goes missing for three days, and then Holby Victorian times (official titles don't you know!)

I am very good at doing nothing at all, but then spend my entire life feeling dreadful for not doing enhancing activities! Am convinced she should be doing swimming, ballet, violin and piano by now, but a) I don't want to spend 4 out of our 5 nights together getting to and from said activities, and b) she's so tired when I pick her up from nursery that all she wants to do is eat, chat and sleep, which is why we were going to enhance like mad this weekend instead!

lol Hope you enjoyed it.Hope you are feeling better soon,too and so sorry about your mum.

I am off to bed now as am sure the dcs will be up at the crack of dawn and ds will be wanting to make a snowman.

Night night xx

Thanks wrinkle, I love your name-I want to be fanofwrinklytum now! (But I won't, don't worry!) Bed for me soon too, I was "just nipping on to check the threads"-always a dangerous thing to do!

Feelingbetter
I didn't start my kids in activities until year R/year 1
We are quite bust during the week, but weekends...there is alot of mooching.
Mooching is good

Oooooh purple I love you for easing my guilt, having been convincing myself I'm leaving it till next year because she will finish at 3.30 instead of 5.30 (she does 10.30-5.30 at nursery) so will have the spare time then!

I love days when DS plays on the carpet with trucks/bus/train/ninky nonk and we have a cuddle and read a book and look out the window at the rain/snow/traffic and we get a bit of paper and a biro out and draw and eat lunch and watch Mr. Tumble and have another cuddle and sing songs from Play Group and call Grandma and take a photo and text it to Daddy and have a wrestle and do some dancing and mooch about and change a few nappies- in other words-NOTHING MUCH AT ALL! It's so much nicer and calmer and more relaxing and more lovely than loud loud loud kids soft play centre or crowded Natural History Museum or a bus journey with a 2 year old or a half an hour dance/music class for £7 or a kiddy organic cafe with a nice play den and TERRIBLE acoustics! Or whatever other learning life enhancing experiences you're supposed to do with a young child. I do obviously get out of the house every now and tehn and do these things , but oh boy it's SOOOO much nicer when I don't . Let's here it for mooching around with our kids!!!!

He he he we climbed into bed at 3.30 this afternoon to read books, which is how I ended up fast asleep with dd having run of the house! And all praise to her she didn't do a thing wrong-no paint on the walls (only a little glue on the table!) and everything still in the cupboards (although I noticed 4 ice lollies had gone, but she threw the wrappers in the bin to hide the evidence at least!)

There's nothing wrong at all with not stimulating children - they can be over-stimulated I believe.

I just wondered if you are okay. I mean I work too much so I know what it is like but no weekends at home since Christmas? And poorly to boot? Something sounds not right. Is there anything to be done about cramps etc? Is there anything to be done about no time at home?

The no time at home was looking after mum as she was on her own (she had leukaemia-still can't spell the bloody thing!) and dd's access with her dad. She's having a week with him next week and then we've agreed that I'm slamming on the brakes and he comes down to us for access instead of us going up there (dd's dad and my mum lived in the same village, so she used to go there while I cared for mum, but it's 4 hours away, so we went up after nursery on a fri, I stayed at mums, she stayed at her dads, and we came back on the sun).

Have been to see the doc re stress tho, and she said I'm fine as long as I start to cool off a bit now

Oh god I'm so rude, I haven't even said thank you to all you posters for making me feel better! It makes me really when the op doesn't say thank you when it's a thread that it's easily mangaed on. Thank you all you lovelies!! xx

By the way, FeelingBet, we went to said Dinosaur museum yesterday; and I guess it didn't occur to me it was Easter Hols as DS isn't school age, but it was SOOO crowded! People were queueing on the steps outside just to get in the door; then people were queueing to file past the dinosaur exhibits in single file. So unpleasant. We ditched the dinosaurs; my friend's DS is only 1 so he didn't notice and my DS is age 2 so is easily fobbed off. We went to see the other less popular exhibits instead but still very crowded. Really would have been so much more relaxing if we'd met up at each other's house and the kids could have played and we could have sat and chatted. As it was my friend's DS had to stay strapped into his pram, and my DS had to hold my hand and be dragged through the crowds. No fun; you didn't miss a thing.

Oh I love you for that peasoup-am so glad we didn't go! I always forget the hols are on too and feel like shouting "shouldn't you be in school!?" to the gangs of youths, until I realise a) they are with their parents, and b) there are an awful lot of them about so it must be the hols!!

I know-I always get in wrong about holiday times and drag my DH to some kid oriented place on a half term holiday so it's the biggest loudest most crowded nightmare imagineable and he swears he's never EVER going out to a kiddy friendly place EVER EVER again.
I guess you must be in London; me too; and I always find London outings for small toddlers far more trouble than they're worth. It all sounds good on paper- slides, activties, organic lunches, etc. but the trouble is every other family in the universe has turned up that day too. I kind of fantasise that folks in the countryside are having idealic weekends with their families quietly picking raspberries, patting lambs, etc but not sure if I'm deluded about that.

Nah, country families are just driving 20 miles to the nearest B&Q at the weekend.

I'm provincial, not rural, but always find weekend things are hideous too. Round our way however there is a tiny lull round about a late Sunday lunchtime, so if you grab sandwiches early for Sun lunch, you can be into something as the crowds are dying away.

Ha ha, we lived in the country and there is NOTHING to do-defo no lamb petting! Every weekend was the same-sat-go to the supermarket 1/2 hour's drive away (as it shuts at 6pm so you can't go after work). Shop. Come home for lunch. Do housework. Sun-usually raining. Stay in, do more housework. Take dd out in buggy on the canal when rain finally ceases, get attacked by ferrel dog and geese on canal, dd screams hysterically, come home, watch antiques roadshow and eat cheese on toast, then bed. Lamb petting is far too expensive!! xx