Does anyone else hate weekends with their children???

[LMcmahon]

I hate weekends. Endless "im bored", constantly trying to come up with ideas to entertain them which usually ends up in tears.
Cannot ever just stay home because of the constant whining, im boreds and complaining, so we have to go out all day every day at the weekends, no matter the weather, we have to be out, in the rain, snow, whatever. Cannot just spend a day at home, enjoying time together in our home.
Its awful.
Is it just me? Is it just our family that cannot ever just enjoy relaxing together at the weekends?!
Its 9.30 in the morning and i am done. What can i do to get them to just enjoy life without everything being so difficult every minute of every day?!
They are 5 and 7

😂

They can’t hit a moving target 🤣 that’s the best advice on here and also very true

op I hate to say it but it’s because you’ve done it to yourself because your a good parent. You’ve clearly done everything with your children and now they expect it.

as pp suggested be a moving target

other options
involve then in chores with stars for rewards and when they have a certain amount they get a treat

set up an arts and craft station and then walk away

print off/write a scavenger hunt and leave them to it

run errands with them - food shop etc

Put a timer on for 30 minutes or however long you deem necessary and point blank say to them “mummy is having a mind break until the timer goes off so please entertain yourselves, if you don’t then the timer restarts”

wishing you luck op

Agree with PP. Whilst I will do things with mine there are times when I need to cook or do housework. I'll happily tell them to go find something to do, that it's not time for screens and that I'm not interested in whinging.

I'm amazed at the parents I know that have to provide constant entertainment to kids who are old enough to pick up a book or do some crafts for a bit. I think entertaining yourself is an important life skill.

So at weekends we (dd 5)- this is a typical Saturday
Clean the kitchen- she is given a cloth to wipe the kitchen door fronts whilst I clean, she also will wipe the kitchen table and help put things away
We unload dishwasher together and reload
Sweep the kitchen front room- yes she is also made to get involved
We then make some cookies/cake/pancake together- she gets to weigh out and mix
Clean up
Play the floor is lava or some other game
Go for a quick walk to the shop- or go to park run (yes she can walk 5k or do a walk run 5k in 42 minutes)....
Play with some toys
She will make her own lunch- I mean spread cheese spread on crackers and get various fruit and veg out the fridge
We will play for a bit do reading, do some maths, etc
Do some gardening- she will help for a bit and also play in the garden
Go for a bike ride
She will be told to entertain herself for an hour whilst mummy snoozes on the sofa- she will draw read and play with barbiea
She might do a cosmic kids yoga
Have some tea often something simple in front of strictly before she goes to bed
We will have been out and hour or two and she will have had plenty of exercise..... I also feel that she has a great foundation of how she keeps the house tidy etc at this point too and that life doesn't revolve around her- I don't clean when she is in bed

sympathy, it’s the same here. I think this really ramps up when you have more than one child. My two will start fighting and screaming at each other if we stay in the house for too long and I’m not up for refereeing all the time.

We do Saturday mornings at gymnastics. Home for lunch then walk into town and go to the library and playpark. Sundays we do the day out together as a family, to the beach or a farm or a National Trust place or similar. It is mind numbing some weekends but time at home is just not relaxing.

One of us does Saturday morning solo with the kids and the other does the afternoon, so we each get 3 hours or so to exercise or do chores or catch up on week. Would that work in your house?

DCs have loads of energy and have brains like sponges, so they don't want to sit and relax. They will get bored. You have to challenge them. Structure to the day helps. Winter weekends with my ds when that age were:

Breakfast and an hour of Ceebeebies, then dressed and out to do the food shop. Child helps choose meals for the week. Chat to them all the way round the supermarket about how many apples in a bag or where do pineapples come from etc. Then home, he helped me put stuff away.

I usually bought him a colouring book or a puzzle book to keep him busy while I made lunch.

Then swimming lesson at 2pm. I got an hour's peace in the viewing gallery. Home, dry hair, sort swimming kit together.

We'd bake or watch a film or go somewhere to wear them out (local beacon or canal walk or cycling on the common) or have one of his friends over. They'd build a den in the sitting room with sheets between the armchairs for an hour. while I got some peace in the kitchen.

Then children's tea, any spare children go home, hour of TV, bath, bed.

I'd get 7.30pm onwards to myself. I only had one dc, but I was a lone parent.

Can't you go to a sports centre and swim/sauna while your dh takes charge for an hour?

Mine are late teens now, but tbh I never felt like this. Mine enjoyed trips out but were also happy to play and do stuff at home.

I used to feel like this especially when they were pre-schoolers. Now I have the opposite problem that the eldest (autistic) doesn’t want to go out and persuading him to leave the house can be a real mission. My youngest is easier at age 5 and likes to do lots of colouring, crafting and role play games with her soft toys.Still the days are long and can be stressful when eldest has a meltdown and starts throwing things around the room.

I feel you op.

Mine are younger, my eldest has only just turned 5. But he won’t sit through a whole film yet and he doesn’t enjoy crafting or colouring. And lives for being out of the house and definitely needs exercise. So it’s shit in this crap weather.

Really glad we don’t live in an area which has switched one week of school holiday from summer to October.

The PP who said ‘they can’t hit a moving target’ is so right! Really made me laugh.

Can you try putting a timer on and insisting they play without you for that duration it’s on, gradually building it up from 5mins - 45minutes?

Set out toys they have so they are ready to play with (5minute mum on Facebook always advises this!) so Barbie’s are set up for a tea party, Lego in a pile with a couple of post-its saying ‘can you build a rocket? Can you build a machine to capture a tiger?’ Etc.

Intermittently use screen time to save your sanity.

Plan one thing out the house and then make it clear it is your weekend too. I am very vocal about this! So I’ll say ‘we’ve been to the park for you both this morning, not it’s my turn to do what I want to do, and I want to sit and read my book.’ They are gradually getting this at 4 and 8. Doesn’t hurt them to realise I’m an actual person, not just their mother. 😂

Could you try the 80s mum technique of giving & supervising chores to the bored?
Bored? Help peel potatoes for tea later
Bored? Go tidy your room
Bored? Fill the dishwasher then spray & wipe the surfaces in the kitchen

Sympathy though - mine are now teens and I don't see them til midday usually

Sounds awful OP. Perhaps the problem is feeling you OUGHT to entertain your DC? If you, and they, saw it more that your job is to keep them safe and offer some toys etc to play with, they can find their own ways of enjoying themselves. I have no magic bullet for changing this dynamic but you letting go of this imperative to keep them constantly amused might change things a little bit. Just a thought.

Give them some maths workbooks. They’ll soon find something else to do. or they might enjoy it.

my stay home weekends when dc were that age were roughly like this -
Out somewhere for a runaround or bike/scooter rides or walk up to the library which was a 25 min walk.
Play with toys (mainly cars and dinosaurs)
Do some homework or workbooks (mine enjoyed them)
Watch something like Deadly 60 or horrible histories.
Help out with some easy chores
Help with dinner
Watch a film
Read
Kids like a structure so they might respond better to a structured At Home day.

Yes … a lot of these replies are fine if you have one child who is getting under your feet a bit. The problem is with two or more they just end up fighting. Mine made a fort this morning which was cute but then ended up shoving each other out of said fort and both wailing. Sigh.

I wouldn’t be too supercilious about a poster using ‘lol’ in a sentence (one of your pps), when you can’t spell ‘forties’!

Do you not understand that its its developmentally important for children to learn to cope with not being externally stimulated constantly, learn how to be content with their own company, learn how to be bored and make their own entertainment? Can you really not see how someone might have problems later in life if they don't get used to being left to their own devices?

You are the boss. You can decide if you go out or not! If you want a day in, stay in.

They do need to learn that sometimes they need to just stay at home.

It's your weekend too so they shouldn't get to solely dictate the schedule.They are probably playing up more because they know you will take them out somewhere and they are used to being highly stimulated, but down time is really important for them to get used to.

Could your 'trip out' maybe on a Saturday morning be going to B&M or somewhere and choosing some cheap craft activities to do? Or a trip out on their bikes or to rhe park then rest of the day at home?

Enrichment should.include learning to entertain oneself. Having down time to play and makeup games with no adult intervention. They need time to be alone and sort out their own quarrels and learn proper social interaction. Not constantly have an adult make decisions for them and sort out situations.
Having children doesn't mean you have to constantly entertain them and act as a referee. I actually think this is where we're going wrong at the moment.

It's ok if they are bored. They need to find something to do or play with eachother at home at that age. Boredom leads to creativity.

This is fab.

This is fab.

I completely understand where you're coming from! We tend to arrange our weekends so that my husband and I each get some time to ourselves- he might go out and do his hobby for a couple of hours whilst I clean or do homework and then he will take them out while I read my book or do some gardening or sometimes I'll take myself out for coffee and a browse.

Then the other morning or evening we'll go out, nothing major just got a walk or for coffee and cake or to get them a new book or see family. Then home for lunch and they'll have some gaming time whilst we both do chores.

Staying in all day is never fun for any of us however I will say, there is a period they have to go through where they fight etc and then they get over that bored fighty bit and can play together for ages. Often they need a while to settle into it. We also separate them and they spend some time in the bedrooms if it's getting too fractious.

We always get a takeaway or a nice meal on Saturday night for us to enjoy and the kids have an easy TV dinner. We're quite strict on that night about not being disturbed after 8pm because it's our time together (we don't have much family support so going out together is very, very rare!) and after much reminding they respect that.

Basically I'd make sure each weekend you're both having separate time as well as a family time. It's really important!

Completely agree with this. I became so much more relaxed as a parent when it clicked that my job is to provide opportunities for them to play or build or create and that's where my input ends. We're parents, not children's entertainers. They play so much better when we're not involved.

Indeed.