WHAT DO YOU FIND TO DO WITH TODDLER WHEN YOU HAVE PICKED THEM UP FROM NURSERY

[QUESTY]

Do we do too much. Today, i feel guilty that my ds has sat in front of the tv for best part of this afternoon. Does anyone have a routine or any ideas that work for them?

How old is he, you don't have to entertain him all the day but I believe that if you add a "main" activy other than TV the day may feel less longer.

DS goes to nursery some half days and the "main" activities I do are:

-do some baking (you can get ready made fluor that only needs to add water to it and pop it in the oven), they enjoy using the thingies to cut star shapes on the dough.

-A trip to the station to see trains. I stay there 40 min which is the maximum time allowed in the short stay car park.

• A trip to IKEA (if DS is older than 3), the creche with an enormous ball pool is free, and you can have some me time

• I involve him in getting the house tidy. He can help to sort out the laundry and certainly loves to put everything into the washing machine. He also likes to help when I'm tidying the front garden, etc.

HTH

DS goes to nursery in the afternoons and to be perfectly honest all that happens after nursery is he comes home, has a snack and a drink, if the weather is nice I open the back door for him to play out if he wants, but generally he just veggies in front of the TV until dinner time/daddy gets home

DD isn't yet 3 so atm she only goes to playgroup two mornings a week, but aside from that she also attends a dancing class and JO Jingles ( a music class).

I like to split the day into two 'sessions'- morning and afternoon, so I will plan something for each.

Other things we do are swimming, soft play, going to the park, cooking, playing in the garden, having our neighbour over to play, visiting grandparents, going on a bus somewhere ( we usually do everything by car so this is a novelty).

I really don't liike being in the house too much so we are usually out for the best part of the day, and I take a lunchbox for DD to tied her over til teatime.

Its getting a little more difficult now that DS is more mobile (he's 7 months) so we are going a lot more soft play than we used to, so he can join in too.

Mine is 2.5, she gets up to 1 hour of telly after nursery because she is tired and needs a rest. Or she listens to story tapes for an hour.

Then she just potters around the house and plays for the rest of the afternoon - helping me with chores, cleaning, gardening etc.

ds is 3.5 goes to nursery 3 mornings and 1 full day.(til 3pm) 1 day we might meet folks for lunch but usually in the same place (boring). He has a french lesson. He is a b**y nuisance if I try to get him involved with chores. It all has to be done his way so it becomes a shouting match. He needs to be kept busy alright, but the thought of baking with him, oh! Trains and buses sound good but I will have to drive to find them (live in hillbilly land)

ds is 3.5 goes to nursery 3 mornings and 1 full day.(til 3pm) 1 day we might meet folks for lunch but usually in the same place (boring). He has a french lesson. He is a b**y nuisance if I try to get him involved with chores. It all has to be done his way so it becomes a shouting match. He needs to be kept busy alright, but the thought of baking with him, oh! Trains and buses sound good but I will have to drive to find them (live in hillbilly land)