'Child-free' couples... What do you do with your spare time?

[mrsbrightside3]

Interested to hear from any child-free couples / divorced / single parents. What do you do with your child free time? I have 3 children aged 15, 14 and 10. Divorced 4 years ago and now re-married. My children spend eow, one weeknight and half the school holidays with their dad. I am struggling with filling my child free time with anything fun / meaningful! argh help!

I assume that child-free couples do very similar things in their spare time to couples with children and single adults...

Or are you asking because couples with children don't have any spare time?

Read a book or newspaper or magazine
Do some gardening
Watch a film or some TV
Play a computer game
Cook a recipe you've never cooked before
Go to a museum or art gallery
Piss about on Pinterest thinking about redecorating but never get around to it

My parents watch a huge amount of TV. Watching sport. Meals out. Card games. Reading newspaper & books. And errands. Step-mom also does long walks. Except for the walking, their lifestyle looks so boring to me.

I share care 50/50 with my ex-h.

My child-free days are spent fitting as much exercise, reading, Netflix, and housework in as possible. And spending time with my new partner.

Took me a while to enjoy that time. Now I make the most of it and really feel like I have the best of both worlds. :-)

Go out-nice meals / drinks.
Go for random weekends away.
Nice holidays
Potter around our lovely town with no particular plan.
Compete in sporting events.
Look after horses / go riding.
I also have a lot of child free friends (old friends-not chosen then this way) so we do a lot of things together.

I don't have any spare / down time though. I imagine having kids means being stuck at home more so would have more free / chore time.

I have no problems filling my time - gardening, walking, meeting up with people, planning holidays, cooking, work...

My DH - who has 3 kids who are now early 20s - is really feeling empty nest syndrome and struggles to know what to do with himself. He has no hobbies, finds mine dull (apart from the walking) and so I think we are going to get him a puppy....

Before we had kids, DH and I went out almost every single night.

We went away every other weekend and stayed in lovely hotels. Had fabulous foreign holidays. I went to the gym every weekday, he played football. I water-skied. He enjoyed diving and snow skiing.

We both drove sports cars. I was forever buying new clothes, shoes and had far too many pairs of knee length boots.

It took him us a while to adjust.

DD1 asked why we wanted kids once. I told her we got fed up of all the free time and spare cash

Just as well they're cute!

Watch TV box sets that we like (Game of Thrones, etc)
Go to the cinema
Go for dinner or drinks
Day trips to the beach, to wander around other towns and cities either sightseeing or shopping
Have friends over for dinner or drinks
Have or go to BBQs
Go for walks in the countryside
Wander around antique fairs
Watch films at home
Spend time with/care for pets (and I also foster cats for Cats Protection)
I have hobbies like sewing and making crafty things and writing a novel
Reading
Weekends away when we can afford to
Visiting relatives
Lunch with friends
Gardening

Thanks for your replies. I guess i'm not used to time without my children! my husband and I find ourselves just plodding around the house!

So your in a new relationship ? Do you mean you struggle as a couple to find stuff to do when kids are at their dads ??

My ex also has dc eow and sometime in hols . I have a new ish partner . To be honest we just relax ! Go away on some of weekends , do jobs around my house , meals out , good pub. Shopping , go for walks just normal stuff really . If I'm on my own and don't have stuff to do which is very rare I read n watch tv

Hillwalking and hiking, running, we play squash, we go for coffee and cake, go for long walks by the seafront, go to London for the weekend, go to Bristol for the weekend, have sex, go for country drives, watch films at the cinema, watch films on the sofa, shop for nice stuff for the house, shop for nice ingredients and spend an evening in the kitchen cooking and drinking wine, go on European city breaks, go swimming, chat, plan the future, gossip, go skateboarding/roller-skating together, go for a drink, go for dinner. There 's probably more.

Last minute holidays that are in term time.

we have no plan or routine for any of our weekends - just do what we want and when we want it.

The tv remote is controlled by adults, who choose what to watch and when to watch it.

We day drink on a sunny weekend which often leads to naps at like 7pm for a few hours.

Basically, we do what we like when we like - we aren't responsible for anyone.
In terms of actual activities - we do the same as what people who do have kids do. Read, tv, go for walks, hit the shops, go for food.

And we sleep. A lot.

DH and I aren't child-free but dcs are both boarding so we are pretty much child-free in term time. We are pretty busy throughout the week - we both have sports hobbies which take up two evenings a week. I'm doing a part-time MSc so that takes up another couple of evenings. We try to go out together a few times a week - we like going to the theatre, cinema, art galleries, eating out and occasional touristy stuff (we're in London). We also visit my family every few weeks (DH's are abroad) and have weekends away. It's rare for us to stay in and just do nothing.

As wombat said, really...

'Basically, we do what we like when we like'

nice meals out
weekends away
lie-ins (we can be lazy af)
reading
ambling around town
visit galleries and such
hiking
creative stuff (i paint, he does leatherwork)
Things like that really

:D

oh, and sex! :)

I work, I volunteer for a homeless charity, and do bits for my church, eg music practice and technology as well as a Sunday morning.
Spend time with friends and their children, try and give them a break if we can.
Studying - various postgrad courses.
If I have real true spare time which is rare as once I get home from work I'm pretty much cooking, eating, tidying, bath and bed then I love sewing, painting, colouring, generally creating.

Wondering why I had kids now. That all sounds awesome! I would knit a lot, I think.