Moving to small town

pinkpigeon

Due to a great job offer in a small town 5 hours away from where we live now, my family (DH & DD) and I will be relocating at the beginning of the year.  Luckily we have family (in-laws) in the town, so we plan on moving in with them for a few months, while we get settled and look for homes, etc.  DD will be 30 months when we move, and is FULL of energy.  It's hard to keep her occupied as it is.  

My in-laws home is small, with little privacy and a rural farm-life environment (thin walls, 1 TV, no internet, chickens, no dishwasher, etc).  None of these things are negative, but they are different.  Our lifestyle will definitely change while we are there, and we plan on helping out as much as possible (wash dishes, feed chickens, care for animals, etc).  But I am needing some ideas of how we can keep our LO occupied.  I thought about getting a family membership for the local children's museum that we can visit on the weekends, as well as sign her up for a daycare almost immediately (she has been at home babysat these 2 yrs).  Look for churches and things she can get involved in.  

Does anyone else live in a small town?  What do you do for fun?  Has anyone moved from a large city to a small town?  I am fearing the growing pains of the move, but excited about the career and financial freedom that we're headed for.  I just don't want to be selfish with the move.  I want my daughter to enjoy and thrive in the new town, and I want this change to be the best for all of us.

TIA!

barnwife

You make it sound like small town living is awful. 

FWIW, we live in the country. We have about 20 chickens. We have 3 LOs (3 yo, 20 mo, and 3 mo), We love living where we do. 

As for how we keep occupied...it depends on the day and season. If it's nice, our kids are outside most of the day. We always try to attend our library storytime once a week. We don't have any other organized activities currently. (I am not driving an hour to the "big city" for that.) And our small town doesn't have anything else. Well, during the summer we go to the pool. 

So what else do we do?
We read, do puzzles, play with play-doh, legos, blocks, dress-up stuff, color, bake, etc...A lot of that probably sounds familiar.  We don't watch TV (don't have one, by choice). 

Bonnesetter27

Are you worried about being trapped inside with your in-laws? I was born and raised on a farm and there wasn't a whole lot of down time, so if it is a working farm I doubt you will be trapped inside all day with them. I would definitely be sure you get out everyday (by that I mean play outside). But other than that what do you do all day now? I don't really do all that much that I couldn't do in a small town (library, grocery shop, play etc). Also I am sure your inlaws will love to spend more time with your lo, so let them watch her sometimes.

jlpev

I have always lived in a small town/farming & ranching communities. I did live in a city for a couple of yrs during college.
I sah so we do playdates with other sahm moms & kids. We also get outside & my almost 3 yr feeds our dogs & horses. He loves it!

Zimger

It is an adjustment. My DH and I grew up in a small town but then moved to different cities after we graduated high school. I love the city and the adjustment back to a small town has been difficult for me but DS has been fine.

We do some of the things we used to do like go to the library and play outside. He has the added benefit of a bigger yard where we live now, so we spend quite a bit of time exploring the outdoors.

Some things like childrens museums and organized activities are father away but we still go. Just not as often.

This year we did a few things that we probably would have had to go out of our way to do in the city. For example we visited a huge pumpkin patch. DS had a blast.

ETA: We have been doing more crafts as well.