What does your child do when you guys get home?

gypsywitch

DD is 2 1/2 and in daycare 9 hrs a day. We get home around 5pm, DD and I usually veg on the couch watching her fav cartoon and DH makes dinner. She tells me stories about her day ( yesterday they learned the 3 little pigs and she told me how the wolf tuffed and tuffed and blowed the house in..LOL) DH and I talk while he cooks and DD just likes to lay on the couch watching TV....at times I feel like she shouldn't watch so much TV and we should DO things with her like puzzles color etc....but then I think " she's been at dayare for 9hrs coloring and doing puzzles shes probably sick of it" And when we offer she doesn't want to do those things, she just wants to snuggle us. And I guess shes not watching that much TV...an hour a night so I suppose I'm not a failure LOL. SO we have dinner, and shortly after dinner its bath and bedtime. what your childs nightly activities/your family routine?

14years

We usually get home between 6 and 6:30.  DS's dinner is at 6:30, so we don't have much time, but we'll usually read books and just "talk."  Then dinner, bath, and bed at 7:30.  Not much time, but we may up for it on the weekends!

bmx4

My DS is 13 months so lately when we get home from work/daycare he wants us to hold him (or hold his hands as he "walks" around the house). We play in the playroom with his toys and my DH and I take turns playing with DS/cooking dinner. We try to get him to sit at the table and eat with us, but he doesn't like to nap at daycare so 6/7pm is not a good time to get him to do anything - LOL. Then we do story time and bedtime (not bathtime every night cause DS has eczema).  He really isn't into TV yet but there is a TV in the playroom and if DH is watching DS then he'll have some sports shows on and DS doesn't really seem to notice.

I often get home much later than DH/DS so sometimes I don't even get to put DS to bed, which makes me feel awful, but I work at a company that has done some downsizing/rightsizing (hate that phrase) and so I do what I need to in order to remain valuable to them (and pay our mortgage...).

Maybride2

DS is just over 2, and he's in daycare around 10 hours a day.  We get home closer to 6 pm, and he wants dinner immediately.  So he usually snacks on some Goldfish crackers while DH and I put a quick dinner together and we all eat.

We usually spend the rest of the evening playing - he likes playing with his blocks and being chased around the room.  We usually read a few books, and if I'm in a good mood we "wrestle" (I'm more or less a moving jungle gym for him).  If he is (or DH and I are) really tired we watch cartoons instead of playing, and if he's really wound up we watch a little bit of TV before bed just to help him wind down. 

At around 8 he gets a bath, and then we get pajamas on and brush our teeth.  He's usually in bed between 8:30 - 8:45.

I wouldn't beat yourself up over that much TV time.  It's not that much, and she probably wants/needs the downtime.

MegGary

DD is almost 19 months. DH picks her up from daycare & starts dinner. While he cooking she has a snack in her booster seat. Than I come home & take her & we talk & play till dinner is ready. The TV is on but we aren't really watching it.

MrsT1209

DH usually gives her a bath while I make dinner.  Then we eat dinner and play down in the playroom afterward until 7pm.  At 7pm, we pick out 4 books and take them up to her room to read before bed.  She's in bed by 7:30pm.

The routine varies a bit when she has a cold and needs her nebulizer treatments and then she does her nebby while watching a tv show instead of the bath or playing. 

notmommyoftheyear

DD is only 3.5 months so our nighttime routine includes a small bottle shortly after I get home, a few snuggles and on a good night, giggles.  A bath.  Sometimes a nap (for her, not me!) another bottle and bed.  I get home around 5:30 or 6:00 and she's in bed by 8.  It goes way too fast. 

Mini_Mariah

I was just saying to DH yesterday that I feel like we're not making the best of the time between getting home and dinner.  In the summer we'll always go for walks.

DD usually gets home around 5:30.  We either play in her play area or watch TV if she's tired/fussy.  Lately she's been very fussy when we get home.  Sometimes she is hungry so I make her dinner right away, otherwise between 6 - 6:30 she eats.  I usually start our dinner around 6:30 and we sit down to eat at 7pm.  Lately DH has been shutting himself in our office and working more in the evenings (mostly on our small business - we have some new stuff going on and he's trying to make a case for our partner to buy us out because it's more work than it's worth at this point) and doesn't come out till dinner is ready, which is annoying for me because I have to keep DD entertained and make dinner.  She'll keep running to the french doors and knocking and asking for "daddy" which interrupts his work too.  Seeing how involved the other DHs are makes me wish my DH was more involved.  Hopefully work will slow down soon for him!

qw23fv09ij87tf23

We get home around 4:30. I play with them until around 5. Then it is feeding time for them. They play with eachother and sometimes DH if he is home while I ccok dinner for myself and DH. Every other day is bath night so that plays in before they go to bed around 7. I do not get to sit and relax until it is bed time for them.

mauceddie

I pick the girls up at 4:30, and we get home just before 5:00. The girls usually help me make supper, we eat at 6:00, then either we play for a bit or have a bath & then a short TV show, with books started no later than 7:30.

They're in daycare for about 8 hours a day.

abpdjs

Carson typically goes straight to his toys and brings them into the kitchen while i make dinner and then we eat, bath, play/tv time, then potty brush teeth, book and bed.

BlairWaldorf

We usually hold him while we cook dinner.

Or he sat in his swing last night & watched me work out.

Or he'll sit in his bouncer if we're both occupied.

shouldbworkin

When I come in they attack me at the door.  I ask them about their days and get dinner started while we talk.  sometimes they help me in the kitchen, other times they will sit at the table and get a head start on dinner b/c they're hungry.  They are usually not much interested in TV when I get home, but sometimes after dinner we sit on the couch and cuddle in front of the TV.  I don't feel like every moment of our day needs to be filled with something important.  And, they are usually content to cuddle.  other days we go upstairs and read books before bed and they like that just as much.  They just want to be with us.  KWIM?

jlw2505

On most nights, we get home at around 5pm.  I with the girls and DH gets there at around the same time.  One of us makes dinner (typically all prepped so its just getting it in the oven or microwave and getting the table and sides out). Depending on moods of the girls, they will play by themselves in the next room when DH and I are in the kitchen, they sometimes want to help us and sometimes, they really just want to be with us either playing or snuggling.  It all depends on moods.

We only watch TV and mainly only Dora on the weekends although DH and my older DD sometimes watch one Dora on the night that I have a class with my younger DD.  Its there special time together on the couch although we are trying to move away from that.  

After dinner, we play, do baths on bath night.  SOmetimes we have flashlight time which the girls love, we do dance parties, all depends on girls moods.  Of course, we read books and do all the normal night time stuff like teeth brushing.  We just try and make it quality time regardless of what we are doing. 

Wubster042109

DD is 9 months old.

We get home around 5 pm.  Her & I have playtime from 5-5:30, at which point I feed her dinner.  We finish up around 6 and I put her in her PJ's.  I read to her/cuddle with her/sing songs to her until DH arrives home at 6:30.  He has some quality play time w/ her while I get going on dinner.  She goes to sleep around 7 pm.  And that's when DH & I sit down for dinner together.

DD hasn't yet seen any cartoons on tv. 

molldoll71

We get home a little before 5 usually.  We go in the living room and usually he wants to watch something so we watch a show and play.  Sometimes we just play and sometimes he's just exhausted and just wants to sit on my lap and listen to a CD.  MH gets home about 5:30 and then we usually all play for a bit or I go start dinner.  I think a little TV to transition between daycare and home is fine.  I know sometimes Billy is a bear and just obnoxious by the end of the day and just needs to decompress.