how often do you go on a kids related field trip?
star1123
member
This girl at work (who is kinda crazy - one of THOSE moms who likes to be over the top about everything) was telling us that she takes her kids somewhere kid related every day of the weekend, or every single day on a vacation! Is that not crazy, or is it just me? She plans this out thoroughly too - like if she goes to the zoo on a Saturday for her "kid trip" she spends the whole week constructing these animal related activities. It's ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, I would love to be that "perfect" of a mom, but I just sadly don't have the time.
But it did get me thinking - and just was curious - how often do you do a "kid trip" as this girl calls them. I think we take Aiden somewhere for him about twice a month on average. During the summer months, we definitely do walks and/or playground trips almost daily.
I just don't have the energy lately, probably winter tiredness I guess, and the fact we are limited to activities. But also, Aiden sometimes seems happier when we are at home playing. He LOVES play doh lately so we spend a lot of time doing that at home. And while I love taking him to places, sometimes it's more trouble than it's worth. Am I alone in this?
Re: how often do you go on a kids related field trip?
I would say we do something every weekend during the summer and during the winter it depends on the weather. That being said we live in a town with a beach, great playground, library with all ages story time and are a 20 minutes drive from a great children's museum and more, so basically it is really convenient for us to do something with her on a Saturday or Sunday morning.
I do not however spend a week planning a lesson based on our weekend activities, kudos to your co-worker, I just do not have the time or energy.
It is a mix. We have memberships to our local children's museum (largest in the world) and zoo. I usually take him to one of the two places every week to every other week. I don't tie in a week's worth of activities into where we are going. My wife tends to be the more stay at home/run errands one, but she'll take him to the park when the weather is nice (though last time he gave her a heart attack climbing to the top of the tallest playground set) and has taken him recently (probably to enjoy those last one on one moments before Anderson came) out to the zoo or museum on the weekend on those weeks we didn't go.
The one real vacation we took Jeffrey on, we went somewhere every day, but we were in a new area for him and wanted him to experience the toddler friendly things in the DC and Philly areas because it would likely be at minimum 3 years before he went back again.
In the summer, I try to get them away from the house three times a week, so we have memberships to the zoo, museum, local theme park, and pool for this year. With DS1's supplemental homeschooling last summer, we were doing one "educational field trip" each week so I hope to do that again this year. However, that's mostly for my 6 year old. With the homeschooling, I would have prepared themes and lesson plan activities for the trips but otherwise we just go and do whatever they want.
Our Family Blog Weightloss Blog
In the spring/summer/fall we go to the playground, beach, pool, splashpad, or farm every weekend. I plan trips to museums, the aquarium, or zoo more carefully and try to go when they are doing a free day or when I can get passes from the library.
In the winter it's cold and there's nothing to do that doesn't cost money except the play area at the mall, so we go there as often as I can, but I'm really busy during the week with work and there always seems to be errands to run or family obligations to do on the weekend so we don't get to go as often as I'd like.
I really can't wait till spring when we can play outside.
Since I am a SAHM- I take the boys on activities 2-3 times a week- and we do things with Dad every weekend. We have a standing playdate every week, and then we do other fun things- bounce houses, zoos, children museum, parks- we are going sleding in a few minutes, forest preserves etc... there is a ton to do around here and we take advantage of it. We have memberships to the large zoo and children's museum- there is a small farm zoo that is free for them and cheap for me- we go there a lot to feed the ducks. We also visit my parents-they raise horses and chickens- my sister's husband's family raise cows and crops- so the boys love to go to their farms.
I don't write lesson plans- please I think at this stage of development they need to learn thru play- plus there is a LARGE difference between learning and just parroting back.
This is very much us too. When we go to the zoo though, we just go to the zoo! Unlike your co-worker, I figure the zoo's already done all of that hard research for me right? Lol, and I thought I had mommy-guilt!
I basically work full time (i have one PT job but between my commuting time and getting ready it's 35 hours a week), so there's really not much we can do during the work week except our M/W swim lessons in the evening.
On the weekends, I would say we do something "kid"related every other weekend. Last weekend it was the City Musem. This weekend we just did our regular errands. We have zoo memberships and go several times a year. During the summer we are at the playgrounds a LOT.
She gets "lesson plans" at daycare (very loose - this week it was the letter "R") and she also goes to Sunday school for an hour during church, so I guess that's also stuff that helps, but I am really more about having her just be a kid right now.
Honestly when we do kid related stuff it's more because I know we can kill time and have fun too rather than trying to be like "that mom".
Wow, your coworker sounds extremely motivated! I am a SAHM, so I probably do more "kid-related" activities than a working mom simply because I need ways to fill the time. I try to make one plan for each day. However, many times that plan is a) go to the gym and put him in the daycare for an hour, b) go to the park, or c) have a playdate with a friend.
We live in a year-round warm climate though so we can hit up the playground at least a few times a week. As far as bigger trips, like the museum, zoo, etc. that's more like once a month. The aquarium is very close to us, and Disneyland is about half an hour, so we've done that a few times.
We also go to the park almost daily in the spring/summer/fall, but not so many kid-related trips on other days. We go to the Farmers' Market and a favorite bakery for a treat almost every Saturday, but that's as much for mama as kiddo! (In fact, it would be *way* easier, but lots less fun, without Mr. Squirmy, run-away while mama pays for veggies.)
The library, or more planned-out adventures, like a museum or hike, are more an every-other-weekend to monthly things, and while we might talk a little bit before & after about them, there's certainly no curriculum!
For a working mom, the weekend is both the time to reconnect as a family and also to do errands & get everything together around the house, and LO seems as happy playing and helping around here, too.
Whoa! A lot of great moms here (and dads)
I take J out for a all day/weekend fun-trip once every two weeks/month.. It all depends on money, if we have projects at school etc. But I try to take him either to the playground, the mall or other things once per weekend.
OFC I wish we had more energy to go out more.
This may come across as super-flameful, but I see DS as one important part of our family and our family-life. Our life does not revolve around him exclusively.
So we plan our weekend activities around the have-tos we need to do as a family and when we have free time we decide what activities will be fun for all of us (including DH and I, DS, and sometimes our dogs or our other family/friends). That means we do plenty of cool stuff like Disney World, outdoor festivals, picnics in the park, etc., but that's because those things are fun for all, not because it's part of a lesson plan or because it's something DS is demanding to do. When DS gets old enough to express his preferences, we'll acknowledge them, but he's just one member of the family, not the boss.
On the other hand, we do try to do some kind of outdoors exercise (usually walking) daily to help DS burn off energy, but that is mostly for our own sanity and well-being.
Well, we go to music class and mygym once a week, so there's that. But otherwise, specific kid related field trip? Rarely during the winter. Only huge play areas are open, and those tend to be overrun with 3 and 4 year olds and I don' tthink A can hold his own yet.
But honestly, he is happy going to Barnes and Noble and playing with the legos there, or the mall and eating a new food, or the "cheap zoo" aka the petstore. I try to just do things like that for him every few days or set up play dates. You don't have to go to crazy places for these kids...they are two. Everything fascinates them.
We are going to go to Liberty Science center next month, to see Thomas the Train this summer and probably the zoo a bunch of times when it gets warmer. But honestly, big trips like that are expensive and I am certainly not planning curriculum around them haha!