How often do you plan "fun" things?

MrsC17 · May 2012

Lately around here it's been a lot of business- lots of cleaning, planning, etc (we have contractors here every day and since apparently they aren't on a set schedule I need to stay close to home). Of course, when DD goes to play with Grandma/SIL it's 100% fun- so much so that's she's actually starting to BEG to stay with them and doesn't want to come home with me (I knew this would happen someday, just didn't expect it so soon...ouch!). When she's with them it's literally non-stop entertainment (SIL still lives with MIL/FIL so she has 3 people paying attention to her at all times)- they go to the library for special events, go to the mall and go on the rides and eat out, go to the playground, play in their backyard (MIL has made it a toddler wonderland- slide, baby pool, bubbles, toys, etc)- so I can't blame her.

I realize we haven't had a ton of fun in the last couple of weeks and I feel super guilty. However, I also don't want to start planning fun outings every single day because I'm afraid she'll grow to expect to be entertained every day (I don't mean in a "let's read together" or play with playdough kind of way). How often do you do fun, kid things out of the house?

The_Jen626 · May 2012

Very often, at least 2x every week. We have memberships at the Zoo, Children's Museum, the "play places", etc, so it's an easy outing for us. I'm not the sit-at-home type at all.

JaysonandKristin · May 2012

If by "out of the house" you mean in the front yard, back yard or local park, then at least 2 times per week. The other 3 days per week, we go for a 4 mile walk for me to get exercise in.

In the house, we may do something as simple as making cookies, making their lunch from scratch, building a fort or pitching a tent in the livingroom in the afternoon to sleep in at night, etc.

sophie206 · May 2012

Almost every day we go out and do something for DD - although often just for a few hours --play date, park, beach, story time, toddler gym, lunch w/ Grandma, and next year we'll add preschool and swimming lessons. (If you count those kind of things). I like to have at least 1 day per week to just stay home and catch up on things at home. (Today is one of them.) Then the rest of the day we are playing at home--inside or outside or maybe running some of my errands, which DD usually enjoys, too.

As for liking to be with your ILs, my DD asks to go to Grandma's all the time, so I know how you feel!

juliane2004 · May 2012

Since I stopped working again 6 weeks ago, very little. Like maybe once every 2 weeks, and usually that's just an outing to the doc's office. I am trying to relax at home. Being pregnant and having 2 young kids, it takes a lot of work to get them up and out.

eaglesfan700 · May 2012

Weather permitting, we are outside every day. This winter was super mild so we were outside a ton.

We go to the gym every day, and they have lots of fun at the child care there. Even on days when we run errands, we get some outside time before or after naps. Thursdays we always go visit my parents, which they love. Once a week we do some kind of outing - museum, zoo, aquarium, playdate.

I am not a great housekeeper, so I am totally content to let that stuff slide to do kid stuff. Plus they usually nap from 2-4:30, so I have that time to do stuff around here if I feel like it. We are lucky because our block has tons of kids, so there are always other kids out and playing

Mrs.V · May 2012

I'm not a SAHM, but I am with the kids for the weekend and Tuesdays (I work at night to have an extra day at home) and DH has the kids on Mondays and we have a nanny for Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays. So, the kids are at home with someone every day and we all plan to do a fun activity each day. We all like to get out of the house with the two boys. We normally do playgroups, library puppet shows or song time, etc., museums (memberships at 2 local ones for kids), swimming, indoor playground, restaurants very regularly, and lots of trips to playgrounds, etc. The normal schedule would be out of house activity for the mornings, then lunch, naps, and time at home in afternoon/evening.

kcisthebombdotcom · May 2012

Literally every single day.

My son has sensory processing disorder and if we stay home all day he turns into a nightmare by the end of the day.

Even if it's just getting out to the playground for 45 minutes, it helps with his behavior immensely.

lexilou27 · May 2012

Do you mean something as simple as playing outside as fun? Every single day. I try to change it up for my kids by doing playdate, story times, open gym etc. those we do 4 days per week. We have many planned playdates ( park, zoo, jump

Place, picnic) and try to do that once a week. We also have many impromptu playmates with neighborhood kids. Those happen several times a week depending on the weather. Bubbles, slides, chalk etc. things like that are every day type of things that come out. As for eating out- we usually do 1-2 lunches out and maybe 1 dinner.

Stacyc625 · May 2012

At least 4 days of the week we are out- museums, story time, zoos, lunch with friends, playdates, playgrounds etc. I usually keep the 'outing' to a morning OR afternoon experience.

I really try to have at least one 'down' day in the house- and just playing outside etc. We have a LOT of kids in our area- so someone is always outside playing.

MomLovesWine · May 2012

Both DS and I go nuts if we're home all day, so we're out of the house every day. Normally it's just the park to meet up with our moms club. But I'd say about twice a week we hit the zoo, childrens museum, botanical garden, theme park, etc. We have tons of memberships so we make good use of them!

MrsC17 · May 2012

lexilou27:
Do you mean something as simple as playing outside as fun? Every single day. I try to change it up for my kids by doing playdate, story times, open gym etc. those we do 4 days per week. We have many planned playdates ( park, zoo, jump
Place, picnic) and try to do that once a week. We also have many impromptu playmates with neighborhood kids. Those happen several times a week depending on the weather. Bubbles, slides, chalk etc. things like that are every day type of things that come out. As for eating out- we usually do 1-2 lunches out and maybe 1 dinner.

No- because we do that almost every day too (we don't have a true yard but we have a playhouse out back and some outside toys)- I more mean like going out of the way- zoo, boardwalk, museums, etc. She has preschool 2 days a week (which, for now, is super fun for her), and we do baby gym one day- then we usually go down to my mom's one day and do something fun down there (park/toddler amusement park), and then we usually get together with MIL/SIL one day and do a local park/playground. It's just getting hard to come up with anything new (until summer hits, then we have the pool club/beach/boardwalk/spraygrounds).

MrsC17 · May 2012

cjcouple:
Why does it have to be so extreme? you dont have to do something everyday but you can try to do some fun things.

I guess this is how I'm starting to feel. I feel like we do things SO often that she's maybe becoming a little spoiled by it (I don't think this would be the case for everyone, I'm referring specifically to my DD). I didn't realize it until we had to cut back the last 2-3 week (she had a cold last week, too- so she missed a day of school and stayed home for 2 days in a row...that was fun...not) and she spent a few days with MIL/SIL and now she's throwing tantrums that she wants to be with them because they did the fun things the last couple of weeks (that I haven't been able to get to). It's nearly impossible to keep her home even a day anymore. It's not like when we are home that she doesn't have toys to play with, books to read, activities (paint, playdough, crayons/markers/stickers), etc. I might just be reading too much into it (like I said, when she's with my IL's she has the attention of 3 people on her at once giving her everything she wants on demand- if I could do that instead of watching mom cook dinner or vacuum, I'd probably want to go there, too LOL).

12bailey18 · May 2012

We get out of the house at least 3x per week for activities centered around my toddler. I cannot stay in or I'll go crazy. We go to storytime, the parks, and the play place at the mall. Our church has exercise classes for moms and offers free childcare. My DS loves it there so it's really my main reason I go...LOL. If something fun is going on in town (Sesame Street Live or festivals for example) we try and do that on the weekends.

babypuplove · May 2012

My oldest has preschool two mornings per week, and we usually have fun plans two of the other mornings, including one of our local zoos, a museum, special park, etc. We usually have one day a week where we just go with the flow all day long, but it almost always includes a walk to the playground or something out in the neighborhood. Like Stacy, if we have big plans in the morning, we hang around the house/yard in the afternoon, etc. I don't like to load too many things into one day.

hayleydeee · May 2012

As far as planned fun activities, not too often. Maybe once every couple of weeks?

But DD is in preschool 2 mornings a week and a little computer class once a week. She also gets a lot of time to play with Grandma at least 2 days a week. I feel like my day is very task oriented right now. Hopefully it's just a season of life!

Luckily DD is great at playing independently and has a wonderful imagination.

cjsbdl · May 2012

Once a week at most. We just don't do a lot of running around in general, though...I do most of my errand running on the weekends by myself. We play outside a lot and do storytime at the local library a couple times a month, the zoo about once a month, then there are special occasion things like pumpkin patch in the Fall, etc. But we are around the house a lot...I've never really felt my kids need to entertained constantly and I don't mind being at home...there is always a lot of housework to do and they both still nap a lot.

They play together, or we go for walks or play outside, etc. Maybe this will change as they get older, but right now we are content to be at home...I'm enjoying this time home with them before things get crazy with school and extracurricular activities. My son goes to MDO on T/Th for five hours and my daughter starts in June.

eta: my son is 2.5 and my daughter is 14 months, so they are still pretty young...if we were doing lots of activities now it would certainly be more for my benefit than theirs, and I just don't desire to run around a lot.

janbrady · May 2012

We at least go to a park or something everyday. DD is very social. When she was an infant we didn't, but she definitely needs the social/physical stimulation. They say they need an hour of exercise a day.

We have classes twice a week (three next month when we start swimming 2x a week). I also try to do a bigger outing at least once a week (library, lunch with friends, playdates, zoo/Disneyland, etc).

I guess she expects it, but I enjoy it and have the time for it so why not?

StephNJer · May 2012

We go to the park at least twice a week, and play in the backyard or frontyard usually the other days. It's very seldom that we stay in the house all day long. We also do playdates at friend's houses, the library for story time or just to pick out books, the play area in the mall, etc.

Temp174496125006552 · May 2012

Usually four days a week. I run a moms group and we have 2-3 activities planned per week (playground, zoo, children's museum, indoor play area, etc.). We also have a standing weekly playgroup with the same mom and kids. We also have the occasional playgroup with a fellow SAHM and her child(ren). I would go crazy if we stayed in the house every day.

vanessaNOV2 · May 2012

Id say 1 big adventure per week like zoo or childrens museum. I do get everyone outside at least once a day, rain or shine. Just blowing bubbles under cover patio for 15 min really helps the day pass. Also I get my mom to visit one evening to play with kiddos.

Andrewsgal · May 2012

Anywhere from 4 to 7 days a week. E has pre-k fives days a week, and j has preschool 3 days a week, so a lot of what we do is in the afternoons after school. The kids are at such a fun easy age, we love to go and do. We have always been an on the go family, yet both my kids can entertain themselves and each other for hours.

celiabwatson · May 2012

Literally every day, sometimes twice/day. My son is super high energy and pretty social. He sleeps MUCH better if we go out during the day, and if we go out in the morning he naps better, afternoon he goes to bed easier. I try to plan at least one outing each day where we're meeting up with people. Otherwise we go to the playground in the neighborhood and he just plays with whoever is there. This boy can play at the playground for 3-4 hours at a time, but at home he needs redirection every 5 minutes it seems like. I don't feel like I'm spoiling him or entertaining him or anything. I'm just providing the kind of environment in which he does best.

trizzie · May 2012

Every morning we do something. Park, museum, zoo, etc. In the afternoons we go to the gym (after naps).

AOBtahoe · May 2012

We try to get out of the house almost every day- Gymboree, Toddler Time at the library, or at least go to the park. Sometimes the excursion is more for me to get out of the house than for DD.