Typical weekend with small children
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Anonymous
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2yo and 5yo. SAHM and WAHD.
Typical weekend includes a lot of unstructured time/free play for the kids while parents catch up on chores, exercise, or just relax. DH usually takes the kids to the playground or beach at least once. Older child and I do a scheduled activity of some kind, such as a hike or a kid event. Oldest also has swim lessons. Once or twice a month we do something outside the house as a family. |
Anonymous
| I work part of the weekend, and my husband takes care of our two and 6-year-old sons. Saturday, they go to the YMCA. Our 6-year-old goes to a language school for five hours on Saturday during the school year. Saturday evening, there's usually a family night at our local mosque. Sunday morning, we go to the gym or trampoline park. Sunday afternoon, I take my older child swimming, and my husband naps with the toddler. Sunday evening I go to work. They stay in or play outside at a local playground a stone's throw away. |
Anonymous
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5,3 and 1. We eat breakfast together and then we get ready to go outside. My goal is to keep the kids outside all day for at least one full weekend day. We go exploring, wash cars, pick weeds, spread mulch, run in the sprinklers, walk to playgrounds, ride bikes and scooters. I make them eat on the front porch (they’re too dirty to come in). It’s fun and they like it. The other day we usually run errands or do things around the house.
It’s exhausting. I wish I could hire a babysitter for like 2 hours in the middle of the day. With the 5 year old I can almost see the future. She entertains herself more. |
Anonymous
Thank you for this post. I have a 4.5yo and a 6mo. Even though they require so much of our time, it’s nice to be so beloved by them, and to have so much unstructured time with them. I’m sure we will miss it once they’re older! |
Anonymous
This was us too. I had friends constantly leaving the house and doing activities but that wasn’t our thing. We would occasionally see family or go to a playground or something but mostly we stayed home and everyone was fine with it. |
Anonymous
| OP here, Thanks everyone for responses. We have a 2 yo and 5 yo and I feel like we spend so much time at home on the weekends and we know people who have kids similarly aged and their weekends are packed with activities and social events and I thought maybe we were the outlier and should be doing more. We enjoy being homebodies and doing simple things like park time, beach time and bike rides when the weather is nice (we live in Chicago burbs so it’s not nice out yet) or just playing at home and cooking with the kids or watching movies and playing games. Sounds like lots of other families with littles have similar schedules. |
Anonymous
| We’re mostly home. |
Anonymous
| We do a mix. There are weekends where we just have a ton to do like activities, local events (neighborhood Easter egg hunt, local shows,), birthday parties, playdates, dinners with friends, etc. Then we'll have a weekend with nothing and at most we'll go to a fun playground and maybe out to dinner or have a family movie night. I'm very social so if we have too many weekends with nothing planned I'll start coordinating dinner parties or date nights or playdates with other families. |
Anonymous
| A PP here. Also forgot to add that my kids were marathon nappers and did quiet time in their room when they were too old to nap, so even if we did go somewhere, I definitely wanted to be home for lunch/nap and a few hours of quiet and rest. Everyone was happier that way. |
Anonymous
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Kids are 2, 5 and 7
We have soccer alll day on Saturday (and that is only when 2 kids are playing. I can’t fathom when all 3 are playing!). Sunday we try and hang out and have family breakfast and then get to the park for a little before youngest naps from 1-3. Then biking in the neighborhood or playing with neighbors or play dates. I always try to get the kids outside or do something once a day on the weekends. I hate being stuck at home. |
Anonymous
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4yo and 1.5yo daughters here. We rarely do major activities- museums, zoo, day trips, etc but lots of local easy going things.
DH wakes up with the kids both sat and sun and they cook breakfast. He works a lot during the week and this is chosen special time with them. He actually gets grumpy if I come out of the bedroom before 8am. I usually lay in bed, read, and listen to their giggles. When breakfast is ready, they make a big deal about coming to "wake me up" and we all usually end up dog piling around our big bed for a bit. My 18mo lives for this. Then we all eat breakfast. After breakfast we usually do one of the following: -Farmers market -We have several coffee shops that we know are walking distance to playgrounds and DH and I get coffee and we head to the park -Library -Forest preserve for a walk/hike Then always home for nap. Older DD has to either watch a movie or read books in her bed or can choose a quiet activity like her craft bin. Saturday nap time I'm free to leave the house and do whatever. I usually work out or run an errand. Sundays DH is free to leave during nap. He almost always goes for a run. Sometimes to the driving range. After nap we typically visit some combo of our parents (all live within 15 mins of us) or friends. If friends, we usually just hang in someone's yard and have a casual potluck or order food while the kids play. Our best friends live across the street and we have kids the same age so we do a lot with them. 7pm bedtimes almost religiously. Dh and I either watch a movie, sit in our yard with the fire pit, have a glass of wine in the sunroom, or play cards/games. Sometimes one of us goes out goes out with friends. Sometimes we split households with our neighbors- moms hang at one house and have a glass of wine, dads hang at the other and play video games or have beers while pretending to fix something. We spend a lot of weeknight evenings running errand and catching up on work because we really want to make the most of our weekends before the kids are in activities and such. |
Anonymous
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7:15: DD comes into our bed for snuggle/read books
8:00: breakfast 8:30-10:30: DD plays, DH and I take turns working out, showering, and starting chores 11:00-12:30: DD goes to ballet with DH, I get groceries and do errands 12:30: lunch 1:00-3:00: DD naps, DH naps, I do chores (I hate naps) 3:00-6:30: go to playground/zoo/some activity 6:30: kid dinner 7:00: bath and bed 7:30: we get takeout and catch up on shows Sunday: Exactly the same as above but swap swim for a ballet and we do a nice Sunday dinner together. |
Anonymous
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Adults wake up by 6:30 to spend time together before kid gets up.
Kid gets up around 7:30 (8:30 if we're lucky). One day, DH golfs, other day I do my hobby (fitness related). While the other parent is solo with kid, we do a fun activity (with an easy exit strategy) like go to the waterfront, go to a farmers market, etc. At least one of the days we do something together as a family like go to a brewery or restaurant or on a hike. More than that, if weather is good. Every other week or so we have a babysitter for 3-4 hours on a weekend day for date fun. Every other month we have a weekend away just the two of us (sponsored by Grandma and Grandpa!) |
Anonymous
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These are all variations of:
- breakfast - activity -lunch -nap -activity -dinner Y’all might have added some cute details about cooking breakfast together or strolling to a coffee shop and then a playground, but basically that’s the formula. |
Anonymous
Yep. 1yo and 4yo. Usually do a morning outing (hike, county park, etc) one morning and a playdate for 4yo (preschool friends) the other morning. Sometimes lunch outside for a change. Afternoon is usually close to home, neighborhood walk or playground. 4yo hl"helps" cook dinner, then eat and early bedtime. |