How often do you "do something fun" as a family on the weekends? (meal, teens)
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When I was a kid my family was very poor and my mom was somewhat of a hermit so the answer for me as a kid was almost never. I went outside and played or hung out in my room. No one had extra curricular activities.
So now I have a 8 and 9 year old, and we are comfortable financially. Their extra curricular is only after school and not on the weekends. They beg every single day off of school to "do something fun". It gets old.
Yesterday we went to their favorite sushi place, then the book store (and they each got a book). Today they are already starting in on me to "do something fun". I'm like...well you guys need hair cuts, and I have massive laundry to do. Not to mention they have some chores to do. They want to go to the museum of natural science or the childrens museum or the zoo. And of course eat out again.
Most of the kids these days around here have packed weekend schedules with soccer, birthday parties, piano, planned play dates. So going out to play is lonely. Still I am feeling like they are a bit spoiled and entitled in this demand we always "do something fun" when they have a day off.
So I am curious about how other families weekends are?
Like you, I never got to participate in any activities growing up. My parents were abusive drug addicts, and there was no such thing as fun. Now that I'm an adult, I don't have kids, but I have 2 dogs, and I always take them to "do something fun" every day. Always a ride in the car, to either the pet store, or the dog park, or just take them when I go do errands. I think it's kind of a way to make up for me not getting to do any activities, I live thru my dogs. Stupid I know.
Like you, I never got to participate in any activities growing up. My parents were abusive drug addicts, and there was no such thing as fun. Now that I'm an adult, I don't have kids, but I have 2 dogs, and I always take them to "do something fun" every day. Always a ride in the car, to either the pet store, or the dog park, or just take them when I go do errands. I think it's kind of a way to make up for me not getting to do any activities, I live thru my dogs. Stupid I know.
Not stupid at all. My parents were very abusive and unstable so fun was not really part of life. Before kids I spoiled my dogs rotten. And then I found I spoiled my kids a bit too much. Done alot of therapy but I know I started this "what are we going to do fun todaY" with my kids because for the first 5 or so years of my life I took them to do something fun every day.
But too bad a kid doesn't think a ride in the car or doing errands is all that much fun
We do 'something fun' like go for a day out or go out to eat once in a rare while to make it more special (plus there isn't much to do round here). Our normal weekends we go out for a walk or something each day (at the moment its a sledge ride each day because of the snow) and sometimes take her to visit my OH's grandma and play with his little sister. Sometimes we'll go to the swimming pool for a treat. In the summer we go swim in the lake most weekends and go for walks in the forest or go fishing.
My kids are grown now, but when they were in elementary school and had a day off we would do something fun nearly every day. The majority of the time it was simple stuff (that didn't cost any money) – going on the hiking trails near our home, playing at the park, riding bikes, going to the library, going to the beach, and even going to a pet store (they’d look at the fish and mice and I’d pick up something for our pets). Once in a while we’d go to the zoo or a museum. We rarely ate out unless it was a long day trip (and then kept the meal simple).
Many of our Saturdays are taken up by soccer games. In the summer we occasionally go camping. We only "do something fun" a handful of times/year. We both work, so we have to get stuff done on the weekends. I wish we had time to do more.
When I was a kid my family was very poor and my mom was somewhat of a hermit so the answer for me as a kid was almost never. I went outside and played or hung out in my room. No one had extra curricular activities.
So now I have a 8 and 9 year old, and we are comfortable financially. Their extra curricular is only after school and not on the weekends. They beg every single day off of school to "do something fun". It gets old.
Yesterday we went to their favorite sushi place, then the book store (and they each got a book). Today they are already starting in on me to "do something fun". I'm like...well you guys need hair cuts, and I have massive laundry to do. Not to mention they have some chores to do. They want to go to the museum of natural science or the childrens museum or the zoo. And of course eat out again.
Most of the kids these days around here have packed weekend schedules with soccer, birthday parties, piano, planned play dates. So going out to play is lonely. Still I am feeling like they are a bit spoiled and entitled in this demand we always "do something fun" when they have a day off.
So I am curious about how other families weekends are?
If all of their peers are doing some kind of extracurricular on weekends, why not consider signing them up as well?
It is not your job as a parent to entertain them every single day, at the expense of other obligations. They are old enough for you to sit them down and explain this. "Doing something fun" IS fun but other things need to get done as well. And they are old enough to entertain themselves most days. Aim for Doing Something Fun once a month or everyother weekend or something. In other words when you have time and resources.
"Not today" is a perfectly acceptable answer. Suggest books to read, boardgames to play, cleaning their room or bathrooms (that was always my go-to answer to the "I'm booooored" statement. They learn to find other things pretty quickly ).
Once the Doing Something Fun ceases to be an expectation, and instead becomes a special event, it is even more fun.
If all of their peers are doing some kind of extracurricular on weekends, why not consider signing them up as well?
It is not your job as a parent to entertain them every single day, at the expense of other obligations. They are old enough for you to sit them down and explain this. "Doing something fun" IS fun but other things need to get done as well. And they are old enough to entertain themselves most days. Aim for Doing Something Fun once a month or everyother weekend or something. In other words when you have time and resources.
"Not today" is a perfectly acceptable answer. Suggest books to read, boardgames to play, cleaning their room or bathrooms (that was always my go-to answer to the "I'm booooored" statement. They learn to find other things pretty quickly ).
Once the Doing Something Fun ceases to be an expectation, and instead becomes a special event, it is even more fun.
I agree. Yesterday the sushi and then the bookstore used to be plenty, and yesterday they complained it wasnt fun enough. They have toys, movies, games, bikes, etc. More then I had for sure.
We don't have them signed up for sports etc on the weekend because they chose extended day and classes at school (after school care) as their extra curricular. Money is gone, time is gone. Afterschool they do homework and then get to play outside for 90 minutes with their friends at school. They love that. and Once a week they do a class for 45 minutes in that time (soccer, karate, etc). And thats that. Because I pick them up so late, we wouldn't even have time for anything else, really.
That and we have had bad experiences with soccer moms and baseball dads...it just isn't us.
It is not your job as a parent to entertain them every single day, at the expense of other obligations. They are old enough for you to sit them down and explain this. "Doing something fun" IS fun but other things need to get done as well. And they are old enough to entertain themselves most days. Aim for Doing Something Fun once a month or everyother weekend or something. In other words when you have time and resources.
Yep.
I would at the very least curb the eating out as the fun activity. That can get quite pricey. Perhaps their 'fun' can be helping to make meals at home on the weekend. My kids LOVED - and still love - to cook.
My parents never did anything fun just for us. Sometimes we'd go to restaurants or a movie, but usually as a "tag along" to something they wanted to do.
With my kids, Sundays used to be "Fun Days." We would aim to go places--festivals, museums, playgrounds. It didn't have to be expensive or fancy. Now that the kids are pre-teens/teens, they complain more, so we don't always go. But just last week we went to the Children's Museum and saw an Imax movie.
I do think it is important to spend time doing things together as a family, even if it's just playing a board game, or going out to eat. I feel like it builds stronger family bonds. We also travel together often, it's fun to discover new things together as a family.
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