first week, only 5 to go

elaine373

By looking at some of these posts, I am wondering who exactly are the children! Please ladies, do be kind to one another.
I am both a mother and grandmother. My youngest is 10 and my eldest grandson is 9. I find the summer holidays difficult partly through being an older mum (less energy), youngest being extremely hyperactive and also due to lack of money.I also don't mind admitting that the thought of having to occupy my very hyperactive son for so many weeks, very daunting at times.I also feel I fall short of what time I would like to contribute to my grandchildren , but I do what I can within my capabilities. I am 49 and my eldest son is 30, so have been doing this malarkey for some years. Depending on the child, the temperament of the mother, and the weather, the summer holidays can vary greatly. Hope you all have a good one, we will all get through it in our own way but it would be nice if we could support each other as we do it.

claire16c

raq wrote: »

Hi there

We don,t use a tumble dryer as it tends too discolour some of the clothes. We got a big old fashioned washing line, which is great. On sunday some of the uniform didn,t need ironing so I patted them as flat as I could and put them in the kids bottom draw ready for next year. That was a a good few items out of the way.

My little one is just down in the garden, I am gonna call him up , get ready and as mentioned going to the park for a bit.

Somebody else mentioned about their child hood and I must admit mine was a pretty good one. I am going back to the early 70,s when you could go out at 9 am and back at 4 pm for your tea and be SAFE. Fabulous days and in life that is all I wish for with my 3 children, enjoy being with them and being safe.

Maybe your tumble dryer has something wrong with it? How can it discolour clothes? It would definitely help with your ironing if you could shove as much in there as possible.

I remember in the summer holidays I used to spend maybe a week out of the 6 at my grandparents or at my Grandads.

The other 5 weeks, my mum didnt play with us really unless it was something like a board game, me & my sister used to spend hours playing games, make believe, dolls etc and then we'd have friends over & then go to their houses too.

We also used to sometimes go to local activity camps which are still run now & some are really good value, have you looked at those as some run for a whole week at a time 9-5. We used to go on this activities run by the council & they'd take you to places for massively reduced prices. Or what about your local leisure centre they normally do short courses on sports for kids.

Some cinemas do cheap showings in the mornings?

We'd then have 1 week away on holiday. But there was no way my mum spent 4 weeks playing with us I think that would drive anyone mad! So you shouldn't pressure yourself to do that.

She would take us out to places sometimes but generally big days out were left for my grandparents or when my dad was home at the weekends. We mainly amused ourselves.

Janepig

raq wrote: »

Hi there

We don,t use a tumble dryer as it tends too discolour some of the clothes. We got a big old fashioned washing line, which is great. On sunday some of the uniform didn,t need ironing so I patted them as flat as I could and put them in the kids bottom draw ready for next year. That was a a good few items out of the way.

My little one is just down in the garden, I am gonna call him up , get ready and as mentioned going to the park for a bit.

Somebody else mentioned about their child hood and I must admit mine was a pretty good one. I am going back to the early 70,s when you could go out at 9 am and back at 4 pm for your tea and be SAFE. Fabulous days and in life that is all I wish for with my 3 children, enjoy being with them and being safe.

I haven't got a tumble dryer - during the winter months I take my drying to the launderette. The big dryers take tons of washing - I can clear about four or five loads in half an hour if there are enough dryers free, which there usually are. It's much more economical than doing it at home and really cuts down on the ironing.

Today DD is in the second day of sports club so me and DS have been to the cinema to see Monsters University. Our local cinema has cheaper entry on a Tuesday and we take our own grub. For a live wire DS is impeccably behaved in the cinema, it's a pleasure to take him.

I had a pretty free and easy childhood myself, out on my bike from dawn till dusk from about the age of five. Happy times. Traffic is what worries me more than anything now, the roads are so much busier now.

Jx

mcja

raq wrote: »

Honestly don,t think I resent my mum, she is my rock and honestly believe if my dad wasn,t so moody and had little patience I know she would as she adores being with us.

Enjoy your shopping:)

May be invite your mum to stay with you without your dad for a night. That way she could spend time with the kids, and you could get time off or just time with your mum.

Time off for food shopping, waste of time off if you ask me but beggars can't be choosers!!!:rotfl:

cte1111

maman wrote: »

So starting with no offence but..... and then being hugely offensive is OK?? You may not like my opinion but this is it:

I was para-phrasing another poster, one of the many who like to excuse an offensive posting by starting with 'no offence but...'. Evidently I should be clearer when attempting irony.

maman wrote: »

I read your thread yesterday. I

This isn't my thread, I was just posting on it to try and help the OP, unlike many other people who seem to have instead chosen to pick bits out that fit in with their agenda.

I've not been back until tonight as I've been busy dealing with my kids, the sale of my late father's flat, trying to work out if someone's hijacked my ebay account and doing my mystery shopping. I do think people are looking back with rose tinted glasses. Younger children do need a fair amount of input to keep them busy.

I was hoping there might be some other parents sharing stories of how they were getting through the long summer holidays. Unfortunately it seems not, I'll guess we'll have to look elsewhere for support.

cte1111

cutestkids wrote: »

I think that these quotes are all very rude nobody is attacking you personally just showing different views so why do you feel the need to get all defensive and be rude to people.

To suggest that someone finds something else to post about on a public forum is very rude.

Suggest someone looks up the idea of "irony" in the dictionary. I was para-phrasing another poster.

Did you add anything helpful to the OP in your post? Absolutely it's a free country and if you want to make people who are struggling feel worse about themselves without offering any help, then no-one stop you. However I do find it difficult to understand why you would do so, hence the suggestion to look for another post that might be more interesting/

cte1111

poppy9 wrote: »

are you for real. What about if i as an older poster asked if younger parents time could be better spent interacting with their children instead of on mse making rude and childish digs at posters that have an opinion that differs to their own.

Perhaps you should familiarise yourself with how an "open" forum works. An op asks a question/invites opinions and people respond. Sometimes you won't like their response, sometimes they will give you food for thought, sometimes you will learn something new.

i was para-phrasing another poster who said something almost identical by slagging off younger people>

Funky_Bold_Ribena

cte1111 wrote: »

i was para-phrasing another poster who said something almost identical by slagging off younger people>

Not being funny...but no I wasn't. I said 'that is the problem these days'...kids aren't allowed to explore they have to be constantly mithered and entertained by their parents rather than left to play on their own. Nothing to do with age and all to do with this lack of attention span and problem solving process.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23452815


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/study-too-much-tv-games-for-kids-shorter-attention-span/article560503/


http://www.habitot.org/museum/exhibits_play_research.html

neverdespairgirl

raq wrote: »

I have just finished 3 hours of ironing,

Then don't. Ironing isn't exactly important, surely?

How can you iron for 3 hours anyway? Even if you are doing shirts for your husband's work, it couldn't take anywhere near that long. That suggests you are ironing all sorts of things which don't need it.