Hellobee Boards

Bring dinner with us a lot. So like tonight, we have a swim lesson. It's at 5:30, but they have been as late as 6:30. We'll bring dinner with us, and eat on the park benches outside of the high school. Sometimes it's the two boys eating dinner only with us eating dinner after they've gone to bed. Sometimes it's salads for us and the chicken from the salad with fruits and veggies for them.

There are times when a sit down dinner together just isn't going to work. As the boys get older and we have nightly activities, we'll have to eat on the go...so it's what we do to make it work.

Personally I believe you have to really think about if it is for you or for your son. After a full day of daycare, he is probably worn out and had plenty of activity/stimulation for the day, and would likely prefer some quiet time at home with you reading or playing with blocks.

I could see the benefit of a class that is offering some kind of skill that he isn't getting at daycare, like swimming. Even then I would try to find something on a weekend.

We don't. In fact, we don't even go to the park or playground, because I like the kids to come home, calm down, eat dinner, and have a consistent schedule. We keep our activities to weekends and it's worked out well so far. We chose a daycare that has lots of programming (for ex., our 3 year old gets piano lessons there) so I don't feel like she is missing out.

My kids have an early bedtime though and it works for them. I imagine if they went to bed later, I'd be more likely to consider activities in the evening.

No, we don't. I'm off with my LO in the summer but up until this summer she had a bedtime of 6-6:30 so it was not feasible though we do get home early (4ish). I am contemplating doing swimming lessons during the week this fall so that our weekends remain free. I would not put her in another activity though, just make more of an exception for learning an important skill.

ETA: she's 2.5

@daniellemybelle: This. After a full day of stimulation I think for a 2yo up to probably grade school, it would just be too much.
I know that it's so tempting to do things like this and hope for the best. I did it once with a swim lesson (4:30-5:30) and it was awful (also around 2). And that wasn't even after a full day of preschool or daycare!
Is there any way you could ask the place to do a trial class without commitment? I've done that before and they've always obliged. That way you can get a feel for how he handles it and what it does to your routine/sanity.

The only class we've done before dinner was swim lessons. DD is 4 but I was taking my just turned 2 yo with me. They both handled it fine. We usually do a park trip, swim or play outside from 5-6:30. If I could get them to play quietly in the living room so I could cook dinner in peace I would opt for that. That isn't what that hour looks like for us anyway so I don't mind adding something else in.

We don't do any. Sometimes I feel bad or like DD is left out when I see others posting what they are doing. However it just doesn't work for our family right now. We have DS who is 5 mos old and needs to go to bed around 630 and some days DD is just tired and cranky, it would be no fun to take her to a class like that. DD is 3.5 and starting preschool in fall so she'll get some activities through them (soccer and dance)during school hours. I don't foresee us doing anything else until maybe next summer when she's 4.5 and ds is 18 mos.

Right now I feel accomplished just getting them home from daycare, fed, maybe a walk or play time outside and to bed.

@macintosh: there are a ton of parents in real life whose kids have later bedtimes. One of the moms from my daughters ballet class complained to the school that there aren't any good times for ballet classes for working parents. She asked if the school would do an 8pm class during the week....I was honking who would take an 8pm class!? But a lot of people have kids who go to bed later and wake later. My niece is less than 2, but her bedtime is 11 pm wmd she sleeps till 9 or 10 am. Her mom likes it because the baby sleeps through all the morning breakfast/getting ready rush of the older two kids and doesn't wake up till they are on the school bus. It works for their schedule, it wouldn't work for mine.

@Anagram: Yup, this is us exactly. We don't do evening classes at this point because we have hellish commutes and most places we would take classes at are a longer drive than we can manage after getting to and from work, but if we had something close, we'd absolutely do it. My 4 year old is a night owl on weekdays because of the daycare nap (we don't nap on weekends), so she would be just fine with a class in the evening.