I have 2 boys but they don’t really play together as they have very different interests. So I play with them individually. Are you saying how do you draw a line between friend and dad? My best advice/opinion is to just enjoy the play time as much as humanly possible while it lasts. They understand play time vs parenting. BUT be in lockstep with mom. Don’t contradict her if she tells your son that tv time is over or something. Don’t start acting like a 2nd kid and mom is the bad guy.
So my dad made me a set of Lincoln logs 40 years ago. I have saved them (they are the lower section of the "house") since then. Today I made a pretty cool roof system and some extra parts for it. Used wood from projects I've worked on in the last couple of years, some of which is probably close to 200 year old oak. Also some sapele, fir, and walnut. So our little guy gets a full on 2 story house set of Lincoln logs from Dad and Grandad for Christmas.
My kids rely on me a ton for play time. It’s awesome, annoying, hard. I’m frequently setting timers to jump back and forth between them. Some times though I tell them figure something out alone or together cause Dad needs a gd break.
A toy for elementary school aged kids that they love and I would have never thought so…bitzee. For what it is, I will say it works well and is well made. But it’s basically a digital character you interact with. Not quite tomogatchi where you have to keep it alive but it’s in that universe I guess. Anyway my boys got the Disney one and are way more into it than I thought.
My 5 year old got one for Christmas and brings it everywhere with her. I tried looking at it cant figure out how the fuck to make it do anything. I’m old.
Got a powerwheels for the kids but it rained for 2 days straight here after xmas. Jesus the toddler melty that "I wanna drive my truck" was rough.
My 3 year old got one for xmas. It's perfect in the backyard because she doesn't understand steering. She goes forward until she hits something, then throws it in reverse until she hits something. Would like to see her in the front yard, or thought about taking her to the soccer fields, but then there's no barriers lol.
We have a power wheels that had a battery die. I think I learned ITT about conversion kits that are super simple so I was able to just use my Ryobi tools batteries as a replacement. It also doubled the speed. lol
My kids gave me a coupon to get a bike for myself (so I can maybe ride to their school with them next year) but I know nothing about bikes. If I buy a Walmart bike will I die?
You mean just a regular bicycle? Unless you're trying to ride it several hundred miles a week or on some serious trail I'd think any bike is going to do. You can usually find really nice road bikes that people sell used on Craiglist (guessing Facebook Marketplace would be better these days) after they fix them up.
Yeah just a regular neighborhood bike although I’ll have to be weaving in and out of flying electric scooter traffic
1st time going through Summer Camp registrations. Shit is cut throat and intense. You best be online when that shit opens and be ready to book simultaneously. Folks gate keep the good camps. Shits wild.
Is it that they gatekeep or just sign up to get their kids a spot? We didn’t ever do summer camps and just hired a nanny so I truly don’t know.
We are sending my 8 year old to a weeks camp this summer. His first time. Going to need to find a payment plan when all of my kids go. Geez
Made it to the age where both my kids can go to the city parks and rec summer camps for $80/week. That’s like 25% of what the previous summers were.
The non-parks and rec camps around me are $350-400 week (regardless of season). Like WED said above, it’s like camping for Taylor Swift tickets from a time and money perspective. I think we did $4000 last summer in camps. Camp from 9am-3pm, pool from 4pm-7pm every single day.
This past summer was the first year my wife and I worked from home enough to basically keep the kids out of summer camps. Although we did (and will continue to) sign them up for a couple weeks of camp at Busch Gardens, which they always love. It's 30-40 min from our house, but luckily my office is pretty much across the street, so I just go into the office everyday for those weeks.
They gatekeep and don't tell anyone about the sign up dates Neighboring City open theirs this AM at 9am they crashed the site. Saw zero posts or alerts, just ppl starting to complain on FB. Yeah seems most are ~350 a week. Got 8 weeks of summer so looking at 3500. I'm targeting a few at the zoo and some othera. Need to get my summer vacation plans locked down too. Need to figure all this out ASAP
My daughter is at a birthday party at an obstacle course gym. My wife just texted me that the dad of the birthday girl tore his achilles during the party.
The places announce it, but the parents keep it on the DL and don't publicize it. It's also pretty shitty that most is due upfront, so basically anyone that isn't pretty well off is fucked
Heck yeah! The local parks and rec started day camps when we hit summer between 1st and 2nd grade It was so awesome and little man loved it. Same kids were the councilors that were his soccer and flag football refs. Going into 6th grade this next year and having a hard time deciding if we are sending a 11 year old to these camps or letting him stay alone
Boy #2 is 2 weeks away. 3 yo is excited but has no idea what's actually going on. Questioning all life decisions.
I went ice skating yesterday on one of those little pop up rinks. I was doing better than I thought I would, considering its been probably 20 years. After about 30 minutes, I almost ate shit bad so I called it quits before the inevitable injury happened. Can't imagine what the folks running it see being in FL.
Did i just go digging out diaper wipes from the toilet like im a Mississippi hillbilly noodling for catfish? Yup
nah. hardest age is right when they start walking. they are capable of killing themselves at any given moment if you leave them alone. you can't even take a shit. my youngest is 2.5 and being able to let him play in the playroom for a few minutes with his siblings is such a gift.
Agree but different kind of hard, requires more work/energy. At 3 you get into psychological warfare with absolute no recourse to get them out of their feral state. Really just got it let play out but if it’s time sensitive and you need to leave the house or whatever
Mine are 5 and 9, and I still feel the same way. Both of mine were absolute assholes for the entire year after turning 3.
We’re just now seeing the light at the end of the 2.5-3 year old monster child tunnel and he’s a few months over 4
Been said verbatim in this thread already, but every age has its challenges. As one hard aspect goes away a new one arises. The hardest is whatever you are least equipped to deal with. I struggled a lot more with the younger ages while my wife is struggling more with the older ages.