Keeping active

[transformed]

This is kind of an ongoing struggle for us, and sometimes I totally feel like just sticking them in school! LOL. But in reality, there isnt even recess at school anymore so thats just my mama crazyness.

How do you keep your kids active? I was totally going to be the mom who didnt overschedule her kids, and taught them the benefit of downtime. But it turns out my 5 yr old needs to be running at least 2 hours a day or he drives me insane! (And I have a 2 yr old and 4 mo old)

Our local homeschool group is 1. a little bit older, and 2. They dont have many activitys....once a week park day is all. When I try to schedule more park days, no one really shows up. I think they are kind of "doing school" or something. I dont really know?

So I am going nuts trying to figure out what to do! The parks are barren during the school year (and kind of hot during the summer in florida)

sports and activitys are kind of not in our budget. (Karate is like $100 a month!!!!!)

?????????

What do you do?

I just need to vent!

[onlyzombiecat]

Is the problem that your ds needs to be around people or you just need him to get out of the house and be physically active?

If you just need to get out and moving then I would keep going places like the park or other free places regardless of other people. My dd always had a great time having the park all to herself.
You could do an internet search for "free things to do in <your city/state>".
You could try geocaching.
Go to yard sales.
You could try a mall play place.

Check with the parks and recreation dept to see if there is anything free or low cost going on in your area. http://www.floridastateparks.org/Eve...cfm?criteria=*

See if there are other groups with more going on.
http://localhs.com/?page=1&ord=added&state=FL

Maybe look into Camp Fire USA programs? The one nearest us is $10 for youth yearly membership, $15 for an adult and $45 for a family of 4+ in the same household. It might not be a daily thing but still get you out a bit.

[transformed]

no, my ds has to be social. daily.

[frogguruami]

Too bad you aren't closer to us!

What about the YMCA? They usually have reasonably priced sports and some even do homeschool PE classes.

The MOMS Club or local moms group might be an option.

Do the malls in the area have a play area? Library Story times and afterschool programs, the science center and art museum, zoo

What about kids in the neighborhood?

[zeldamomma]

Meals on Wheels is social, and free (except for the gas, of course).

You could see if there are churches in your area with activities for kids during the week. Storytime at the library?

HTH!

ZM

[creektownmama]

It's tough to run around alot with a baby, don't you think? I've been struggling with the same thing over the past year...older dd (is 6) and the baby is almost 1yr old, it sticks me in the middle...trying to get naps in for the baby and take dd to her stuff.
Basically, I've given myself this year to not feel like I have to get involved with too much. I can see how much easier it is with the little one getting a bit older. It does make me feel guilty, though.
I think we may join some YMCA classes in the summer, those are usually cheap and fun. I may even put her in a couple of the day camps. I'm also thinking of making a designated playdate day each week...and sticking to it. If we don't have some sort of social life, we'll all go nuts!

I don't know what to think about all the activities people are into...Is it different personalities or cultural pressure to go go go! do do do! ?????? I grew up wayyyyy out in the country, we went to town 1 time a week when I was little. I look back on that time with alot more fondness than later on when I was in school and activities all the time. just some thoughts.

[jayb842]

We have the same issues. DS is also five years old too.

We do parks ( after school hours this way there are kids there.)

We also are members of a moms club.

We also do local mesuems weekly, hike and explore our area. This summer we will do swimming lessons.

Jay

[Adasmommy]

I have one close friend who is a stay at home mom with the same aged child (3 years) and we go to parks together, or the beach, or each others houses and the girls play. I might go crazy if I didn't have someone I really liked who had a kid to play with my kid. I encourage you to talk up moms who are out when you are and maybe you'll find such a fast friend (I didn't meet my friend until after we both had babies and discovered we were the only ones in the entire city who didn't work during the day).

We prefer parks and the beach during the day when other kids are in school. Same for the zoo, or childrens museum. These things are a lot cheaper if you get a year pass for $100 - $150. You can go three times a week, and really use that pass! Maybe you could get a grandparent to buy such a pass as a birthday present. We got this year's zoo pass for Christmas and it is a family pass for the three of us, though dd and I go more often than dh, because we go during the week when he is working.

Our city has a pass you can get for the recreation centers too, which have various fun pool stuff. Probably lots of other stuff, but we've just done the pool, water slides, and fountains.

Also, if you want lots of other kids around, do as pp suggested and go in the late afternoon after school lets out.

[WonderMa]

I second the YMCA suggestion. Ours is great, and you can also qualify for scholarships to reduce the membership price (if you want to become a member). We just finished a round of swim classes, 2 days a week. That was plenty, in addition to our regular schedules.