How often do you go out of the house with your children? A couple of times a week? Less? Every day?
As someone who gets cabin fever if she has to be confined to the house for more than 24 hours, I insist on taking the girls out every day, even if it is just for a walk to the shops or park. Pouring with rain outside? Whack the rain cover on the buggy, put on my waterproofs and stride around the block. Anything to get out of the house.
We also do lots of more exciting trips. I try to organise it so that we either visit people, or have visitors every weekend. We're taken the girls (when they were much younger) to sporting events. We take them shopping (they love Sainsbury's and Bluewater). We take them out for tea. We've taken them to museums, zoos and landmarks.
So far, so normal. However, being the incredibly organised (anal) person that I am, I insist on writing every single trip or event on a calendar. I got quite concerned last winter that I wasn't doing enough 'exciting' stuff with the girls and that they were probably bored stiff on their non-nursery days (unlikely but I do like having something to worry about) so I started making a conscious effort to do something every day. I'm convinced that the girls sleep better if they've been out of the house.
Nursery days are marked with an 'N' and every other day of the week has to have a 'something' in the box or I start thinking I'm a terrible parent. I hate leaving blanks on the calendar. I know I sound mental (I know, I know) but I think it keeps me sane as much as it benefits the girls.
