Since before Little F could walk or talk he has been obsessed with being outdoors. Every morning, before we had even had our breakfast, he would crawl up to the front door and bang on it eager to get out. He was, and still is, a nosy and determined little fella – desperate to explore life and all it has to offer.
Put him in a room full of toys and he will just seek out the door, eager to find out what is on the other side.
Sometimes i would wonder how on earth i had a son like this – wouldn’t it have been more apt for me to be paired up with a chilled out cbeebies fanatic? It seems not, TV involves sitting. Something not really in Little F’s vocab.
Anyway the upshot of all of this is that we spend A LOT of our time outdoors. To be fair this suits us all pretty well as staying in with the boys for more than a couple of hours makes my brain feel like it is about to explode (plus it inevitably leads to an activity that involves PVA – i really don’t like PVA).
We are lucky in that we live in a great little community and have lovely parks, playgrounds, paddling pools and the beach just a few minutes stroll from our front door. This is all well and good in the summer but as the weather starts to chill and the wind and rain sets in getting out and about gets a ‘little’ less appealing.
I’m not mad keen on soft play or toddler groups for reasons stated here so we still frequent the park come rain or shine. F doesn’t seem to care about the rain, does any kid? In fact he rather likes it.
What he doesn’t like is going home from the park, we put in a hell of a lot of time in the park. Our record session is 3.5 hours – man that was, erm dull. But he was happy and if he’s happy then I’m…well…middling?!
So we don our boots and our macs and i stand all on my tod in the rain watching my son career around on his trike or scooter. Am i the only one mad enough to do this or are you sometimes the lone parent standing wet and cold, for hours on end, in the park like a total looney?
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P.S. I have a new book OUT NOW! You can nab it on Amazon here or in your lovely local bookshop :)
Lovely photos- we are avid park fans here too!
We love the park, especially now that Kitty is getting big enough to run and play in our toddler zone without needing to hold my hand all the time so I get to chat to Elma or push her in the swings. Full scale waterproofs and avoiding the parks with bark chippings were my salvation many a time last winter!
I think i need to get some full scale waterproof’s myself! Glad i’m not the only one :)
Oh looks like your little man certainly loves the outdoors! T does too, I actually have to literally drag her back home screaming and crying sometimes. Thankfully, not all the time.
He certainly does – i wish he would love the indoors a little more ;) We have the crying and screaming quite a bit even if we have been at the park for hours!
CK is exactly the same. I try to do a little painting and baking with him each week but he mainly wants to be outside and scooting everywhere. It can be a bit difficult as BBs still naps in the morning and afternoon and I try to make one of those in his cot. Can’t wait until we have a garden. Love your photos. He really does look like the king of the park.
I think he things he is the king of the park! I think it’s slightly more of a boy thing to always want to be out and about – a lot of my friends girls are homebodies and like crafting and reading at home.
Aw how lovely! It’s great that he loves the outdoors so much. My little boy is happy indoors or out but I know last week he didn’t really get out so this week he’s been so eager whenever the door is opened xx
I am with you all the way. Your attitude is so very Country Kids I am delighted you have joined in. I think boys especially need the freedom of outdoors, it makes them so much happier when they are back inside again and that is good news for parents too! Hope you will share more outdoor adventures on Country Kids.
This will be me before too long. Little man throws a wobbler when we make him come in from the garden so I dread the battles to get him back from the park.
Ha ha – *passes baton of doom*