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Things you don't do, even if it is for the kids

Murphy101
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Peela

Peela

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Dh won't do camping either. I would but don't dig it so much without a partner...so we put the kids into Scouts instead and they do plenty.

 

We don't do chewing gum :)

 

We haven't done many holidays (a few good ones though). But again, the kids do Scouts and do plenty of camps. Dh and I are about to go to Bali alone for the 2nd time this year. Dh is taking dd16 to Paris next year as a coming of age present...we dont necessarily do things as a family.

 

We refused to do weekend sports, or many sports at all. Eventually I realised ds was feeling wounded over that, and he really wanted to do soccer. So, I decided to sacrifice my Sunday mornings for it...and dh ended up coming as well frequently. We did one season, then ds was over it. Phew.

They do gymnastics and Sea Scouts with all its various activities including sailing and rowing (my dd16 has muscles on her muscles) and also have done homeschool sports. We are not a sporty family. Nor do we EVER watch sport on TV.

 

I have realised our family style is different from many. We are close. We spend lots of time together. But we also dont expect to spend weekends together doing things. We dont visit family more than a few times a year. We basically all do our own thing and virtually have done since the kids were old enough to play out on the street or ride to the local park. We all enjoy our space and independence.

I imagine that has developed because dh works from home or nearby and is around a lot. So we dont have to wait till weekends to spend time with him. Weekends are when we get to spend time following our own interests. Sometimes we rarely see the kids...but mobile phones help to stay in contact.

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Annabel Lee

Annabel Lee

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I don't mind the outdoorsy stuff, in fact that's why I live where I do. When hunting, I can pull the trigger or shoot the arrow, but I will not skin an animal (this is large game subsistence hunting, mind you). I'll skin a chicken I get pre-plucked from someone else, though.

 

I don't mind glitter; I figure it's pretty and if I had to choose something to be tracked around the house on the bottoms of shoes, I can think of worse things.

 

Chuck E. Cheese brings out sensory issues in me that I don't actually have.

 

I don't like video games or sports much, so I don't play them, but I let my kids do them, esp. since my husband is overly enthusiastic (my nice words) about sports.

 

I won't have a young puppy in the house. If and when we get another dog, I'd rather get one that's already house-broken. Cats - just ewww about the litterbox and the formaldehyde in the litter. I regret getting fish b/c I hate cleaning the tanks. Frog tanks are pretty gross, too (ask me how I know). I will NEVER have any sort of rodent in my home, even if it is in a cage.

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GWOB

GWOB

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Chuck E Cheese

 

ETA: They can go. I just have NO desire to ever set foot in there myself.

 

You mean the evil rat place where souls go to die? That is a dirty word in my house.

 

I have refused to take my kids to any of those "Sesame Street on Ice" type shows. I'd rather shove ice picks in my eyes.

 

This winter, I am refusing to sign up my son for wrestling. He loves it, but just don't want to! Wrestling tournaments are a special level of hell.

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Ester Maria

Ester Maria

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I don't do camping either. Tried, hated, no thank you - I'm a hotel type of person, I like to sleep in an actual bed, have a shower, and I appreciate the absence of bugs.

 

No malls either, I hate those places with passion. An occasional mother-daughter shopping in the city is great, but hanging at a mall of any kind just depresses me.

 

No sports either. Kids did all sorts of stuff, and we send them skiing at their request, but we don't go ourselves.

 

No animals in the house. I will not put up with that AND I'm a slight neat freak, so animals would definitely be a bad addition to our house.

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Caitilin

Caitilin

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No team sports. I don't want to commit my life to running around for anything elsethankyouverymuch. ;) We all do TKD, and that's enough for us. I also will not purchase character clothing, etc. We don't check out "tv books" from the library either. My mother says that Mom stands for "mean old mother" and I wear that badge proudly. :D:lol:

Edited by Caitilin
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Audrey

Audrey

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For us, its camping.

 

I don't mind it much, but dh has a profound dislike of it.

 

Bug bites, uncomfortable bed, no heat or AC, and dirt just doesn't much appeal. I'm capable. Just don't get the hog heaven appeal some people seem to have.

 

 

Flying. Just can't do it. If we can't drive there, we're not going. Sometimes I wish I could brave it, but I don't that'll happen in this lifetime.

 

Also, no hockey teams. Playing a local pick-up game = fine. Paying thousands a year in fees and equipment and then hauling ds all over the whole everlovin' province to play = not gonna happen.

Edited by Audrey
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PygmyShrew

PygmyShrew

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No rear DVD/entertainment system for vehicles....to develop the discipline of enduring the mundane/boring/etc. and practice conversing and not being entertained all the time. I recall doing some of my best childhood imagining while looking out the window during drives. I'm a strong believer in the research that shows how a child watching TV/videogames more than 6 hours a week is proven to hinder school work/test performance/intelligence scores,etc. It's tough enough to keep it under this limit at HOME much less if I added in travel time viewing.

 

Now on LONG (like 8 to 10 hour) trips, we have one for travel that we use only on these ONCE A YEAR marathon trips and we let them watch a movie or two on these occasions, but we store it away at all other times.

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extendedforecast

extendedforecast

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I will never take my kids to the circus. That would be pure torture. Ditto on the [insert character] on ice.

 

I also do not allow chewing gum in the house. My kids can chew gum when they are away from home as long as I am not there to hear the smacking or see the gum in their mouths while talking to them.

 

ETA: I also don't do scary movies. They can watch those with DH.

Edited by extendedforecast
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ChristusG

ChristusG

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Wow, you guys make me look really easy going LOL! I absolutey love the Disney on Ice shows! And the Sesame Street Live too! Just curious, if you hate these shows then I guess you hate Disney World too? Cause it's the same thing on a bigger scale LOL. We totally do glitter....and playdoh! I love camping. In fact, we are camping as I type this! At Disney LOL! We have a pop up so I have my A/C and a bed. We go to Chuck E Cheese a few times a year. And we totally rock out to kids music in the car. Everyone tells me I'm a fun mom.....I think it's because I'm still part kid myself LOL.

 

What do I not do? I can't stand talking animal movies. Not cartoons....I can do those. But real animals who have moving mouths and talk. But still, if it were an approved movie (by me) in content, I'd probably still take them to see it if they really wanted. I'd just go a bit crazy.

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Carrie12345

Carrie12345

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Oh, I forgot - I won't do dissection!

I spent every dissection lab in the nurses office when I was in school. I just can't handle it. I *may* break down and order labs for ds (and, later, the other kids), but I'm pretty sure I'll have to leave the house when he does them.

I can't even watch the videos online.

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Annie Laurie

Annie Laurie

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No rear DVD/entertainment system for vehicles....to develop the discipline of enduring the mundane/boring/etc. and practice conversing and not being entertained all the time. I recall doing some of my best childhood imagining while looking out the window during drives. I'm a strong believer in the research that shows how a child watching TV/videogames more than 6 hours a week is proven to hinder school work/test performance/intelligence scores,etc. It's tough enough to keep it under this limit at HOME much less if I added in travel time viewing.

 

Now on LONG (like 8 to 10 hour) trips, we have one for travel that we use only on these ONCE A YEAR marathon trips and we let them watch a movie or two on these occasions, but we store it away at all other times.

 

That's exactly what we do. We have a portable one, it comes out for only very long road trips to my MIL in the next state. I don't think kids need to be entertained all the time either.

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Annie Laurie

Annie Laurie

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I will never take my kids to the circus. That would be pure torture.

 

That's what I always said too. And then the kids wanted to do the library summer reading program and the librarian told them cheerfully that the reward at the end was....

 

Circus tickets.

 

Their faces lit up and they went home and started reading and checking off reading hours that very day. So I didn't have the heart to say no, and we went, and actually had fun.

 

But I still don't know if I like it, as far as if it's humane to the animals.

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scrappyhappymama

scrappyhappymama

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I had to LOL at all the camping comments. When we go camping I take my window unit and put it in my tent!!;)

 

I had to laugh at this. We actually enjoy tent camping, truly. A few years ago we were packing for a trip and a friend asked me if we had our a/c unit. I laughed at her, thinking she was being silly. She insisted that they bring an a/c unit camping and run it at the door of their tent. I had never heard of such a thing!! Then we met up with my BIL's family and not only did they have an a/c unit, they had a tent ceiling fan. :lol:

 

No rear DVD/entertainment system for vehicles....to develop the discipline of enduring the mundane/boring/etc. and practice conversing and not being entertained all the time. I recall doing some of my best childhood imagining while looking out the window during drives. I'm a strong believer in the research that shows how a child watching TV/videogames more than 6 hours a week is proven to hinder school work/test performance/intelligence scores,etc. It's tough enough to keep it under this limit at HOME much less if I added in travel time viewing.

 

Now on LONG (like 8 to 10 hour) trips, we have one for travel that we use only on these ONCE A YEAR marathon trips and we let them watch a movie or two on these occasions, but we store it away at all other times.

 

This is exactly what we do. DVDs are for road trips only. We make several a year though, so it's a pain to unhook the system each time. But our kiddos don't even ask when we're driving locally. They know it's always a no.

 

That's what I always said too. And then the kids wanted to do the library summer reading program and the librarian told them cheerfully that the reward at the end was....

 

Circus tickets.

 

Their faces lit up and they went home and started reading and checking off reading hours that very day. So I didn't have the heart to say no, and we went, and actually had fun.

 

But I still don't know if I like it, as far as if it's humane to the animals.

 

Ugh. This is the one I intended to add. The Circus. I grew up going, but could never get over the plight of those poor animals. At least in zoos, they try to give the animals a realistic habitat. But circus animals just make me sad, sad, sad. I will never say never for my kids, but it's definitely not something I'm going to pursue.

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Impish

Impish

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I don't cook breakfast. I'm not a morning person, neither is ds. Dh is usually long gone in the morning. We do self-serve breakfast. On the weekend I might make pancakes, but that's rare, we usually have those for dinner instead.

ETA: Brunch! Brunch I can do. Food before 10am? Not on a bad dare.

Also, no hockey teams. Playing a local pick-up game = fine. Paying thousands a year in fees and equipment and then hauling ds all over the whole everlovin' province to play = not gonna happen.

 

That would be pure torture. Ditto on the [insert character] on ice.

 

I also do not allow chewing gum in the house. My kids can chew gum when they are away from home as long as I am not there to hear the smacking or see the gum in their mouths while talking to them.

 

 

:iagree:with all the above.

Disneyland/world.

Wolf agrees with you. I can think of several other places I'd rather we go BEFORE Disney of any kind, but I'd never say never...Lotto numbers *might* come up one day :tongue_smilie:

 

Crafts. I freaking LOATHE crafts. Becoming 1 armed just gave me a blessed out on that score, since I *can't* do them. I don't mind the mess, the kids can paint in the house, we have glitter, etc...but step-by-step crafts make me want to put my oven on 'broil' and accidentally-on-purpose stick a body part (ANY body part) inside.

 

And my oven isn't gas, either.

 

I'm the klutz that had serious blisters from hot glue gunning goggly eyes on candy canes one year when making stupid reindeer. The oven is just a faster way of getting things over with. :lol:

Edited by Impish
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Pippen

Pippen

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I camp, allow glitter projects on the big cafeteria tray only, and have made a lot of hot breakfasts through the years.

 

We don't have a dog. Cat, fish, rabbit--yes. Dog, no. When they asked I always told them we'd get a dog when someone would be seriously committed to cleaning up the backyard after it. There were no takers.

 

I've been thinking I might get a dog after they're gone, though. Something beagle-ish. :)

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lapsetmom

lapsetmom

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I second the one who said "step-by-step"crafts. Not only is that terribly boring, but the craft ends up just being another piece of trash to clutter up my house. I am a school teacher, and fortunately I teach fourth grade. If I had to teach kindergarten or first grade, I'd probably seem terribly boring because I HATE crafts!!!! I'll leave crafts to the art teacher or S.S. school teachers.

 

I also hate Chuckie Cheese's and arcades of any kind. If I go, it is only to appease my husband or in-laws when they take the kids because they don't seem to mind them as much.

 

However, I do allow animals, dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs, etc., and I actually have a soft spot for them despite their mess. I'm not against organized sports, but our family has no time or money for them so maybe our pets help make up for this.

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kristavws

kristavws

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Disneyland/world.

 

I wouldn't have a problem with it - I can tolerate almost anything for a day, but my dh is adamantly opposed! We are an extremely outdoorsy family though, so if given the opportunity to choose either DW or whitewater rafting, camping, etc., my boys would definitely NOT choose DW.

 

My big thing is rodents as pets. My boys will never have a rodent as a pet. My dd had a hamster when she was little. Meanest/stinkiest/most useless animal we have EVER had. She left the lid open one day and it got out. The Dachshund quickly discovered the hamster, and killed it. Extra treats and cuddles for him that night.

 

Krista

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