Enjoying the things that we used to enjoy before having children is still possible, not in the same way of course, but it is possible to still get out and about and so some of those things.
🚍 The kids's anxiety was HIGH around the bus ride from the carpark to the festival gates. We've been before but not for a couple of years. In the two weeks leading up to the day we had a lot of conflict about who would sit next to me on the bus. This became intense during the car ride to the festival, physical fighting and a lot of screaming. When we FINALLY got to the bus - we were able to sit across the back seat - which calmed things down significantly.
🗯️ It was a 45 minute drive to get to Woodford, 10 minute wait to get in the gate and a 5 minute bus ride to get to the festival entrance. The kids were very heightened and excited to get inside - this is often expressed by hitting and aggressive speech.
We had already pre-planned the activities for the day, and we had a schedule of what to do and what time to stop to eat, we brought some food with us and bought hot chips and ice creams as a treat.
We made sure that everyone could do something they liked and have a moment to themselves. We attended with some friends so there were enough adults to manage the kids at all times.
🎢 We knew ahead of time that this wasn't about seeing every performance or wandering through the stalls. This was mainly for the kids to experience something different. We went in with no real expectations and it was stressful at times but not to the point that we regretted attending.
The most difficult part of this trip was managing the anxiety and competition between the children, by the end of the day they were exhausted and ready to leave. We also struggled to get them to drink enough water - it was a hot day - but they were actually fine.
⛺ It was a long day, tiring, but full of good moments and beautiful memories for our family.
Will we risk camping at the event next year? We would not consider camping....glamping maybe...5 days out of routine is probably too long for our family.
What I would change next time: I would not be so stressed for them to eat, when they feel hungry they will ask. I will bring some juice poppers for extra hydration. I will bring our support worker so that my partner and I can attend one of the performances together.
Some things to think consider when getting out and about: ✅Choosing an event: is the event we would like to go to appropriate for children, does it have programming for them and necessary structure (accessibility)? ✅Will you share kid duty with someone during the whole event? ✅How long will the day be? How long will it take to get there and when does it finish? ✅What will we do if one person wants to leave? Will everyone will leave or will we need to take two cars just in case?
***This blog is my personal point of view and does not represent anyone other than myself***
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