Last week I decided to take my five littles on a special outing alone. After 21 years of parenting nine children, here are my best tips for taking small children out by yourself!
1. Make it easy for you but fun for them, too! I like Chick-fil-a myself, but I would have never gone in to sit down in a lunchtime crowd if I were choosing. As a treat, instead of eating in the car like I would have preferred, we made it a fun trip inside. Now that they have an app, it’s much easier for us all to sit down first and then order from my phone. (I could have done the ordering from the car if they were all littler or would have been harder to control.) We all went to wash our hands first, and then sat down together at a table with enough space for all of us. I ordered, our food came quickly and I never had to make them all stand in line and wait. When solo with littles, choose a restaurant that doesn’t make you wait for a long time to sit down or get your food.
2. Have the biggest ones help you as much as they can. If one of your bigger children can fetch the ketchup and napkins in your sight, let them! They will feel grown up and you can stay with the littles. 🙂 My 7, 9, and 11-year-olds can unbuckle and buckle car seats. This is a huge help when you only have one set of hands!
3. Let them see and touch (some) interesting things at the store. During the COVID era I visited a higher-end store and they forbid us from touching any of the items we were shopping for. It was absolute misery to walk around and not feel the products! I wonder if that is how little kids feel when they’re shopping with their parents? I didn’t enjoy shopping in that store at all and couldn’t wait to leave. I want the kids to enjoy our time shopping like I do, so that we can do it together and have fun! I let them look at their favorite items at Hobby Lobby and they (mostly!) patiently waited for me to shop in the dish section where I didn’t allow them to touch anything. 😀
4. Keep the outing short and simple. This is not always possible, but if you can, limit the outing to one or two activities. Too many stores or activities in a row, and everyone will end up exhausted and cranky (including the adult). We were nearing the end of this fun day and you can see it in the faces of the littles. At most, I would ideally like to limit being out in public from 1-2 hours for my under-5 crew. They tend to tire easily!
If I make our trip fun for them and for me, utilize their help, involve them in the activity, and keep our time somewhat short, I find outings can be pleasant for both mama and the kids. 🙂
