Does your family go anywhere on weekday evenings?

[WatchingThemGrow]

Just wondering... like after DH is home and dinner happens? Or do you go out first, then have dinner later? Do you take pj's with you and just stay out as long as you can? Where do you go? What do you do?

We sometimes go to the gym after dinner, with the kids in the nursery or in the stroller on the track. We always try to get home by 7:30 for bedtime.

[Melaine]

Rarely....My kids typical bedtime is between 6:30 and 7, so that is cutting in it close to go anywhere. I am hoping after the time change then we can do more evening outings....

[MontrealMum]

Never. DS' bedtime is 7, and often DH gets home *just* before then. I might take DS out alone, but that doesn't happen often. He's also got to eat - he eats at 5 - and he needs some time to play, so taking him out at that time doesn't make for a happy evening, or a soundly sleeping child.

[Momof3Labs]

We go out to dinner maybe 1-2 weeknights per month, but that's about it. DS1 has to be on the school bus at 7am so the kids all go to bed at 7:15pm. If we go out, it's hard to get home and get everyone quieted down and in bed on time. Tonight is a book fair/fundraiser at DS1's school, so I will take him alone and he'll go straight to bed when we get home.

[catpagmo]

Not usually. I wish we could, though. It's too hectic at our house. DH gets home around 5:45 pm, and then we eat dinner around 6 pm. Then I have to put DS down, around 6:30 or 7, and then DD goes to bed by 7:30 pm. Not to mention this is DD's crazy time each night. :)

[arivecchi]

In the summer we go out a lot to parks/for walks before dinner. We rarely take the kids out to dinner, but I could see doing that easily if DH got home early enough so that we could have dinner and have DS2 in bed by 7:30. You are brave to attempt this with 3 young ones!

[Reyadawnbringer]

That would be a big N O. DS and I usually get home at about 5:30. Then I am rushing to get him fed and have some playtime before bath and winding down for bed. DS's bedtime is an hour later now, so that has made things a little less rushed, but DH hasn't been getting home until 9 lately :(

[mommylamb]

It's hard because DH and I both get home no earlier than 6 pm, so fitting in dinner and bath/bedtime routine is hard enough as it is. In the summer time, if we have leftovers that can just be heated up quickly, we sometimes go for walks. Once in a blue moon we go out for dinner, but that's more to do with keeping spending in check than timing.

[kijip]

We go and have dinner with friends some evenings. My husband takes T to scouts after dinner a couple days a month. Sometimes we make sandwiches or buy sandwiches and then go to the gym, all 4 of us. Last night, we went to the recreational swim at the gym and ate sandwiches before hand. When all is said and done, 2-4 of us are leaving the house 1-2 weeknights a week. Also, we commonly have people over for dinner in the evenings. We are fortunate in that most days in the week we are both home as early as 5PM or at the latest 6PM, so we have time.

[wellyes]

DH & I each have a gym night where the other stays home to watch DD. It's a good sanity-saver. But going out as a couple / family? Once a month, tops.

[slworld]

We all usually get home between 5:30-6pm. Then its dinner for DS, play for a bit, bath, read & DS is in bed by 7:15pm. So we don't do any outings weekday evenings together.

[Moneypenny]

Not as a family, no. Until she gets a later bedtime, I can't even imagine how we would do it without making the poor kid stay up later than she wants.

I will go get a haircut or run errands sometimes after dinner, and I see these tired, whiny kids being dragged around Target at 8:30. It reminds me to appreciate that our household works in such a way (i.e. 2 parents, adjustable schedules) that I don't have to do that.

[deborah_r]

Since homework started for DS1, we rarely go anywhere on weekday evenings. Usually just restaurant night fundraisers for my younger son's preschool.

[melissaflorida]

Rarely....My kids typical bedtime is between 6:30 and 7, so that is cutting in it close to go anywhere. I am hoping after the time change then we can do more evening outings....


My dd is 5.5 yo and still has that same bedtime as above. Friday nights we have family night out and get home around 8 at the latest.

~Melissa

[AnnieW625]

In a rare blue moon occaision we'll go out to eat mid week and take DD with us, but we are more apt. to go out on Friday nights though, but still not that often. Before I got pregnant we used to get DD ready for bed and go out on a walk for about 3 miles a couple of times per week. After we have #2 we'll most likely start this up again. I really miss it, but I have been soo drained this entire pregnancy that most nights I don't mind just staying home.

[mecawa]

No we don't but DH doesn't come home until 8pm and the girls are in bed at 7 and 8 pm.

[scrooks]

Maybe once a month, if DH gets home early, we will run an errand as a family. That's about it. I occasionally will go out by myself and run errands once DH is home and DC are in bed.

[erosenst]

Yes - but only in the last year. DD just turned 6, and usually has a 7:15 bedtime. She can make it til 7:30 now without repercussions (!), and is more awake/pleasant in the evenings than in the past. So we can go out for a relatively quick dinner, or run a quick errand.

Like PP's, if I have real errands to run, hair cut, etc I do those on my own while DH is home with DD. And once in a while (ie a few times a year) we'll let her stay up past her bedtime for something, knowing we'll likely have a meltdown before bed and/or a horrendous period the next day. Until the last year, however, she was too tired to even enjoy the event itself past bedtime, so this is a big change.

[lchang25000]

We only take DS out to dinner when we have friends/family visiting and we try to get home by 8:30pm since he usually goes to bed around 9pm. We take him out for lunch more than dinner.

[alien_host]

DD is almost 5 and goes to bed on the later side (8 or 8:30). If DH gets home early we might go out for dinner together, this happens maybe 2 times a month.

In the summer there might be outdoor concerts so we eat dinner at home and go to the concert (just 5-10 minutes away). They start at 7 or 7:30 maybe so we are home by 8:30 or so, plus it's summer and it's still light out.

[g-mama]

We have never had a bedtime for our kids any earlier than 8pm, and that was only up until they were about 18 months. They all go to bed at 9-9:15, so we have much more time than many others.

We go to sports practices and music lessons 3 nights a week. We will sometimes go out to Target or Best Buy or the mall after dinner if my dh wants to. We sometimes go out to eat on a weeknight if my dh is home early enough.

[citymama]

Sometimes as a family, sure. Almost always something that involves dinner out - either we have a hankering for some kind of food, so we go out to dinner, or we go to family or friends' for dinner. It's not very frequent though, maybe once or twice a month if that. We try not to stay out too late, so don't take PJs or toothbrushes - stick to the regular routine when we get back home. We usually eat dinner around 7 and DD's bedtime is around 9, so I think we have later schedules than many others here.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

When I go out with friends (i.e. "Mom's Night Out"), DH & the boys got to "Boys' Night Out." They go out to eat at the same restaurant every time and then to Borders afterwards. They just did this last night and we all got home at the same time - 9pm. It's about once a month. The kids usually go to bed by 8:30, but they can stay up a little later once in a while.

We also go out to eat as a family every now and then on a weeknight. Usually we don't because we go out every Friday and then other times on the weekend, so we try not to.

[HIU8]

When the weather is nice we do go out after dinner. BUT, we live 1 block from a school. We go out to the playground after dinner and before bathtime. Other than that we go out to dinner once every other week (and get home by 7ish).

[billysmommy]

We go out to dinner with the boys 2-3 times a week. DH and I work opposite evenings so he usually takes them once and I take them once during the week and then we all go together during the weekend. Ds1 is in a play and he has rehearsal Tuesday evenings so Ds2 and I usually go to Starbucks and the bookstore after we drop him off.

When it's nice out, we'll sometimes go to the playground after dinner for awhile too.

[belovedgandp]

We do more in the summer when it's nicer outside and we have later bedtimes.

Right now both kids go to bed right around 8. DH works fairly late if given the chance, so as a SAHM I have some late afternoon stuff - 4:50 gymboree class, 4:30 haircuts - that the kids and I go to and eat after with DH.

DS1 has one night a week of a sport practice (usually 5:30 to 6:30) and one night a week of school of religioun (5:30 to 6:30). DS2 has a gymboree class we go to at 6:15 one night a week too.

I go out for social evenings and community meetings one or two evenings a week and leave a little before 7.

Since we're now going so many different directions, we rarely do any of this will all four of us, but yes, some combination of parent and kid(s) is out and about in the evenings a lot. I will also take just DS2 to run errands in the evening to give DH and DS1 time to work on his homework or play games that a 2 YO just can't be part of. Both boys are Daddy's boys, so removing one makes it easier.

[mamicka]

Not usually just for fun, although that is more likely in warm weather. I'm out with DS1&2 past their bedtime at least once a week. DH is out twice a month or so past bedtime with DS1.

[Tondi G]

yes we do. My DS gets his homework out of the way asap after school. He has Tae Kwon Do 2 nights a week from 5:45 to 6:30. Those nights we either go and pick something up to take home for dinner or we eat later than usual. If we make plans to go out for dinner we try to be eating at 6pm. My DH works from 6am to 2pm so we don't typically have to worry about him coming home late in the evenings. Sometimes we'll make a trip to Target or other stores if we have errands we need to run together. Our kids are night owls and get in bed at 9pm or later. DS wakes up at 7:30 in the morning on school days and sometimes we all sleep in on the weekend mornings till 8:30 or later (if I am really lucky!).

[hillview]

Yes take the boys out to dinner on occasion. Maybe 2-4 times a month? Without the kids we often sneak out after the kids are in bed asleep for a quick bite at the local. My parents live downstairs so they are home with them.
/hillary

[crl]

Pretty much never. When DS was little and napped, his bedtime was 8pm. He and I used to walk/stroller ride to the "far" playground some evenings after dinner. We also used to sometimes go for a drive if DH made it home before bedtime. But now it's very rare that we go out after dinner. DS will be 7 this summer and I suspect that with it being light and his bedtime now being 9pm (!) we'll be out playing with the neighborhood kids after dinner some.

Catherine

ETA: We do go out to dinner pretty often--once every week or two with DS.

[SnuggleBuggles]

We go out to dinner maybe once/ week. Back before ds was in school we would sometimes run errands after dh got home from work and we had dinner. Since bedtime is not till 9 it is a non issue to go out as a family after dinner. So, in the warm months we may go out for ice cream after dinner.

Beth

[Melanie]

Rarely. I like the kids to have some hometime after school. We sometimes go to dinner on Friday's though. Dc's bedtime is 7:30.

[ahrimie]

If DH gets home early (before 6pm), sometimes we do. We like just walking around malls--indoor and outdoor--so we'll do that and grab dinner or a snack while we're out. Or, we'll go grocery shopping or some place like Target.