We spent the weekend like parents of the 90s and it was glorious

Honestly, it reminds me of how we grew up.

We did nothing this weekend.

Not a sensory bin. Not an activity. Not a play date.

We made a brief visit to the park, made some scones and honestly that was enough.

You might wonder why I’m telling you this and truthfully, I don’t expect you to care. But that’s kind of the point.

No plans, no problem. We did nothing this weekend and it was everything. Image: Supplied

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Nothing scheduled. Everything gained.

As a new mum, one of the loudest messages I’ve absorbed is that I should always be doing.

That every moment of my child’s life should be an experience, enriching him, engaging his attention. That if I’m not actively filling my son’s time, I’m somehow falling short.

It’s a far cry from my own childhood in the '90s, when boredom was the default setting.

I spent Saturdays trailing behind my parents in furniture stores, holding the edge of the trolley at the shops, or sitting on the couch upside down. 

We didn’t even have iPads. We had a whole lot of “go play outside.”

And if you said, “I’m bored,” you’d get one of two replies: “go find something to do,” or dad’s classic “hi bored, I’m Dad.”

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It all comes down to one villain: the algorithm.

My feed is full of mums setting up elaborate activities with colour-coded supplies, educational goals, and carefully curated toy trays.

There’s a sensory experience for every day of the week and outings that feel more like Pinterest mood boards than real life.

Independent play becomes a reel. A trip to the zoo is edited to music. And suddenly I’m wondering if I should be doing more or if I’m already behind.

This weekend, we tidied the house. We let our son play with his toys, on his own. We dragged him around Woolies. We let him be bored.

He’s only two so thankfully, boredom takes a while to set in at that age. But when it does, something interesting happens.

He makes up games. He turns the soft play ramp into a slide, a boat, a mountain. He grabs a ball and invents the rules. Then he teaches us how to play.

He’s an only child. His cousins live far away. His only regular access to other kids is at daycare or the park, if we have time after work.

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Permission to chill 

So no, I’m not filling his days with themed activities or structured learning. But I am giving him space. 

Space to get creative, to explore, to figure out how to be in the world without constant direction.

And honestly, it reminds me a lot of how we grew up. No curated crafts. No sensory bins.  

Just… time.

Our parents didn’t narrate or supervise every moment. They were doing life, and we slotted into it. 

They didn’t call it “independent play.” They just called it… being a kid.

I’m not failing because we didn’t have a full itinerary this weekend. I’m learning to do it without guilt.

Sometimes I think the best thing I can do for my son is give him the kind of freedom we had. 

Unstructured, unfiltered, un-Instagrammed time. Boring, glorious nothing.

Originally published as We spent the weekend like parents of the 90s and it was glorious