Staying on premises

My group has always been a bit older as I was lucky and would find older kids around my older daughter's age. I would have a couple babies in the stroller while the big kids walked. These kids left for kindergarten and my group is much younger now: my youngest daughter is 3 yrs in Jan, 2.5, 22 mos, 20 mos and 17 mos. I know a lot of you have groups this age and younger so I am looking for advice. I have a triple stroller and the 3 littlest go in it and my older 2 are being trained to walk next to the stroller with a strap attached to their wrist. This is going really well, however they don't make it too far. I am leaning more towards using the stroller for short walks around the block but other then that, staying on premises.

Has anyone ever made this change to their program and how did the parents react? I have been gradually cutting back on outings as my group grew in size (just started 2 yrs a go and started adding kids gradually) but this summer I had a helper come once a week to come with us to the park and the rest of the time we were at the daycare. Should I bother mentioning decreasing outings or just wait and see if a parent asks? I bought one of those 8 in 1 climbers to hopefully make up for the lack of park outings but I do worry about boredom (theirs and mine) with always staying in the backyard.

None of my parents really ask if we stayed in the backyard or went to the park, they are happy as long as we made it outside.

I typically go for a walk in the morning (I only have 4 though and a quad stroller so they all go in it) and than we do the backyard in the afternoon and this is where they all get picked up from. I have the 8 in 1 like you plus a play house and multiple outside toys. I keep them all in the shed and an outdoor toy box (sun fading is a pet peeve of mine lol) so I take out different toys each day. This helps with the boredom and doesn't make my yard look like a disaster! lol. They typically have more fun in my yard than playgrounds because my structures and toys are age appropriate whereas I find a lot of school/public structures are geared towards older children.

When I only had a double stroller I had 2 walk with the harness "leashes" and we would just do a quick trip around the block and than back to the yard. Parents typically don't care where we go as long as their child had fun :)

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. The kids are going to have more fun running around your backyard and climbing on the play structure than they will sitting in a stroller anyways. YOU may go stir-crazy, though. I have a triple stroller too, and 4 little ones 2.5, 2, 22 months and 18 months. The second-oldest walks, because I've had him over a year and I trust him not to bolt. However, he can't go too far, and is having a hard time remembering to keep his feet out of the way of the stroller wheels. The youngest doesn't come on Thursdays, so Thursdays he gets a ride, but every other day he just WANTS a ride, and can't have one. And he's the best candidate for walking, too. I'm in the market for a quad, fingers crossed I find one soon! Would it be worth it to you to invest in a larger stroller?

You could also look into different outdoor toys to keep it interesting. In the summer I did a "sprinkler day" every Friday and turned the little slide into a water slide with the hose and brought out the water table. If you have the storage space, you could bring out different outdoor toys (ride-on toys, bats and balls, etc) on different days so it feels new to them even though they're in the same space?

I give you credit for trying !! May -June my numbers were down and we would go to the park everyday ! But I am full now and I have an assistant and it was horrible going with 17 month old , 20 month old , 3-3 yr old and my own !
The little ones tried to kill themselves , parks are crazy !! Who makes poles 6 tall to slide down , the 17 month old would not stop trying to walk off , I was one on one with her and she would try to get away from me to jump ugh !! They all wanted to sit and be pushed on the swings !! We have a rule the swings are the last thing we do ! Ugh headache ! My yard is small and I do not feel bad anymore about us being out there anymore ! They are safe , I provide lots of interesting things to do so they have to deal with it !
My parents are ok with it ! I wouldn't worry if I was you !!

I rarely ever go anywhere. I live too far to actually walk to anything and walking down a gravel road isn't that much fun for anyone. I only go on outings a few times a year depending on when kids are on holidays because I only have room for 2 car seats in my vehicle. My parents don't care, they know we go outside 2x a day and I have a large yard with tons of toys for the kids to play on/with.

I agree that the kids would likely be happier to just play in the back yard instead of having to sit in the stroller.

I would think so too that the kids would not like being in a stroller but the three little ones actually love it! I think part of it is, it is an opportunity for the littlest ones to rest their legs and chill out. We are a pretty high energy group and play outside a lot. I think the outings would be more for the variety but I think I am just going to "get over" my worry about pleasing parents and do what I am doing. I think it's more one family then the others, they are all about community involvement and have been with me from the beginning. They really liked that I took the kids to the library, the park etc. They are leaving soon anyways for a 2nd mat leave so if they aren't happy, oh well.

As much as I liked park outings for me (exercise and a change of scenery plus good opportunities to advertise my daycare) they are pretty stressful at times and I feel on edge waiting for a kid to kill themselves.

Thanks for the feedback.

My group is like yours TOkids, when I ask if they want the backyard or a walk, the walk always wins!! lol. Could be that the stroller is still new to them and for whatever reason they LOVE it!! The only time I don't give them the choice is when I'm feeling lazy and don't want to go for a walk LOL

I'm sure the parents will understand :)

My kids all love going out in the wagon. It is a choochoo wagon, and they each have their own spot. Whenever the choice is the yard vs the wagon, they all get so excited for the wagon. Often we'll see "tractors" which is usually just construction crews of some sort. Whatever we see, they talk about for months.
One of the two year olds was gone all summer, and when he came back, he still knew the route we took in June to find construction. And he asked to go out on walks to find it again.
With my current group, they don't even care if we have a destination. They just like the change of scenery the wagon gives them.

Yeah, I think we'll do a walk around the block in the morning and then play in the backyard the rest of the morning and afternoon. My kids love construction sites, talking to all the retired old people we see daily etc. Plus my older 2 get a good workout and the little ones get exhausted just from the amount of running around they are already doing so a stroller break is a good thing I think.

I want to see a pic of your wagon superfun!! I knew you were trying to decide between wagon and stroller but didn't know you made your decision. They are so cute!!

On one of our walks, we found a puppy and he jumped into our basket in the stroller. They talked about him for weeks!

I tend to always have little ones but this year, I have 5 aged 2 and under and only one who is 4. I use my wagon a lot. I can get 4 children in the wagon and I tend to only place that many in it if they really are non-walkers or if we need to cross a road.
The area I live in has very steep hills so we are limited in where we can go but I do have access to a private track which leads down to the lake. This we use a lot. Once passed the access gate which is locked (but which the owner positioned at a height my wagon and stroller fit under), then we have no concerns about traffic. We don't always get very far in terms of distance as it comes down to going the pace of the slowest. If they can walk, they do and I only put them in the wagon if they are tired vs can't be bothered.
As I tend to advertise the amount of outside time children have here, I think I'd have uproar if I stayed home but if your clients aren't expecting daily outings/walks or a least outside time, then the yard should be fine.
It's going to come down to what you explained your typical day involved. If you didn't push the outside time, then it will be less of an issue.

My program is sold on the fact that we are outside so much (not necessarily in the community). We are outside upwards of 4+ hrs a day. That being said, being outside in the backyard running around is still outside.