Rub a dub dub Load up on bath paints, bubbles, sailboats and squirting dinosaurs, and your kids will happily splash around in the tub until they turn into raisins. Sure, you have to stay in the bathroom and keep an eye on them, but what’s more relaxing than hanging out on the toilet with a good novel?

Search out secret playgrounds We love those sprawling monkey-bar villages, but at most of them you’ve got to trail your kid from the swings to the slide to the sprinklers to make sure he doesn’t do a back flip off the fort ladder or start up a conversation with that guy in the trench coat. So skip the big ones like Harmony Playground, Hudson River Park and the Ancient Playground, and check out some of the more intimate neighborhood rec areas where you can watch over your kid without ever lifting your butt off the bench. Low-energy downtown moms gravitate toward the Downing Street Playground (Downing St at Sixth Ave) and the smaller toddler playground at Washington Square Park (Fifth Ave at Waverly Pl); Brooklyn Heights moms love the Harry Chapin Playground (Columbia Heights at Middagh St) for its sprinkler in the summer and manageable size. Upper West Side moms swear by Tecumseh Playground (Amsterdam Ave at W 77th St) and Hippo Playground (Riverside Drive at W 91st St). Other tiny parks dot street corners and apartment complexes throughout the city.

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