Is it just me who finds school holidays really tough? I used to look after the kiddos full time before starting school so what’s changed? Have I become worse? Granted, I am definately less energetic and cheery than I used to be but that’s not it. School children demand more stimulation than littlies do. Finding a stick is the best thing ever for toddlers but older ones need much more energy, thought and exercise. It’s exhausting!
Here are the reasons why I find holidays difficult:
- The assumption that you should be doing something awesome every day. Farm parks, soft play, bowling, pottery painting etc etc. Not helped by the abundance of photos on social media showing everybody else doing these. (Pssst by the way, those smug sharenters are not really doing this everyday, they are bumming out like the rest of us and recycling old pictures.)
- The expense. Linked to the aforementioned farm parks and bowling etc – the stuff costs money. And lot’s of it, especially with multiple children. Triple the cost for those lucky ducks who go away on holiday during half-term. Who can actually afford to do all of this?!
- How busy everywhere is. You can’t go anywhere without hordes of kids and red-faced mums. Think you can escape them in a sophisticated coffee shop? Think again. You will find a group of 10 teenagers all sharing a single frappuccino while taking selfies. (Happens to me every bloody half-term. My parents would never have given me £3 something to buy a posh drink!)
- The boredom. “Let’s have a lazy day at home kids, that sounds like fun…” said no parent ever. It is never fun. The novelty wears off in 2 seconds and they are running up the walls and ruining your lazy mood. In this scenario, I hide from them by doing housework thus counteracting the original proposal of a lazy day.
- The food. My God, the food consumption is through the roof. How do they even get by on a school day with scheduled meals? Mine are demanding lunch by 10:30 (after two bowls of cereal, banana and a rice cake).
For me, the food consumption is what I find the hardest. Constantly nagging for food they don’t even want just because they can’t think of anything else to do. This then drives me to biscuit jar/chocolate cupboard/cider in fridge, further increasing the food consumption! Never-ending battle.
School holidays = Throwing biscuits at feral children while desperately thinking of play dates to avoid having to pay an arm and leg to keep the turds entertained for an hour.
Anybody else hate them? (school holidays that is, not children. Although to be fair…)
Playground Politics 