A Parent’s Guide to Surviving the School Holidays

If you’re not a parent of school-aged children, you’ll probably be asking yourself why you’d need to read an article on surviving the school holidays.

That’s fine. You can head off now and continue toy shopping.

For the rest of you, I know I’ve got your attention. School holidays are one of the evil plans teachers create to punish us for caring for our kids during the term. If you’re a teacher, you can stop sniggering because we’re onto you. The collective power of the parents will reign down and ensure you catch all the colds and tummy bugs on the first day of the holidays. See who’s laughing now!

Anyway, I digress. Surviving the school holidays while remaining sane may be the dream of many parents. The fact that the kids are bored, having nothing to do and don’t know what to do could have something to do with that. What can we do about it?

How to Remain Sane While Surviving the School Holidays

In all seriousness, school holidays will test the patience of a saint. As lovely as it is to have the kids home, I do look forward to their return to school. To help get through the holidays, you could try some of these tips:

• Be empathetic – some kids find the lack of routines stressful. Others may miss their friends and even their schoolwork. Showing empathy can go a long way towards making the holidays more enjoyable for everyone.
• Take downtime – it’s a holiday, not a full every moment time. Spend days at home doing nothing to recharge everyone’s batteries. You don’t need to entertain your kids all the time! Remember the olden days where you made your own fun in the holidays?
• Kids get input – instead of planning every moment, ask your kids to organise some things to do instead. You can set limits for travel, time and budgets to ensure you’re not needing to visit France or something. But you’ll often be pleasantly surprised with picnics and playground visits.
• Ignore tradition, maybe – if spending Christmas at Nana’s is traditional, but your child hates doing it, choose something else instead. Just because it’s always been done during the school holidays, doesn’t mean it must continue. Start up some new traditions instead.
• Listen – ask your child what they want to do. You could also ask their opinion on your list of planned activities and adapt them accordingly.

I have faith that by following these tips, surviving the school holidays will be much easier. Well, I hope so anyway.

PS: any interest in signing a petition against school holidays? Anyone?