To think it's just me that doesn't want the 6 weeks to end !

I think it’s pretty offensive. It often gets thrown at working mums. The implication is that people who either don’t want to, or can’t, spend every waking second with their children shouldn’t have had them.

Do you really honestly think you’re the only parent who enjoys, or would enjoy, spending all summer with their DC 🤣

Good for you. Others find it offensive.

Christ no, we have three kids including two with additional needs. Bring back the term time routine!

As others have said it really is very variable depending on how many kids, whether you have a full time job during the holidays or even a part time one that's a fair few hours, whether your H is around trying to work , how much money you've got for getting out and about and the personalities of your children- I've seen little girls sit crayoning for hours and young boys shredding the house up - and occasionally vice versa!! And last but not least for many- the weather ! I am past that stage now but would certainly have enjoyed the holidays a lot more if I hadn't had a full time job that wasn't WFH, and was busily trying to fudge a mix of holiday clubs, 2 weeks away and the odd day of grandparents- and a H trying to work from home and needing a fair bit of quiet for the job

When my kids were young, they thrived on routine. Holidays turned them into monsters because of the change in daily schedule. God forbid I attempted to keep them up late, they turned into screaming, crying disasters.

@Blueybanditbingochilli perfectly happy with my sense of perspective, thank you. For one, it allows me to countenance why some parents might find the summer holidays tough notwithstanding my own privileged circumstances. And I think you’re possibly being trite but just in case you’re not, there’s a lot that lies between “inoffensive” and “swastika”.

I was the same when my DCs were at school. I absolutely loved spending time with them but luckily I didn't have lots of work in the holidays. I mainly had a term time job. This is the first year I haven't really seen my two now adult DCs much over the summer as one has a job and one mainly lives in London now and I really miss those days when they were little! Enjoy it while you can !

I clicked on your post hoping to read a thought provoking post, an invitation for parents to discuss different views on the summer holidays and how we manage them. Unfortunately you negated all that by saying why do people have children if they don't want to spend time with them . How disappointing.

School time is the opposite: I have to juggle work and drop offs/pick ups/ homework/ extracurriculars/etc. I am absolutely not looking forward to this.

The

I love summer holidays but can afford not to work them. With easygoing DC, that makes it enjoyable. It'd be a tad different if I had to juggle both work and holidays and full of energy DC.

I don’t find that offensive. A swastika is offensive. What she said was smug, and yes it annoyed me, but let’s keep some perspective shall we.

We were fortunate to have grandparents as childcare but on my days off work I really felt reminded that it is hard parenting a very social, high-energy little boy for 14 hours a day. While also trying to keep on top of the laundry, dishwasher and food shopping. I am a quiet, calm introvert and really hoped that in becoming a parent DS wouldn't people me out, given I made him. But he just does. I'm a better parent from 6am to 9am and 3pm to 8pm when I get a little mental space. Even if that's at work.

@Blueybanditbingochilli she said “why have children if you don’t want to spend time with them” - incredibly offensive and more than a little smug.

Yeah, no. I for one cannot wait for ds to get back to school, back into a routine, and for me to have a couple of hours a day to myself.

For me it's both.

I love having them round
I love the slower start in the mornings
I love that we can go on impromptu adventures or camp in the garden
I love that we can be more flexible about bedtime
I love the feeling of being together as a family.

But

It's also hard
The house is messier as kids are always in it
I'm working much more in the evenings to squeeze in work, so no nice summer evenings for me
There's less adult only time
It's really expensive
The kids occasionally bicker
The mum guilt is magnified. I feel guilty for not fitting in my work but guilty if I use childcare to work. I feel guilty when I'm not paying them attention to try to reduce the bombsite they cause in the house, but guilty if they live in a messy home.

As for me, 2 children age 5 and 17 months.

Terraced house, no garden.
I can’t drive (learning).
It’s endlessly rained, and I mean endlessly. At one point I counted 12 days of rain in a row. We live fairly rurally and there’s almost nothing to do indoors bar expensive soft plays where you get a 2 hour slot then there’s another 8 hours of the day to fill.
My youngest has had whooping cough, HFM, an ear infection and several other viruses since June. When he’s been poorly I’ve had to sit at home with him for a few days at a time while my oldest goes crazy with boredom, because you can’t have a fun time at the farm with a very poorly toddler.
We both work FT so we tag teamed with leave and had no overlaps for time off together. No ‘family time’ and no holiday.
No nearby family to visit and no help. Nobody to watch the kids for an hour or two while I get something done. They’re both in tow 24/7, my youngest a very clumsy toddler who has just learned to run and has no sense of danger, and my oldest won’t even let me leave the room to go for a piss without her.

Now do you understand a little about why the last 6 weeks haven’t been rosy in our house and looking forward to the routine of school (in part as an ‘outing’ for my kid) doesn’t mean I ‘hate spending time with them’?

You don’t have the power to foresee quite what it will be like when you have kids. It’s possible to enjoy spending time with them at least some of the time and also be totally drained and exhausted from it. Just in the last week I’ve been kicked so hard it’s left bruises and had to break up fights after my autistic child had meltdowns caused by their sibling deliberately winding them up.

Exactly.

I absolutely live for the holidays with the kids (I have three - to all those saying it’s only because OP has one) so no you’re not alone OP. I get so fed up with people saying in the last couple of weeks of the holidays ‘oh you must be counting down to them going back to school’ - I just reply ‘no, I love spending time with them.’
It’s nothing to do with anxiety about them going back and everything to do with loving the weeks of time together. But I do very much appreciate that we have the weeks of time together because I work term time.

It makes me quite sad. Why have children if you don't want to spend time with them??

This is a really nasty thing to say btw.

You realise many parents have no choice? Smug, condescending and cruel to say this.

Show me your privilege without showing me your privilege.

Um nope 😁