To ask how you feel about school holidays?

As a full time worker I hated the school holidays.
I always felt terribly guilty that they were with childminder/at clubs.
Was at its worse when they are 9 ish. My older 2 had no interest in sports and group activities but it was all that was on offer.

Other countries don't have the same issue because their governments have to respect teachers/schools/education and don't use it like a political football to score points with the electorate.

I enjoy them. We are in London where there are so many attractions, shows, parks and day trips nearby that we need the holidays to be able visit all the interesting places we want to see. During term-time life is too busy with extracurriculars and homework. We have lots of fun holiday camps too - my dcs have done musical theatre, gymnastics, forest school, swimming crash courses, dance. Not for childcare but a fun way to get into an activity for a week and meet new friends.

I didn’t enjoy it much when my DC were primary age….especially if the weather was rubbish. I always felt like I should be doing more - more play dates, days out, holidays etc. It was exhausting!!

Now they’re 15 & 17 they’re out most days and as long as there’s food in the fridge when they get home, I don’t hear much from them!

I like to use holiday clubs because it's a different kind of structured educational experience but I won't be able to use them when my girls both start at private school, because most only run at the same time as state school holidays.

Ours in Canada are 9 or 10 weeks every summer depending on how the teachers’ contract falls. Six, to me, almost seems too short. But I love them being off in the warm, sunny months and now I work in education so I enjoy the break.

I really like them. I find I miss the kids when they’re at school all the time so I enjoy the lazy quiet mornings and days out. That being said, I think the 6 weeks is too long.

Those days are long gone but I loved the holidays. I'm all for longer summer holidays not shorter. We had 8-9 weeks in NI when I was growing up.

My kids are long grown up but we loved the long summer holidays. It didn't have to be expensive. More time off in winter was a drag as nowhere to go unless you like endless cold, muddy walks. Also with only 3 weeks off, trying to actually get time off to have a summer break would get harder and everywhere would be rammed. We would lose a lot of teachers too as that's the only great thing about the job

I LOVE the holidays. Love the lazier days, feeling like the children can actually be children and let their minds expand into the space, rather than the crushing days of school. I would take a week off the summer holidays and tack it into May half term

It's our first year with our child in school. Holidays are a juggle to say the least. We both work full time, it's been manageable for the holidays so far but the six week summer break is just going to be stressful. And yes I know before any one bleats out ' but school isn't childcare' (by default they are looking after said child though)

I dread them. I need time on my own and during the holidays I get none of it during the day and am consequently exhausted by the time the kids go to bed. (DS has ASD and has been kicked out of holiday camps so they’re not an option and we have no family close to help out.)

I love them.

I get a generous amount of annual leave and use 95% of it in the school holidays and I can usually get the time off I want because I book well in advance.

My children are 10 and 7 and a lot of fun to be around at the moment.

My ex husband also has them for about 30% of the holidays (as opposed to 20% in term time). This means that on those weeks I’m not rushing around to and from work and have evenings to myself. Obviously my ex and I don’t take holidays together now so I don’t have to consider his diary. One of the few advantages of being divorced.

I put money aside every month into my childcare voucher account direct from my salary so I don’t miss the money and when I pay for holiday clubs it’s not a big hit all at once.

Love the summer holidays in particular as usually you get a few days of good weather. Although we are also on holiday this week and the weather is glorious!

I always struggled with the 6 week holidays when my eldest was at school, due to her disabilities it was too long for her to be out of her routine and difficult to entertain her. We managed with holiday clubs, carers and extra help from family once my parents had retired. Youngest has her birthday in the 6 week holidays so she has that to look forward to as well as time with me. The next step is to find things that don't cost too much and get the youngest to accept no for an answer without getting upset that we don't have the time or money to do what she asks for straight away!

I loved having an extended summer with my children when they were small. There are lots of inexpensive local things that are imports for growing up. Endless hours on the beach, dog walks, camping in the garden, cooking, craft, a free flow of children coming for sleepovers, quality time with grandparents…. We are now in the teenage years, so it’s not quite the same, but they are wonderfully independent and sensible.

When I worked in a school, the long summer was great, time off with the kids and much needed break from work (stresses of teaching shouldn’t be underestimated!).

now I wfh but kids are older so I can let them play in the garden, get their own snacks and take them to the park in my lunch break. I miss the time off with them though.

Working away from home makes the holidays an expensive and stressful juggling act so I do agree that the summer hols would be better reduced (4 weeks). The kids are usually desperate to get back to routine then anyway.

I wouldn’t mind an extra week at Christmas either - a week to recover first week of Jan would be great! If you are a sahm with spending money, I can totally understand why the long hols are good 😊

This is great advice, we do similar. I also make lists of good weather things and bad weather things as sometimes I get blinkerd and can't see past 'there's nothing to do' feeling if I'm particularly stressed.

DH and I also take a few days and week each. As in, it's not day after day of monotony, I find that hard, but knowing I am at work 2 or 3 days a week a nice respite.

But yes, it's hard. I've got a 3 and 6 year old

I love that there is less rushing around and we can spend some time together without having to worry about homework, clubs and prepping for the next day. I used to love them more when the kids were both younger but now I have a teenager it is hard to find things that they both want to do together so that makes it more difficult.

I love it when kids are off school, even though we both work FT so have to organise childcare. So nice to not have to worry about uniform and the rush to do everything between end of school and bedtime. More relax on bedtime as well.
Indie school so we have 3 1/2 weeks at Christmas and Easter and 8 weeks for Summer (plus the 1w half terms).

I love the holidays. Esp now kids are older and sleep in. Love not rushing dinner or strict bedtimes. We spend lots of time at the beach

Our school puts all the inset days in August

Are you in England??

I absolutely loved them! Especially the long summer holiday.

No morning stress. I’m lucky living very close to the beach so that probably helps!

Mine used to get 12 weeks off in the summer when we lived in Spain. I loved it, as did they!

Ice cream money isn’t free- sometimes paying for parking in these places isn’t free. Ice creams are £3.50 per ice cream now