To be dreading the summer holidays

A friend of mine used to ask her children what they wanted to do in the summer (I think they had some guidance on ideas!)

They'd make a huge bingo board of all the ideas and cross them off as they did it. Could be something as small as 'make scones' all the way up to 'whole day at the beach'.

The idea was to involve the children, get them excited but mainly to come up with a load of free activities the children wanted to do!

Are you on a class WhatsApp group or do you know the numbers of any of his school friends parents? I’d get texting and set up some play dates… reciprocal obviously. A trip to the park with a picnic is fun if it’s with your buddy. Look at local authority sites for free or cheap events at libraries, leisure centres etc. Our local leisure centre actually ran really reasonably priced holiday camps with loads of activities if you could afford one or two days.

Look on local Facebook pages for play association days, local things. Garden centres usually put sessions of things on

@EmptyBoxesss one day get out the other day is chilled together with no pressure or they occupy themselves . Whether out to play with friends or the park or their bike.
Can you do stuff in the garden or bake .
Garden centre for hot chocolate and flowers. .
A beach near by ?
Wellies on and a forest walk
We have a local council Card here for swimming and stuff for kids through the holidays. .
Do you have anything like that ?
National trust , museums

Do one big trip/treat out a week (doesn’t have to be expensive)

Theming weeks helps. So you can do Romans one week and go and do Roman stuff (museums, drawing a Roman, making armour out of cardboard boxes etc).

Holiday clubs are good though, you don't have to put in for full weeks, you can do a day here and there and it's probably cheaper than going on a day out or even a trip to the shops where you get fleeced for a kids toy, book, ice cream and lunch.

Have a routine like a school timetable with break times

I preferred to go with the flow most days. Get up when you like, take your time over breakfast and getting ready.

Get out every day for fresh air and exercise but when you're home let DC choose what he wants to do and don't micromanage him - it's supposed to be a break from the routine of school. And let him get bored so he will use his imagination. And put the telly on!

I’m always surprised at how many parents try to fill every day in the holidays with something to do. We used to have a few days a week at home at least- paddling pool in the garden, playing with toys, drawing.

I think it does children good to learn to entertain themselves a bit in the holidays.

A lot of parents on here claim to adore them, why wouldn’t you want to spend all day every day with your child, no rush to get up and out on the school run (I always wonder if I’m the only mum who feels like nine o clock is practically midday!) but I’m with you.

I do a lot with mine; more than many people I know and I’ve already started to fill up August with activities BUT it’s relentless and exhausting (and expensive.) So yes I shall be glad when September rolls around!

A lot of local councils run cheap sports and crafts activities for kids. When my older 2 were young we used them a lot, we did all sorts - trampolining, dance, football, roller skating etc. is there anything like that in your area?

I'm similar now in that I have one 6 year old and don't really know many mum's (other 2 kids are grown up), but I'm lucky in that I work 3 days a week so it's not constant and DS gets a variety of people to see when I'm at work

Meant to add, there's also nothing wrong with some days/part days just at home playing with toys.

School is tiring and he will need down time too.

My son is a bit older now, but things we used to do at that age (and some we still do!) As I teach so always have the hols off;

Library weekly visits (ours had colouring stuff as well) look at books there and borrow one to take home.

Park

Local walks on bridal paths - take a picnic, just what you would have at home so no extra cost.

Cheap baking at home

Lego building

Swimming at leisure centre

Look in your area for free activities over summer.

Any free museums? I am in Greater Manchester so we did MOSI and the GMP museum- both free and we went on the train.

Might sound weird but tesco (or other) cafe - relatively cheap for a lunch and means mess elsewhere.

Have a friend round to play.

Depends what he is into toy wise but my son used to love taking his toy cars outside - make a little circuit using sticks/stones etc. Taking teddies outside for a picnic, dinosaurs/figures etc.

It may help you to make a bit of a plan for each week? Then it won't feel so daunting.

Why is it relevant? She already says she is with her child all thd time in the holidays

It's hard when you have an only.

Make a plan is my advice. It's much easier when you don't have to think of things on the fly. I'd usually go with something like two days a week and all day trip out and then other three days a trip out in the morning and chill at home in the afternoon. I would try and see other people on at lest two of those days (ideally kids, but even other adults would help I think).

Try and organise as many opportunities for him to see other kids as possible. Playdates, group trips out, low cost camps, free/low cost activities.

Check out all the special summer events in your area. There'll often be free activity days and stuff on in the holidays.

Don't be afraid to tell him to entertain himself for periods of time on your chill out afternoons. You don't need to be entertaining him for every waking hour.

Tent in the garden . Look on Freecycle for things that might help.Have a routine like a school timetable with break times . Definitely cooking and picnics.

I don’t think you have to spend every hour of every day entertaining him. He’s a little boy, I’m sure he has toys, Im sure he has an imagination, and I’m definitely sure you need to cut yourself some slack and know that children should be kept safe but they don’t need to be saved from boredom.

And look at the silver lining: weeks of NO SCHOOL RUN. Outweighs all the cons in my eyes 🤣

I don’t know where you are/if your son would enjoy this sort of thing but we have found museums a lifesaver over the holidays. So many of them are free and a bus journey is cheap and takes up a nice chunk of time to get there (for some reason my kids love the bus!?) Many often out interesting kids activities on in the holidays too

For my 6yo who hates clubs and sports, I am planning to make a menu of options for her to choose from each day. These will include:
Library
Playpark
Splash park
Paddle in river & feed ducks
Arts & crafts (The Works do great value kits)
Baking (plus walk to shop to buy ingredients)
Cinema
Playdate with a friend

Most of these don’t cost much to do and can be spun out for a couple of hours. We will also try and do some reading and maths each day. She’ll also have to come along to my boring supermarket trips, sort the washing out with me etc. All the stuff I had to do as a child!

Lots of walks, beaches (we live near one not sure if you do), play dates with friends, day to day jobs and also letting him entertain himself (harder with one maybe? Mine just play together for hours with not much input needed aside from occasional refereeing!)

i try and think of ways to do things with purpose e.g. go to the woods for a walk, but plan to do some den building while there. Go to beach and collect shells as part of our day out, and the next day do a craft with the shells/stones.

join all the local facebook groups, there will be free activities happening, post on class what’s app asking people to share ideas they may have some interesting ideas!

some local place round here do summer passes eg trampoline parks let you go for one hour everyday for a really reasonable price so there might be something similar local to you.

good luck and enjoy! 🙂

Does he cope OK with being bored? I remember days of watching TV, reading, playing with toys etc.

I don't blame you at all for feeling as you do.

The alternative of shorter summer holidays would mean much higher prices for those able to go away, and you could be having holidays with less daylight or worse weather.