AIBU to set a summer schedule for my kids this summer holidays?

I think it’s very sad that people CHOOSE to have larger families and then make the oldest children ‘work’ doing household jobs and looking after the youngest children. It’s not the 1950’s and those tasks should remain the responsibility of the parent.

Some of my friends who grew up in larger families have chosen to have one child or no children at all, because they hated that aspect of their childhood and don’t want to re-create it.

The only chore my 17yr old has to do is feeding the cats and he adores the cats. He’s got years of having to be a responsible adult and making him do stuff now won’t make life any easier for him as an adult, it’s just taking on the drudgery earlier.

Maybe you shouldn't have had five kids then.

YANBU to try and make the summer holiday as stress free as they can be, but I don’t think your plan will work. May be for week 1, but everyone’s will power will fall away. I think the risk is it being more stressful sticking to the plan than going with the flow. Can you get them to help you make the plan, perhaps week on week you can plan on a Sunday for the upcoming week? It could allow for a reset if things don’t go to plan one week.

This sounds fab! My kids are 4 and almost 6 and would love this level or organisation. I'd say allow some flexibility for the weather and I think it's fair you've not asked the older ones to join everyday but it's nice to have a plan and some routine.
My kids will probably be up at 6.30am most days but I plan to look at the week ahead on a Sunday evening and book bits in.
I've already had a look on the city website for things on in the holidays and have marked them on the calendar and then we will do similar activities to what you have said.
My husband works shifts so his days off aren't the same every week.

If you want to make a cute summer holidays calendar or daily schedule for the kids - I used ChatGPT as it came out great! I've also made an "I'm bored" poster filled with all the things they can do and play around the house. We go out every day but not all day!

Too regimented for me

My 14 year nephew is working so the older ones could be doing something. He is in a local shop.

Younger go with the flow. Yes have ideas of days out weather dependent.

We used to have holiday clubs and chill days.

But if this works for you go for it.

Goodness no! Set some rules and boundaries of course, including chores, but to set a strict regime will only create arguments and stress for everyone.

30 minutes of daily schoolwork in the holidays? Just no.

Excellent plan, but make sure it can be flexible if something unexpected crops up. Ie don’t go buying admission tickets to something way ahead of time, so that if Daisy is suddenly invited out with friends, there is no drama about her going. After all a plan is not set in stone. I hope you have a lovely summer

I had a similar plan in corona times when kids were sent home. It helped keep all of us sane, it helped the kids know what to expect, and made that time seem so much nicer. Good reminder that I could look at similar for the holidays! Some kids (and families) thrive more on routine than others.

The best thing about school holiday when I was a kid was getting up when you wanted, lazing about in pj's in front of the tv with a bowl of cereal. My mum worked mornings & she left me & my brother in bed, we got up when we felt like it, crashed out watching kids television eating cereal & any crap we wanted then shot up to get dressed when she was practically walking up the road. Holidays were time to decompress from school, no homework & the only reading done was comics & teenage magazines. Your timetable wouldn't have worked in our house.

I think your rough plan sounds amazing- 4 kids aged toddler to teen here and I’ve actually taken a screenshot of your schedule to share with hubby & adapt for our family, as things do go crazy over summer hols! We do the homework time in the afternoon as ours all wake early and want to get straight into playing after breakfast, so that way they’re ready to sit down and do some study before lunch.

We keep trying to sit down and make a similar plan but just exhausted by evening and want to sleep!- we did brainstorm a list of ideas and prices for different activities so we do one ‘big’ paid activity a week, that keeps costs manageable. We’re also getting them involved with cooking meals in a sort of Junior Masterchef style which they really enjoy

The school work seems a lot! My daughter has to do her A level course work over summer. I feel sorry for her but she has deadlines. Let your kids be kids and just relax 😌 but I think if you feel more relaxed with a schedule just go for it!

Sounds lovely, but sod the school work off.

Eh, your kids have their entire adult lives to be miserable doing the daily grind. Why not let them have their childhood at least?

On a separate note...why do people post an "am I unreasonable" just to disagree with everyone who says yes and just insist they are not and it needs to be this way. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Sounds like my idea of hell , the best thing about summer for me is not having to get everyone up and dressed and out of the house on a schedule!!

But do whatever works for you.
9am awake dressed and doing chores and homework in the summer sounds miserable to me and I'm in my forties! So probably does to your teens too! There is a long way between up 9am and letting them bedrot til 3pm though! It could just as easily be 10:30 or 11 and still have plenty of day left!

She isn't though. She said her teenagers xan do their own thing.

But surely you can see what works for a 7 year old isn't the same as what works for a 16 year old (or, in truth, the other teens) ?

I have no idea how this will go but you can try it? If it doesn’t work out, then you can always give it up, it doesn’t hurt to try!

I am jealous that you can afford all those days out though, what a lovely thing to do for your kids x

Yours were obviously close in age then.

The OP is trying to make a 16 year old do things she is planning for a 5 yr old.
Surely you can see that is just barmy ?

I'd let them all chill until after lunch, then give them something to do..
Holidays are for relaxing, kids have a routine for school

You can only try .......

I would just do what you need to do for your family and who cares what other parents say. With 5 kids there will be more focus on what works for a group then if you only have one or two kids and no one else to consider.

I got a lot of judgement from other parents the way I have planned my son's GCSE summer suggesting I was overscheduling and micromanaging him. So far my son has had a very balanced summer with plenty of downtime alone and with friends but also some experiences out of his comfort zone which he didn't really want to do but absolutely loved in the end. Meanwhile some of the other parents are now trying to organise trips to the local swimming pool for the 16 year olds in a desperate attempt to get them to leave the house. So big lesson for me: just do you and let the others roll their eyes if they wish.

I thought it was school holidays…….a time for children to have fun and enjoy the summer. This schedule reads as school in a different location.

From 3 until 13 we had a charity that ran a holiday club. Usually before the DC were 13 they were off out with their mates every day. Waking teenagers up at 9 won't help them because their body clocks naturally run later.