I love half-term, but for all the wrong reasons! Anyone else with me?

[ContessaGoesMarchingDOWNTOHELL]

I LOVE half-term, but people act like I'm a selfish monster when I explain why!

1. The kids spend all day happily bouncing around and going on exciting adventures with their (reasonably priced) holiday club, staffed by long-suffering yet kind childcare professionals with a great sense of humour. They return home exhausted, grubby and happy (the kids....mostly)

2. We avoid having to battle the bored half-term masses at every free activity and save a few pennies not buying entry to overpriced attractions and buying desperately-wanted cheap tat/sugary things

3. I spend the week working, mostly from home, for which my teams are grateful because generally we're short-staffed at this time

4. I get to leave work at my usual time (school hours) and have a happy few hours ponking around the garden every afternoon

5. We get to save up our leave (and money) for the 'big' holidays at Christmas/Easter/summer, and have a few days left over to attend school events during the year

This thread isn't meant to devalue the experiences of those who love having half-term with the kids; I just wanted to extol the virtues of another approach

Anyone else with me?

Good for you. I don’t know what Ponking around the garden for a few hours actually involves but I never understands why people leave their children in holiday club when they don’t need to /could collect them early.

I'm a sahm...I was looking forward to half term but the dc spend the entire time bickering ...I'd happily pack them off to a holiday club

In this house, ponking around is taken to mean 'prancing around merrily doing nothing much of importance', hmm in a garden context, it means strolling around frowning at veg beds and trying to calculate the plausibility of onions (on this occasion anyway).....

Oh I hear you formerbabe. My two are nice individually but HORRIBLE together! We have got Friday off and I'm considering confining them to separate rooms if they start any shit.....

Sounds absolutely fabulous.
Sadly holiday clubs around here seem to think that our jobs magically become 10 til 2 in school holidays and only really do short days. The one that does slightly longer days is in totally the wrong direction for drop off.
So our choices are sending the kids to the childminder who they tolerate for after school but get bored with for a whole day or we work around each other so basically in school holidays I don't see my husband. He had yesterday off with the kids while I was at work. I'm off today then I go on nights tomorrow so I have tomorrow with the kids, dh will leave work a little early to be back on time for me to leave, he's taken Friday off to have the kids while I sleep. Happy days. In the summer I worked almost every weekend so I could have the kids in the week while dh worked.

I want a good holiday club that does 7.30 til 17.30

My dd hated all and every holiday club and sobbed endlessly
Parenting guilt if I couldn’t get time off 😕

Your half term sounds fab OP, everyone's a winner!

I'm looking forward to spending time with my kids! Feel like I've barely seen them since they started back at school.

Although, I really not looking forward to the inevitable whining and bickering...

There is only 1 holiday club in our area that does 8am-6pm. All the others are start at 8:30 or 9:30 and finish at 3:30 which is unhelpful.

I envy you. Ours go private so couldn’t find a holiday club for their dates this time. I am exhausted and feel like I have died inside a little tiny bit. On the one hand it’s good having different holidays for flights and stuff but the lack of childcare is a major inconvenience.

The thing I'm looking forward to is not having to wash & dry 2 sets of uniforms every day/every other day because they haven't got enough to last the whole week otherwise. I might actually get to the bottom of the washing pile

I’m a teacher so understandable why I like it . Although I teach FE students so I have an awful lot of essays to mark usually. Currently on mat leave though, ELCS booked next week during half term which has worked out really well for us childcare wise as my DM is a TA.

I like half term best because we get to lie in and avoid the manic school run for a few days. The six week holidays are far too long and stress me out but 1-2 weeks is great.

I think it's really sad that you don't want to spend time with your children if you can. I work full time and absolutely relish the time I get in the holidays with my children. I also think that they need a rest! Sending them off to a full on intensive week of holiday clubs means that they are constantly on the go all term. Exhausting got kids as well as adults.
Obviously, if you have to work then fair enough but if this is just a lifestyle choice then I think it's pretty sad. To do it so that you can watch veg grow in your garden, whilst avoiding your children is awful.

Me too - I’m far less shouty as we’re not rushing to get out in the mornings.

I usually work from home in the holidays but I’m on AL this week.

Right now the DC are on their computer games and I’m having a coffee watching shitty daytime TV. Judge all you like but I don’t feel guilty one bit!

Holiday clubs are great, though I try not to use them for the whole week. I've moved to a mix of holiday clubs, a day with a bigger trip out, and some lazy days with more lounging around / computer time for us all to decompress.

Sending them off to a full on intensive week of holiday clubs means that they are constantly on the go all term. Exhausting got kids as well as adults.

I agree, having run a holiday club in the past i've seen how tired children are when it's half term. They just want to rest, read a book, play video games, play with their own toys and watch TV. It's been a long half term, and the last thing most of them want is a week at holiday club where they return each night exhausted.

Regardless of if I'm off work or not, even the small wonder of not making their packed lunches for a week feels like a blessing!

Good for you OP. Ignore the judging, we’re all different.

I am loving the no school run. Have had first three days off but working next two. I only work part time though so get days off when the kids are at school and I must admit I am looking forward to the next one!

I don’t understand where some posters have got from the OP that she doesn’t want to spend time with her children?

She’s working from home which would be impossible if they’re arguing all the time and you’re having to referee! It’s better for them to go to holiday club where they’re having fun!

IamGroot when mine have received the memo and are friendly and nice to be around (rather than constantly whining that they're bored/hungry/HE HIT ME etc) then I like spending time with them too - it's just sadly extremely rare! They are better when separated tbf.

skunk, please see above answer! I'm hoping they will improve with age - am trying my best to teach them manners etc - but right now it's no fun. If I let them stay home and watch tv they go crazy, if I try to engage with them they take a certain delight in rejecting whatever I'm offering (be it conversation, activities, board games) and if we go out it's I'M BORED/HUNGRY/HE HIT ME again, but outdoors and in front of people. I struggle to see the fun. Plus holiday club lets them choose between softplay, tv, crafts or video games a lot of the time, so they get plenty of downtime

You're happy. Your dc are happy. What's to be judgey over?

I work in a school. I have always arranged holiday camps and activities for my dc for part of the holidays. As the dc have got older I have paid them less and less attention during the holidays. I'm almost 100% available to them most days, and we happily get on with what we want (minus the usual and occasional sibling bicker). If we fancy it, we go out, separately or together. I rarely bother making lunch for them. Sometimes they feed themselves, sometimes they prepare food for all or some of us. It's chill.

Threads like these make me so happy I just have the one child! Not always the case, of course, but at least I don’t have bickering!!

There is a world of a difference between mentally-draining school and physically-exhausting holiday club. If children are getting enough good-quality sleep and nutrition, especially with proper downtime in the evenings because there's no homework, they can be fully refreshed and ready for school after a week of running around.

Jelly I am looking forward to that future! As they get older/less feral they will be rewarded with being allowed to stay home and moulder all through half-term. There may even be a pub lunch in it for them, if they're lucky!

I've actually found that our best quality time together comes when watching TV between dinnertime and bed, which may sound odd but is basically the way I bonded with my own dad we sit together and discuss whatever's on, which leads to discussion of the world in general. This only really works if they've been sufficiently exercised during the day, so holiday club helps with that. Plus they're still young enough to cuddle, which is nice :) we do have SOME bonding time! Right now they're into Bake-Off and have just discovered The Apprentice, which is unexpected