For anyone who feels that the six week summer holiday is too long…

[Forgottenmyphone]

consider yourself lucky and thank your lucky stars you don’t live in Italy!

Poor kids. Hope they don't know that their parents dread time with them!

I am 6 weeks in Scotland (with an extra week every 7 years, apparently). But we get two weeks in October.

However, we have actually had 7 weeks+ in practice most years because of covid. I.e school shut one year, then the next year teachers were due an extra week because school started back a week early after the previous summer. Then we had a scheduled 7 week year. So 6 weeks feels like a short one.

Exactly, take some responsibility and pay for your own childcare. Don't ask me as a tax payer to dig a little deeper to send your kids to summer clubs. Our issue in this country is that childcare is on the resident parent if custody is split, where as a standard support arrangement should include a 50% responsibility towards childcare costs.

It's not like the summer holidays come as a surprise is it?

@Longdueachange it shouldn't be thought as "childcare" though. It should be part of the education system really - decent funded activity camps.
Essentially school but without the academic parts and not compulsory.

I grew up up in US and it was closer to 12! No winder residential summer camps are so popular there....

Also......we need a better system of some jobs being term time only and during school holidays those jobs taken by students (from age 14/15 in some jobs).

It's like that in Italy because from June onwards it's too hot to be in classrooms which don't have any aircon.

My husband's family are in Italy and I think we worked out it was more or less the same amount of holidays over the year as they don't get half term breaks and less time at Easter.

why shouldn't childcare be thought of as childcare?

@SoupDragon well unfortunately a lot of people have the attitude that schools are childcare and complain when there's days off for inset days or snow etc.

@SoupDragon basically really though.....we (the UK) just need something better !
Work/life balance is terrible. Mental health issues are sky rocketing. Housing doesn't have security or stability due to not enough council homes. Families that the parents are actually in employment are still finding themselves having to use food banks or free school uniform exchanges.
It's all just so depressing and miserable and I just feel the UK needs something nicer.

Some of those countries with the highest school holidays don't have half terms and Easter is shorter (Spain and Italy). So if you add the 6 weeks summer, 3 half terms and 1 easter, the difference wouldn't be as dramatic as the graphic shows. Still more but not as dramatic.

I’d love school holidays to be 12 weeks.

Yawn….

ive got news for you.
Not everyone thinks like this.
Not every country thinks like that either.

fwiw in France you do have government funded holiday clubs. They are cheap and tbh not always good. But they are there and give the opportunity to students to work during the hols too.
Companies often offer holiday clubs as soon as they reach a certain size. Or give employees vouchers.
And even all of that, there is very well developed sector of holiday clubs at various price/type/day/board etc….

I have no objection to paying for my DCs if there are places they can go. DS has SEN and is in Y7 (but way too young to be home alone, and it wouldn't be good for him anyway) but there are no holiday clubs that will take him.

That’s not the point.

If you have 13 weeks hols in the summer and no hols clubs organised (as a sector), then it means women can’t work. (Because it will be women won’t it?)
It means more people relying on benefits.
It means increased poverty across the country.
It means a negative impact on the economy.

So yes on an economic pov, it’s better to subsidise hols club.

Plus as mentioned, well run hols clubs helps to develop children into well rounded adults. (Not just childcare - lets ensure they don’t die during that time attitude)

Other European countries start school days much earlier.. go in Saturday mornings and don't have many half term breaks.
But l absolutely loved every school holiday.
Loved having mine at home and doing things with them.
Yes l was a SAHM..
My Grandkids are HE.. schools have just become far too strict.

I would rather have longer summer holidays where you might have a chance of decent weather and definitely brighter evenings. As opposed to trying to amuse kids during long Easter breaks maybe as early as March and crappy October weather. Soft plays can get extremely tedious.

Other issues are that we don't live as close to extended family, as a rule, compared to other countries.
We're also miserable bastards. Don't want people and other children to come in our houses, don't want other people's children, don't want grandparents to feed them sweets, don't want to pay for childcare. Most would rather make our kids sit infront of screens whilst we try to work from home at the same time.
If we want the long holidays of other countries, then we will have to compromise, worry less, let children play out and maybe sacrifice a few material possessions to pay for some unpaid leave.
That said, I don't know who would do some essential jobs if everyone took august off. I work in the NHS and it's already a nightmare to get time off.

Ireland - 13 weeks summer.
A week off in October, 2 for xmas, another one in feb and I am sure we have another week or a few days somewhere.

You do realise that you don't have to spend all the weeks in the house. We take them travelling as it's what we'd enjoyed doing pre-kids and now it's way more fun!

It costs the economy more in the long run if the govt don't pay for some things. This is why schooling is free, so that we have a literate and numerate workforce, and it's why hospital treatment and GP appointments are free, so that the workforce are reasonably healthy.

It costs the economy more to have parents (usually mothers) leave the workforce to care for children than it does to subsidise childcare so that those mothers can work.

Did some kind of bat signal go out to US republican voters last night?

Just what I was going to say !

Quite - in my county there are lunch clubs during school holidays so that children living in poverty will eat. Long school holidays (and the school day for that matter) are designed around an antiquated idea of family life. Even paying for your own clubs is not that easy for all families, it depends where you are. Simplistic, snotty comments on this subject are just that.

Rising costs impact families’ wallets and well-being during the school holidays - UK News Group