Anyone else struggling to fill the school holidays with older children?

[Jinglejinglejingle7]

Ok so thats 1 week of school holidays done. Ive worked 2 days so dc10 has been to a sports club those 2 days whilst dc12 was with friends and at home whilst dh worked from home. The other days we've had dog walks to forest, cinema trip, town for library & milkshakes with friends and a morning out to a wildlife place. Now I feel I've peaked! We're away 1 week, but otherwise we need to fill the time. There's lots of screens too. Anyone else the same? It was so easy when they were little!

Hell yes!

Oh my goodness yes! I wish i could go to a soft play for a nice sit down whilst they run around tiring themselves out! I’m running out of money too, why is everything so expensive! I loved having little ones, I miss the afternoon naps.

I absolutely feel the pain. I don't have time off yet so my 10 and 13 year old have been at home while my dh works from home. Trying to do fun stuff in evenings / weekends but they just want to game. I know once I get them out it's fine but fed up of the constant battle when I am not doing it for my fun! Would happily chill after work but it's not good for them to just hand all day...

Yes! I only have one (11) and we’ve been wildflower picking, out for dinner twice (DD loves it), extra nice walkies with the dog somewhere nice, been to see grandma, went to Costco which ended up being an entire day due to traffic and was very stressful. That’s it! As a solo parent (no co-parent) I always feel utterly shut at the beginning of the summer holidays as it seems like everyone is going away on some sort of holiday and I just can’t afford anywhere at all. It breaks my heart tbh. Especially when the family opposite are packing up their motorhome and driving off in it and I can only wish to have something like that (I’d LOVE that!)
At least you’re going away with your kids, be thankful of that. You genuinely don’t need to be providing action packed activities daily. There’s no requirement or competition. Remember, kids LOVE spending odd days just doing nothing at all, they need the R&R. As long as they get out of the house most days, that’s all that matters.

Do your DC go to the park with their friends? I find they can be out all day so it takes some pressure off while I’m working.

At those ages I would expect them to be out with friends for at least a few hours each day.

Urgh. I have a 13yo and and 11yo (and an 8yo!). This week has been hard and we've all been so tired after the mammoth summer term.

I've been off this week so i've scheduled all the boring appointments (dentist / opticians / asthma review for DC2 and allergy clinic for DC3) and we've planned activities around our appointments. So we've done the splash park, the local nature reserve, the park x2 and a canal walk. We take our bikes so 13yo can cycle off and explore we also take a small rounders kit / football and where possible we've met other people (mainly DC2 friends who DC1 tolerates as we've known them for years!) It's is becoming incredibly difficult to entertain them all though.

Next week I'm back at work, eldest has a few days with his friends planned and other 2 will be with grandparents.

We go away in 2 weeks for 2 weeks so that breaks it up but I'm going to plan ahead for next year as I'm already beaten down after week one.

We live close to a train station so we jump on a train and explore other areas. The kids’ tickets are £2 each, and we usually take a picnic lunch, so it’s not too expensive.

It’s definitely harder as they get older. Mine are 10 and 13 almost 14. The older one either sees friends or stays in gaming. Luckily he’s been out quite a bit this first week with friends. I miss being able to organise things to do with him like take him to meet other mums and kids at soft play/trampoline park etc. the little one I can take places and meet mum friends (not soft play) so she’s a bit easier. Some days we have lazy days. We do have a holiday to fill a week. And the little one has various holiday clubs to go to at random times

We are half-way through the Summer hols (Scotland). Not run out of things yet. My DC do Scout and Guide badges at home in holidays which keeps them busy on days we are not busy. DD1 is painting the bathroom on Monday coming for the Scouts DIY badge.

DD1 is doing the online Teenage Reading Challenge. DD2 is doing the library Summer Reading Challenge for the last time. This week they both did Rookie Lifeguard Camp. They were each away a week with Scouts and Guides on a camp. Irritatingly, not the same bloody week though! We have a dog (she is usually with DH) so walking takes up a fair amount of the day. Sleepovers with friends. They both like baking which they’ve done at least once a week. Music practise 4x a week to keep skills up.

And, if you are bored in this house, you get a chore!

Not all children have friends, not all parents allow DC to go off alone at 12 (I'm in central London and have only just started to let my Y8 meet friends and even then they have to be heading somewhere to do something).

It's common in my area and within my circle that the 11yo (so just left primary) meet with the parents although the kids go off and so their own thing and don't hang out with the parents. We just provide ice-cream money.

Mine are still doing camps as they are quite creative. DD has done a musical theatre one this week, and is doing film making next week. Then we have two weeks away and doing an art camp when she gets back.

The ones we do are paid for but there are cheap options around too.
Most areas have a summer university run by the coucil with workshops like that.

Scouts' camp 7 nights away
Dance Academy 5 days
Zoo Camp 5 days
2 weeks abroad as a family

So many great holiday camps around here but yes, you pay for them.

You don’t have to do things everyday, it’s fine to have home days and still no screens, also low key things

You're worrying far to much about this they can entertain themselves, go out with friends you don't need to fill every minute of their days with activities

Take them to the library.
Tell them to get 3 or 4 books each.
Let them read at home, in the house or garden.
Next week, back to the library, and repeat.

That's all I ever did in the holidays, from 10 onwards, and I loved it.
And, if not books, just tell them that they need to entertain themselves (without screens) - bike, football, crafts, general mucking about. Why is it the parents' job.... parents have to work. And if they complain, find them some chores to do!

Thanks, its nice to know I'm not alone!

They both read, they both have friends nearby that they can go out with locally but this doesn't fill a day. Im still their main entertainment. Dd12 does not want to do summer camps, ds10 has dobe do e football ones and has more booked but thats when we're both working. We have a few days trips booked for nearvy big cities/a wildlife place. There's still alot of time to fill! Some of the big trips we are doing at weekends so that doesn't help me fill the week!

Can I send mine to you this sounds like it’s all totally under control!!!!
we do the same with badges for clubs and music practice and they’re doing a sports workshop which is annoyingly 10-3 (not a whole day for working but we’re juggling it)
and all 3 of them can go (14, 10 and 7) it’s a sports one so they do different activities each day and so it’ll be good.
age group for this is 5-16 tho so 16-18 I know that there is less on offer which is tough.

I just let mine have friends over as much as they like. And appreciate it when other parents return the favour (I realise not everyone can).

They often do camps but neither of them wanted to this year and that's fine too.

I have 2 young teens and I agree it’s hard. I say to them they have to leave the house at least once a day, every day, but that might just be us popping out for a bubble tea or a cake or to get ingredients to come home & bake with. I also say if they are having a at home day, they need to be responsible for mixing reading/ Lego/ kicking a footie about the yard with their screen time. We’ve done a couple of bigger theme park/ seaside days out, but that’s always expensive! They’ve seen friends a bit, but I think it’s hard in the summer when everyone is away at different times. We’ve got a week away ourselves, a few days of sports/ dance camps and a few days seeing family, but I’m trying to just accept it’s different to the fun filled holidays of younger childhood and let them enjoy the down time.