to be violently opposed to the summer holidays being shortened to three weeks

[emkana]

Don't know if there's been a thread about this yet?

Suggested by Frank Field, adviser to David Cameron, because poorer children don't get the stimulation during the summer holidays and therefore fall behind.

Libby Purves wrote quite rightly in the Times yesterday that that is no good reason to deprive all children of the long summer break (and the teachers!), rather more enrichment should be offered during the holidays for deprived children.

What would be really instructive is to have a breakdown of the 'fors' and 'againsts' along SAHM or working mums lines. I think that might be very revealing!

As far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't have so much of a problem with lo-o-ng summer hols if they didn't mean DH and I chasing our own tails around trying to make sure the DSs are safe and cared for, let alone entertained or stimulated for SIX WEEKS. Holiday schemes (ours) last 5 weeks. The boys are bored stupid by week 4, even with 2 family holidays thrown in. The rest is pure juggling.

And I stated earlier, the 'trade off' for this long holiday can be interminably long term times and the pain associated with bringing a slower learner back up to speed.

However, if I were a SAHM, tbh I can see why long holidays would be good, WEEKS of not having that school time morning routine (and having day time company for extended periods)whereas for working mums, the holidays just provide many weeks of extra hassle, driving kids miles to get CC etc.

Normally I resist the temptation to get drawn into these threads (I blame Riven). But...

Saying put on provision for poorer kids is missing the point. It's not talking about poorer kids, but deprived ones. You can be really pretty well off and still not have a family that is actively involved in supporting a child's development.

A lot of deprived people don't go to museums and libraries; they don't feel they belong and it's understandable. If you are functionally illiterate or had a limited education, why would you see taking your kids there as valuable?

In countries such as Germany, holidays are staggered by region so you woudln't have the pressure on those three weeks.

And alouiseg you're full of the milk of human kindness aren't you? Yes, I was aware kids had school holidays before getting pregnant. I did not plan on having to leave my ex because of domestic abuse and end up as a working single parent. Holiday clubs are limited, in different locations to schools and expensive even when subsidised.

I would love two weeks at half-term as I have to share holidays with my ex so only see her for three days. I spend more quality time with my daughter during term time.

BTW, I know lots of teachers who go into it because of the long holidays. Ever spent Christmas Eve managing an A&E department? I have, come and talk to me about stress.

School is about education.

It is not childcare, teachers are there to educate not babysit.

Learning should not be confined to schools and classrooms there is a whole wide world out there that children will benefit from seeing.

Perhaps the answer would be to keep schools open all year round but not compulsory as the education would be kept within terms. That way children receiving free school meals could still eat, and children at risk of harm could be kept out of the way of negligent parents, those parents wishing to use it as a childcare facility could do so.

BTW, I know lots of teachers who go into it because of the long holidays

oooh the selfish feckers

proper teachers would pay to do it whilst self flagellating and wearing a hair shirt etc etc

pray tell, do you draw a salary for your work? do you dare to have perks?

I'm in teaching for the red biros. :o

I actually can't think of another county that has shorter holidays than the UK.

We're positively stingy in comparison with USA and Europe.

Pragmatic point, we, like many schools, had so much building/decorating work done this year. It was barely finished in 6 weeks, there is no way it could have been completed in 4!

Although, there may not be any money in the kitty for building works ever again

What is wrong with going into teaching for the perks? Why do teachers have to be martyrs. TBH if you just went into teaching for the holidays and found no joy in the job you would struggle.

Very few people went into teaching for one single reason.

FioFio Wed 15-Sep-10 09:52:12
I don't know what is wrong with children having a break in the summer holidays anyway. What exactly is wrong with slobbing out in front of the tv, going for a walk, playing the garden, reading when you want to, baking a few cakes, dinner, bath and bed?

I can't remember doing anything more as a child. I think if anything, we over stimulate them too much these days

oh fio I love you.
I soooooooo agree

God I don't want my kids taught by teachers who haven't had 6 weeks off.

As a teacher I used to work best part of 2 of the weeks in the holidays so that means they'd be left with 1 to relax.

That is not enough to recharge in preparation for a new class.

My kids needed 6 weeks to recharge especially as they don't get enough play and relaxation as it is.

Why should all kids suffer for a few,stimulation costs nothing.I spent buggar all over the hols and have 3 kids. There is masses of free stuff if you look for it.

The bottom line is some parents don't want to stimulate their kids in the hols in the same way they don't want to feed them healthy food,hear them read,get them off Play Stations,discipline them etc.

Totally fed up with the state moping up after crappy parenting.

swallowedAFly "could be answered by staggering the hols, different two weeks in different areas of the country - would actually lower the demand for each slot."

This will still create enormous problems for working people who have to ensure their holidays don't clash with colleagues. Where I work there are quite a few of us with school age children and you have to get your request in for leave pretty sharpish at the beginning of the year if you want to get a two week slot in summer. So it is bad enough with 6 weeks to go at but it would be very very hard if we were all fighting for the same two weeks!

I don't know why people think only SAHM prefer the 6 weeks off. I have worked all the time that DD has been at school and when she was younger then it certainly took a lot of forward planning and some extra expense to cover holidays - but that wouldn't change if the holidays were in a little staggered bits rather than with a long summer break. There would still be as many days to deal with.

Personally I think the 6 weeks is a good chance to unwind, take family holidays etc. and I would be sorry to see it go.

As an aside - expatinscotland Do you not get mobile libraries where you live? As a child I lived in a very rural area with virtually no public transport and miles from a library - but we got the mobile library once a fortnight and it was one of the highlights of my hols that I coould choose my own books rather than rely on my Mum to choose them for me.

christmas eve is one day of the year, queen.

I know loads of nurses who only went into it because they wanted to marry a doctor.

I think we choose jobs that suit us, or we do if we are wise. I have many friends who are doctors and nurses and I don't envy them one bit. A&E any night would be beyond my stress thresholds. I have a friend who is a surgeon, he thinks my job is beyond his stress threshold.

I don't understand why anyone is keen to convince anyone that they work longer/more stressful hours than anyone else.

I am in teaching for the 50 boxes of Roses I get in December and July.

YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU

MAYBE I FORGOT TO MENTION ?

YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU YABU

Hey apocalypse. Is it your considered opinion that the OP is being unreasonable then?

Yes, yes it is.

Hate the farking holidays,it was almost 8 weeks here this year. Bloody stupid, and then the teachers at my kids sn school moan because they spend the next few weeks kicking off because they're out of sync with being off so long..... No shit sherlock....

The answer is shorter holidays, and I might just retain some sanity.

As an ex teacher I can say there is no way I needed 6 weeks to wind down.
4 would have been ample. In those days there was no time off for prep, no TA's. You were in the class on your own all week. It was harder then. Yes I was knackered at the end of the summer term but I didn't need 6 weeks to wind down and wind back up again[wind]

I started teaching when you were on your own in the classroom and it was a lot easier then! Now there is so much paper work that it eats into the holidays in a big way.

I'd love the hols broken down into smaller chunks - one week half-terms are useless. Last year and this year DDs school did 2 weeks in May and that was GREAT - May is often good weather here but its also good in lots of foreign parts (july/aug is a bit too hot for our tastes).

This summer DD had one week slobbing, then we had 2 weeks away, then she said she wished she only had one week more at home before school started. DH and I both work part-time from home so can do lots with her but her friends weren't around much and there's only so much stuff an 11 year old wants to do with parents.

4 weeks in summer would be plenty. I don't know of anyone in jobs other than teaching who can take more than a fortnight at a stretch (thats a fortnight away, with packing and post-holiday laundry on workdays, very relaxing NOT!), but it'd be lovely to be able to have 2 fortnights instead of one in summer and then try to squeeze things into poxy halfterms or in the middle of winter (christmas hols rubbish time to travel)

I don't often say this buy yabu . Personally I am dreading the summer holidays in 2 years time. I'm a lone parent who works, my annual leave isn't going to cover a 6 week annual holiday and I only have my mum to help and she isn't getting any younger.

I vote for lone parents to be able to keep their dc's in school all summer (with maybe a week off for good behaviour), unless there is a lovely employer out there who will give me 6+ weeks holiday a year.

It wouldn't solve the childcare problem-there are the same number of weeks to cover-just at different times.

Q: 'I don't know what is wrong with children having a break in the summer holidays anyway. What exactly is wrong with slobbing out in front of the tv, going for a walk, playing the garden, reading when you want to, baking a few cakes, dinner, bath and bed?'

Because those activities are the preserve of the SAHM. The original 'tack' was 'why should we all suffer because of feckless parents?'- well, why should we all march to the drum of the SAHM?

And I think the 'look at us poor, martyred teachers' tack is also a red herring. 13 weeks leave a year is well over double what just about anyone else gets. Well done you, well chosen career. Then there's Inset Days. Now please don't try and convince us that it's anything other than the work of a very good union that got you there.

Please don't try and play the stress card over and above anyone else's levels (see the A&E reference- chaos in there ain't 'just one night a year'. It can be every night. I too have seen it).

As for the CC problem, well, actually, in a 2 week holiday, you can pay for CC for one and juggle the second between yourself, DH/P, in laws. grandparents, friends. You can't pull that for 4 weeks of a 6 week hol!

The very best part of being a DC was having 6 weeks stretching out in front with absolutely nothing to do. It seems sad to have that joy taken away.