Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

... to wonder if the school holidays really have to be so long

175 replies

Dieu · 27/04/2015 13:06

Hi all. I should say at the start that I am a former secondary school teacher, so this is most definitely not intended as a school or teacher bashing thread! Grin
I guess I'm fortunate in that, despite being a single parent, I generally work term-time (with some holiday work) and can take my kids along with me. However I do wonder how other parents, particularly those who work full-time, manage everything. You need a medal!
I think the current model is rather outdated. The days of mothers being at home every day to look after the kids, while said kids play outdoors all day, are over.
Many of the parents at my daughters' school seem to be able to work flexibly, but it has to be difficult for those who have no room for manoeuvre where their places of work are concerned. Several families I know have to take separate 'holidays' from work, in order to cover the long summer break. Holiday care can be very expensive.
No judgement, I would just like to know what others think.

OP posts:
nesshitto · 27/04/2015 14:27

It's easy to glorify other countries for their longer holidays when in fact it's not strictly the same.

kids don't run free for 3 months, they are often expected to fill the time productively - camps, travel etc. And I can definitively say a lot of parents hate the longer holidays, with all the juggling & summer school expectations.

I do love the idea of the feral kids leaving at breakfast & coming home for tea but I think in reality there are a very tiny minority of kids in the situation to do that.

Long school holidays are fab if you are rich enough to fill it or have masses of kids around and easy childcare. Not so much fun if you are poor or on your own. These times really show up the haves from the have nots. Same in any country really.

Personally I think they should be more evenly spaced throughout the year. I don't see the value in one huge break, its educationally disruptive and let's face it, a lot of us can remember being almightily bored and getting into trouble or miserable rather than 'finding ourselves'. It suits some but not all.

GottaFeeling · 27/04/2015 14:27

That is definitely true Jawell. There are a lot of people at work for many more hours than they're actually working or productive.

MrsKoala · 27/04/2015 14:27

The longer holidays are the main reason why me and DH are thinking of private school for ours. We want to be able to go off for a month at Easter etc. I do understand we are very fortunate if we are able to do this, but we hope we will be by the time the boys are school age. Well that's the dream anyway.

Artandco · 27/04/2015 14:28

Legs - I have never really looked at how many days exactly, but they generally work 4-5 weeks before the next holiday which is 2-10 weeks long. I think it's 5.5months holidays. School is 8.30am-3.30pm.

As dh and I can work from home or in our own offices we have to work with children around half the time anyway ( youngest is also pre school age).
So for us it's easier as we can actually work productively without keep leaving to get ready for school, pick up from nursery, then pick up from school, and sort homework every night. In the holidays I just get up early at start 6am at home. Kids wake 9am as later nights, and they play amoungst themselves until lunch, so I have 6/7hours work done. Then afternoons are free To go out together. Dh does the same if we swap who's at home. Then we catch up when the other parent gets home or they sleep.

Charlotte3333 · 27/04/2015 14:30

I worked full time underwriting mortgages when DS1 was born. Easy enough work but very long hours, so not compatible with young DC. When DS2 was born I took two years off and did some accounting work from home and trained as a TA. Now that I work term time I agree wholeheartedly that children need the break.

DS1 is 9 and has Aspergers. He's very high functioning, and cognitively fairly advanced. By July he is absolutely exhausted, in fact, he's already reaching the stage where he's complaining of migraines and looking very pale. He does it towards the end of every school year because school push so hard. The holidays must be a struggle for families where parents work full time, but honestly, children need some time to ride bikes, go on walks, go to the beach and just play in the garden.

I'd be opposed to shortening the summer holidays based solely on seeing DS1 struggle through the school year (though perhaps he'd be less exhausted if he'd had longer half terms and winter holidays).

seventeen · 27/04/2015 14:38

I don't think they "need" to be long, to answer the original OP.

Other countries do it differently (eg 4 weeks on 2 weeks off) without much of a bother.

The childcare issues still exist, obviously, just in a different rhythm.

DisappointedOne · 27/04/2015 14:46

I'd rather a 4 day week at school and a week off every couple of months.

Or a week off every month.

SnapeChat · 27/04/2015 14:48

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

6Musiclover · 27/04/2015 14:53

yabu. The holidays are too short in my opinion. They're the shortest in Europe if I'm not mistaken!
My DD in secondary school is shattered by the last week of term, and counting down the days for Msy half term already.

meglet · 27/04/2015 14:54

ness an even balance of holidays would be great. I'd rather a few more days off in the winter when the dc's are run down and the mornings are dark. A few days tagged onto the oct and feb half terms (and a shorter summer holiday) would make life easier.

MuddlingMackem · 27/04/2015 15:46

YANBU to wonder, but I wouldn't like them to be shorter.

The kids need the holidays, the childcare issue is the parents' problem.

And, as my kids have got older, I've found that instead of struggling to fill the time I'm now struggling to fit in everything they want to do.

I wouldn't want holidays redistributed to more in the colder weather - my kids like parks and February and October half terms are enough as they are, thanks! Grin

HagOtheNorth · 27/04/2015 16:18

I'm going to save this thread and bump it in the last week of August. Grin

FenellaFellorick · 27/04/2015 16:22

are you sure that will be wise?

... to wonder if the school holidays really have to be so long
Original poster
Dieu · 27/04/2015 16:23

Brilliant!

OP posts:
HagOtheNorth · 27/04/2015 16:25

I'll have namechanged again by then and be an anonymous internet sprite causing mischief amongst all the' OMG....Will it EVER end.....I'm sick of the kids...Hasn't it been eleventy billion days already?

Ragwort · 27/04/2015 16:31

The kids need the holidays - really Hmm - a school day isn't exactly long........ and maybe my DS is unusual but in his three different primary schools and now at secondary school he has never been 'tired' or 'exhausted' at the end of term.

I have been fortunate as I was a SAHM for years so never had to juggle annual leave but my DS got bored by the 3rd week of the holiday and actually wanted to go back to school Grin - despite my keeping him busy at holiday camps and activities. I think long holidays are great if you have lots of money and/or enthusiasm and imagination to fill your childrens' school holidays with lots of lovely activities but for many parents and some children - it can feel like hard work. Certainly for people on a low income it can be incredibly difficult - we actually started up a school holiday lunch club for children who got free school meals as obviously they were missing out during the holidays. Sad.

And when your child gets to be a 'young' teenager - not quite old enough to be completely alone all the time but too old for holiday clubs - it can be very difficult.

So my vote is for shorter holidays Grin.

itsveryyou · 27/04/2015 16:42

We currently live in the USA and the kids have 12 weeks off for summer. I work from home so childcare isn't an issue, but seeing as most employees here only get a standard 10 days' annual holiday, trying to cover 12 weeks is incredibly tough for most families. Holiday clubs aren't cheap and neither is summer camp. Lots of people pay high school/college kids to care for their children.

Having been through both UK/USA school holiday systems, we all much prefer the UK one as it's more evenly spread out throughout the year.

Here, the kids don't get a break at all, not even a day off, between mid March (spring break) and early June (summer vacation). And with Thanksgiving and Christmas so close together, they often have 3 weeks off in a 5 week period.

Millionprammiles · 27/04/2015 16:45

School holidays might be great for some kids but less so for others. Nothing entrenches the divide between the have and have-nots like long school holidays.

I'd like to see more holiday clubs covering sports, music etc but also homework clubs for those who want/need it. Teachers have a part to play in that (I know, I know, they're not there to provide childcare but surely homework support isn't an unreasonable request?)

I'd like to see less women pushed out of the workplace because of a lack of affordable/suitable after-school/holiday care.

And yes I'd be willing to pay for that.

Not everyone needs to take it up. But it should be available for those who want (and crucially those who NEED) it.

Dieu: there have been quite a few threads recently about working parents finding it difficult/unaffordable so don't be misled, the status quo definitely isn't working for many parents.

Original poster
Dieu · 27/04/2015 16:54

Thanks Million ... I did wonder Confused. And I must have missed those other threads.

OP posts:
LegsOfSteel · 27/04/2015 16:55

I wish they could only spend less time at school. I have a theory that,for the majority, they results would be the same if they spent less time at school and more time being kids. Of course, I'm not a teacher. But i think my son would get as much out of 3 days of school as 5 and he would be happier.

I've thought along similar lines too. My idea is that class sizes are split in half -15 in a class. Half the school go to school Monday,Tuesday the other half Wednesday, Thursday. Everyone in on Friday for assemblies and sports. This would only be of benefit if the theory that smaller class sizes helps learning. Doesn't help with school holidays obviously.

OvertiredandConfused · 27/04/2015 17:01

Children need the holidays. They're children, not adults. They need time just to be. And to be bored.

As a working parent, covering the holidays is a monumental pain and the summer holidays give me nightmares for the rest of the year. But that doesn't mean they don't need the break. As pp have said, school is not childcare!

Original poster
Dieu · 27/04/2015 17:01

A logistical nightmare! And trying to factor in trips, etc. It sounds lovely in theory, but the practice would be something else!

OP posts:
Iggi999 · 27/04/2015 17:02

Millionprammies, what makes you think teachers don't run homework clubs? Confused
Or do you mean homework clubs during the holidays?

LegsOfSteel · 27/04/2015 17:17

Dieu all school trips can be on Fridays. Easy! Smile
I would imagine the 15 per class would slowly creep up and up until there would be no benefit (if there was one to start with).

BoozeyTuesday · 27/04/2015 17:17

The reality though is that a lot of kids don't get that free time during the hols as the parents have to pack them off to holiday clubs. I'm lucky in that ds revels in being able to play football for 40 hrs a week at a holiday football club But some kids hate being packed off to all day holiday clubs. they can be even more exhausting than school, still have to be up early, packed off on time, with a commute. This notion that kids get a leisurely six weeks to run free isn't accurate.