to ask if you think your children need so much holiday

[manicinsomniac]

I'm coming at this as a teacher who loves every second of my holidays by the way so definitely not teacher bashing. It's a major perk of my job and I'd be devastated to lose it.

BUT

We always say the holidays are for the children, not the teachers and the children really need it because they're exhausted.

Do you think that's true?

We have extended days and Saturday school and my children were knackered for the first few days and had lots of down time. But now, a week and a half into our (crazily long 7.5 week holiday!) they're fully refreshed and would happily go back tomorrow if asked.

They really do not need 13+ weeks of down time a year. All their extra curriculars are term time only so I'm racing them about to open dance classes, free summer events, into London, sending them out to play for hours to get rid of energy. They're certainly not acting like poor, exhausted little beings. In a week or so they're even going to have to start doing some holiday work with me, I think.

We love having the holidays because we tend to go travelling (off to America for all of August this year) so I'm certainly not saying I want them gone.

Just questioning whether, actually, 2 weeks off for each holiday plus half terms (so 9 weeks holiday in total) would be perfectly sufficient and make life easier for a lot of people?

For DD, it isn't going to be that different. We have a week away as a family but, for the rest of the time, she is off to holiday club three days a week from 8.00am - 5.30pm and getting her to that is going to be harder than getting her to the childminder before school as it is the other side of town, I'll have had to make her a packed lunch and it doesn't start until 8.30am and, really, I need to be on the train (back on this side of town) at 8.20am and it doesn't include tea which she gets at the childminders during term time. Whilst a couple of her friends are going to the same holiday club, so is the boy she hates with good reason as there has been low level bullying for the past couple of terms which school know about and have handled quite well but the holiday club won't know about until I tell them. On the other two days, she will be at home with DC2 and I but those ten days (which is what it adds up to) are already allocated to catching up with friends & family. At some point, we also need to fit in a swimming crash course as well as some reading, writing and maths practice. Not much going feral here or learning to get bored! I did feel a bit of an idiot the other day when our neighbour said something about how the children could be nipping in & out of each other's garden this summer - what I remember doing during my summer holidays in the 80s with a SAHM - as we just don't have the time.

I live in the US with really long holidays. My kids have always grown more during the break, slept more, exercised more and had time to spend on hobbies that they don't have as much time for during the year. They have been able to do really cool sporting things and just for fun classes (which ended up being a good foundation for my older son for what he is doing in college). I would support spreading out the holidays more during the year, but only if there were periods without homework. It always takes them several weeks to get out of one routine and into the other and then the same on the other end.

It also spreads out the times which families can go on holiday so it is easier to take leave when your kids are out of school.

It's nice for the kids. To be honest I could do with it myself. I am tired and would like my life to be about more than routine, work, and more routine!

We're all term time only in our house and we all benefit from the long holidays and not having to be on a schedule the whole time (I must admit is mostly me that struggles with that though!).

Having said that, I'd cheerfully lose a week at the end of the summer hols in exchange for an extra week at May half term. The second half of summer term is always utterly hideous & making it shorter or breaking it in half with a extra-long weekend would be awesome!

YABU. Children have too much time structured for them and they need time just to be children. They need time to play as all the research shows that that's when their learning is consolidated, extended, tested...they need time to think creatively and independently, to solve problems and learn to think for themselves. They need time to find their own interests and passions. They need time outdoors - long, uninterrupted chunks of time where their play isn't directed by adults. Older children need this just as much as younger ones. They can't do this when they're in school and after school clubs.

When it's a two week holiday, I notice that they are just starting to unwind when it's time to go back to school.

There are plenty of Summer camps if you feel like they need something structured for a couple of days here and there.

I think they need the extra time to have that break, grow and be ready to return a school year older with a fresh start.

We still haven't broken up, and every one, staff and students have been on their knees for weeks.

It makes me very sad when I hear people using the cost to families as a reason the holidays should be shorter. Of course having children costs money but the long holidays are so important IMO. I fear with the current buzz words being "hard working families" that the holidays will be shortened though.

Love the summer holidays when I see much more of my grandkids.

Had one of them to stay for two days and we've had great fun at a theme park.

Played tennis ( our version) outside till gone 9pm

These long summer nights are fabulous.

I wish they had more time off. It doesn't help working parents though does it?

I would hate to see the summer break shortened. I think children need a long break to wind down, chill and just be kids for a bit away from the daily routine of school. They've got enough time to come where they are scrambling for a couple of weeks of break when they are adults.

I also think it does kids good to be bored every now and again. Mine are at their most imaginative when it comes to making up games etc when they are bored of being bored.

They are children and of course they do. Its the adults that dont want it

Surely there is much more to life than just academic learning? I also say this as a maths tutor. The holidays should be more than just having a break to get over tiredness but also a chance to go on holiday, do summer clubs/sports activites, spend relaxed time with grandparents etc.

Children have too much time structured for them and they need time just to be children. They need time to play as all the research shows that that's when their learning is consolidated, extended, tested...they need time to think creatively and independently, to solve problems and learn to think for themselves.

ITA.

My 14 year old wants to build a chair that will fit in a small tree in our yard, he has been planning it all summer.

I loved the long holiday as a child, and now I look forward to my own child being off!

I think it is tougher nowadays as more parents work and the long break is harder to cover. I mentioned on another thread that my DD is booked on lots of short activities that are not really suitable for the working parent due to the short hours and late starts! DD likes to be busy (this is a big change from her early years so we are taking advantage!) so she has a fair bit on, but today for instance we were at home playing. Having said that, DD is absolutely shattered for the last two weeks of term usually, and often gets sick! So I can also see a case for shorter terms (I think her health would improve) and more evenly-spread holidays.

Isn't it holiday from taking in information though - whenever I am actively learning at work it is more exhausting than just working - the act of taking in information itself is tiring Ime.

Another one who loves the length of the holidays and wish they could be longer. Think children need a chance to play. In modern times even more than they used to as their little lives are so structured from such an early age. I think it's really interesting how in recent times (since many/the majority of couples both work) there is a lot more talk about how children need less holiday, how the school day should be longer and how very young children benefit from structure/socialisation (I.e. Group childcare). i wonder to what degree it really is a case of U.S. Thinking about what our children would really benefit from or whether we are thinking about what would suit the rest of the family (which is of course a legitimate concern too but shouldn't be confused with what is actually best for the kids).

I think the problem is also partly that so many people assume that children can't be "bored" and then they find that when they've stuffed everything they can in to the first week, they think the children should be ready to go back to school (look at the OP, she even wants to start them on school work). You don't need to fill the school holidays with camps, art clubs, museums, etc. Just let them relax and explore their own environment, hang out with friends, read books, ride bikes, build sandcastles. You don't need to fill their whole holiday with structured activities. My own summers were spent hanging out with the local children at the beach where our holiday house is, and it's the best memories of my childhood, and I'm hoping my son will have the same experiences for his summers.

I'm a teacher, I love my job and wouldn't mind a 4 week holiday but there is something a bit special about the summer break isn't there?! My dd is 12 and she was practically crawling into school for the last few days! She's full on at school, does loads of clubs etc but also loves to be just quiet at home with us for much of the holidays.

Well, I don't have DCs so can only comment on my own experience. I'm Irish, we have even longer summer holidays. Did I need so long a break? Definitely not, I loved school. I did however benefit hugely from it.

First week was always spent at summer camp. Bowling, horse riding, playing sports, and making new friends. Was wonderful. Then my uncle, who at the time was a teacher in Italy, would visit for two weeks with a large group of his students. We'd go on loads of daytrips with the students, visiting so many tourist and cultural sites, picking up some Italian, and again making new friends.

Then my Grandparents would look after us as parents both worked full time. Nana would teach us to bake bread and apple tarts etc (she had run a very successful local bakery with her sister) and tell us all about her family and what it was like when she was young, in the 30s. Granda brought us to the library, and encouraged us to read loads. He brought us to museums and historical monuments, and taught us loads about local history. He brought us to very old graveyards where we'd look for the oldest graves. He walked the legs off us, miles and miles every day, all the while teaching us history and geography. He brought us to the beach, where we'd build sandcastles, swim in the sea, and play the penny slots in the arcade. Oh, and go on the helter skelter and waltzers at the fairground .

Add in some playing with friends in the back garden, ice creams on the pier, and evenings spent playing cards and monopoly with Granda, and I had many idyllic summers. So I didn't necessarily need the long break, but it was wonderful, and we were never bored.

Yikes, that was a long tangent of nostalgia! The summers of my childhood were amazing though. Oh, and as quaint as they sound, this wasn't the 50s . It was the late 80s/ early 90s .

I think we really need to rethink how education/childcare is structured, and long holidays are only part of that. I'm reading all this stuff about children having downtime etc - fine if you've got a SAHP - but that just doesn't happen if you're working, especially if there's only one of you, and patchy and sometimes non-existent childcare provision makes any time away from school a total fucking nightmare to cover, especially if you know your child is unhappy with the only club that is available to you and the hours it is open don't suit 9-5 - a surprising amount of them don't.

School terms clearly aren't long enough - teachers working 60 hours a week, children shattered and needing a break by mid-June, all of the intense pressure to cover the curriculum in too little time and I bet I'm not the only one who has noticed that things like art and music get sidelined as a result. If the day was longer, and allowed time for teachers to mark and plan, and time for children to explore learning outside of the core curriculum with maybe specialist workers who aren't teachers but have some kind of qualification/experience plus childcare training top-ups - wouldn't that be better? And I know, I know, school isn't childcare but let's face it - working parents do need to have somewhere for their children to go when they're at work, and 9-3 for 39 weeks a year just doesn't cut it.

I don't think children need such long stretches of holiday, but how on earth would you fit in family holidays if there were only four weeks in the summer to take them?

I do not think that we should start going down the path of changing the length of the school day and year based around a parent's need for childcare. After all, by that reasoning schools would run 24/7 and parents could bring them in and out when it suited them. Any change to the school hours or year should only ever be based on what is best for the children.

I always needed it. i was a very poor sleeper and needed a chance to catch up. one holiday i decided i would get up a 9am everyday instead of sleeping till whenever. it took 5 of the 6 weeks before i was waking up at 7 naturally.

As a teacher, I wouldn't mind an extra week's holiday before the Christmas holiday as students and teachers are on their knees at that time, but I wouldn't mess with Easter or May half term. This is due to the havoc it would play with GCSEs etc. I'm glad that my subject's exams have been in May the last few years, as after half term the kids seem to run out of stamina for their June exams. They certainly don't have the same adrenalin and focus as they do prior to this.

No way I love the holidays, so do my kids

Sadly a lot of extra curricular doesn't stop in the holidays once they get seriously into sports or other activities and at least the holidays allow time for this and relaxing without having to juggle school and homework too.

The only time in primary my dd will do school work in the holidays is summer of year 5 when preparing for 11 plus (half hour per day max). I don't count reading as they read every day regardless. No need for school work at all during holidays usually in my opinion.