AIBU to be worrying about how we will survive the summer holidays whilst struggling financially?

[NameandAddressWitheld56]

Got three DCs ranging from 2-16 yrs.
Not currently at work due to mental health issues. How do people who have no spare money entertain kids of various ages for six whole bloody weeks?

I don't smoke, don't drink we live in rented accommodation.

Is anyone else already anxious about how they will cope?

Any advice, tips, ideas, help?
TIA

Will the oldest not entertain themselves? At 16 I was either working in a shop or round my best friend's house.

Well what do you normally do in weekends with them? Do you have a park nearby or a garden? Do they play football or do you play any games together?
Are you near a beach?
Do you have a fire station or airport or anywhere they are interested in visiting for a day out?

It’s 3 months here in Ireland!

You're not alone. It is difficult for a lot of people. Your children will not be the only ones whose parents are a bit hard up.

Just let them play, invite people round, have funny games, music and dancing (concerts in the garden), and staying up late. They'll be fine.

All good wishes to you, hope things improve.

(So I understand!)

Yes! Our tax credits have just been cut by 350 a month and I have DD(4) at home all summer. DS(1) can still go to nursery.

Are you on Facebook and Twitter? Lots of free events always pop up on there, look for Twitter pages related to your city. Also look on your local council website they usually list free events and attractions that you might not have thought of. You can take a picnic lunch.

Other than that I'm just putting away a few jigsaw, baking kits etc. Hopefully this nice weather will continue so lots of time in the garden.

How about this op

Long term, have you got plans in place to tackle your mental health?

Can the 16 year old get a Saturday job?

Look for free events. My friend used to put together a giant spreadsheet of things on.

What a wonderful suggestion - a spreadsheet. Invite friends along,and take pop and crisps to avoid spending.

Where are you OP? I’m afraid I’d be insisting that the 16yo does NCS; for some reason dcs (including 2/3 of mine!) object to it on principal but once there love it.
Over the years mine have done loads of v cheap summer courses, let the power of Mumsnet sort your summer out!

My mum never used to 'entertain' me during summer holidays. We would sometimes have 1 week abroad, then other 5 weeks i just would go out on my bike, play games in the house, play with toys etc. Odd trip to cinema maybe but that was about it

I would encourage the 16 year old to look for a job. Tbh, I wouldn't expect to have to organise things for them at that age, but I would expect them to earn their own pocket money if they were wanting to fund days out with friends, trips to Starbuck's etc.
With the two year old, I would look for free local activities that you could do, possibly with your middle child. Arrange play dates for the middle one, and offer to reciprocate. Change of scenery for the DC, and not really anymore expensive.

Is there a way of sharing the spreadsheet with your friends so different parents put their ideas on and anyone can join?

My local council runs free park sport sessions. It's worth seeing if yours does similar. Lots of council pools do free swimming for under 8s too. Look at library websites to see what's on- free craft sessions etc, summer reading challenge. Sign up to Free cycle and offer any old stuff you want to get rid of, then you can ask for stuff other people are throwing out. Do your kids like cooking? Google some cheap recipes and cook together, freeze a few extra portions for another day. Country parks are usually free or minimal parking. Ditto splash parks. Play dates with friends, movie afternoon, try out all the parks in your town and rate them, treasure hunts, mini mornings at vue cinema for a treat (£2.50 a ticket)- pop your own popcorn and bring drinks. Board game evening with friends- each family brings a game and a dish to share plus own drinks. Go to Pets at home and look at the animals but don't buy anything!

Summer holidays can really stretch ahead of you can't they? Practically have you checked you are getting everything you're entitled to, it's worth a benefit check.

I find you have to break the week up a bit. Children are often happy to be at home, but break things up a little with trips to the museum (usually free or very low cost activity), treasure hunt (there are loads of printables online) or library.

At home for the younger ones we like outside water play, chalking and then building in doors (with the pinnacle of this somehow being a 'picnic' in the den).

The older one could perhaps look at part time work if that's feasible, but in any case are old enough to understand that you're currently short.

Could you set up some reciprocal playmates in advance to have something to look forward to?

@Metoodear love that picture!!

It's become a bit of a hobby, planning holiday entertainment for mine 3 and 6.
We've a local museum that does free craft activities, it's next to the library so we get new books every week. We're lucky there is a surestart and nice park nearby too.
I've started collecting junk for crafts, just put all the toilet roll tubes, cereal boxes and egg boxes in a cupboard and get on Pinterest for ideas on how to make robots, rockets and fairy houses.
The works and poundshops are great for colouring books, I got a nice mandala stress relief colouring book for 50p that a teenager might enjoy!
I try to teach my kids something too, things like tying shoelaces, telling the time, riding bike etc depending on age and ability.
I would be showing teenagers how to cook everything I made with a bit of an incentive for a meal from scratch at the end of the holidays!
All my kids want is my time, I'm going to delete Facebook this summer and try to put my phone down and enjoy the holidays with my 2 before the little one disappears into school in September.

Do you have a local library with stuff going on? Ours has free craft sessions twice a week through the summer. And the reading challenge with stickers to collect.
Can you get to any nature locally too? Who can find the longest blade of grass? Let’s collect feathers to make a picture...
Go to a local beauty spot (if this feels safe) in the evening and take a flask of hot chocolate. Anything a bit out of the ordinary can entertain kids.
Make paper boats and race them in the bath.
Close the curtains and have a mini disco.

I’d be honest with the kids though. Tell them things are tight and they’re not to nag for extras. Get them to suggest things to do for free so they feel a bit in control.
It’s going to feel really hard but you can do it.

The older one (16?) Should be able to entertain his/herself - perhaps they could try to find a summer job of some sort?

For the younger ones, depending on ages, they should be fairly easy to entertain for free/cheap.

My son is 4 and some things I am thinking of include:

Visits to the library - free and they have various free craft activities over summer.

Visits to the local parks, taking whatever we would have for lunch at home to have a picnic.

Walks on local canal/bridleway

Trip to the free science museum

Simple baking e.g. cornflake cakes, basic fairy cakes, icing cheap biscuits.

Do you have a garden? If so, plenty of play in the garden. My son loves taking his smaller toys out and playing games with them in the garden or making 'potions' by collecting leaves, stones, bits of grass and mixing with water.

Could you stretch to swimming? Our local leisure centre does cheap sessions in the holidays so might be worth a look.

Nothing wrong with days at home just playing with toys and chilling.

Similar situation op. Dont worry about entertaining them, and I wouldnt try being super mum, youll burn yourself out. Let your kids entertain themselves some days, boredom is good. Kids dont tend to need money to have fun, let them make use of what they have.

and failing that, cinemas often do cheap mornings where they put on old films etc, libraries are wonderful, and sometimes local shopping centres have stuff on.

I was on maternity leave last year so had the whole summer off and not much money!

I looked on Facebook for local free activities, and our local council website. Some of the things we did:

-Walks - finding somewhere new/of interest and walking to/around it (always with an aim iyswim
-Parks and picnics
-Swimming (free for under 16's at a certain time)

• play schemes, checked school and community fb pages
• free museum activities (K'nex building session, crafting bird feeders, learning about the Egyptians). Without fail they moaned about it as they'd rather be kicking a ball around every spare second - but they enjoyed every one.

-Beach

• Cooking afternoon, they choose and make something
• Film afternoons
• Free council activities in parks - i didn't know they existed but found one by chance. They did parkour, skateboarding and bowls.

Basically search for things to do and have a plan for that week - don't mooch and leave it to chance or the time will drag.

We've no spare money for entertaining the kids either. Urban outreach do free packed lunches if you struggle to feed them. Mine are 8+10 and they mostly play out with friends, we also go to the park and library and museum. National plays is August 1st and there's always free stuff on go that. Look on your local council website ours have play busses that travel round the parks with free entertainment. Las depending on where you are Blackpool and Rhyl both have a free airship in summer with the red arrows, it's fantastic.

Airshow not airship!

Thanks so much for your ideas so far. I'll grab a pen and paper in a bit and start planning.

We do lots of free stuff.
Look out for free events at your local library. Search for ‘free stuff to do with kids in local area’ and see what turns up. There are lots of ideas out there.

16 YO can either entertain themselves or find a summer job. They won't have you entertaining them in a year or two!

Younger ones encourage lots of friends over/them going to friends. If it's an afternoon you only have to provide snacks, not a meal. Or see if you can get a group together for a picnic at a park. Bring a football and a frisbee, maybe a pack of cards for quieter kids. If they are in a group they keep themselves entertained. Projects are good for older primary/younger secondary kids. Do you have jigsaws? Craft kits? I remember I used to get cross stitch or painting by numbers for Christmas, my mum would put them in the cupboard till the following summer holiday and then I'd have a great time doing them out in the garden in sunny weather. How about learning to cook? You can tell them there will be a party for their friends in two weeks (or whatever) and get them to plan with you - making decorations can take a day, then they practice cooking whatever it is they want to eat at the party until they get it right. Decorating plastic cups for a party is fun too.

If those fail/sound too much work, books and TV do work too! I used to play computer games with my sister every summer, absolutely loved it and hasn't done me any harm in the long term.