AIBU to say that summer hols are a driver of inequality

[Teaandcrisps]

Myself and OH have had mixed personal fortune over the last 10 years - so from personal experience know the difference.

Summer holidays with no money is shit - especially when the weather is crap. If you can afford it however, it's great fun.

It's not just the obvious things - summer hols, trips, activities, camps, increase in food costs; it's also if you have the kind of job that can give you time off.

Given that food bank have launched the holiday hunger campaign, AIBU to say that summer holidays is an unequal construct and the 6-weeks off needs to go.

The trouble is, if you move a week to October, then you may end up encouraging a more sedentary lifestyle for our children

But the op doesn’t want school holidays moved, @thunderthighsohwoe She wants them reduced.

This!! But unfortunately the UK government has created a population of mostly reliant, entitled people who are barely willing or able to pay for much. If they think it can be provided for free or heavily subsidized then it should but at no cost to them of course 🙄

This. I strongly suspect people will be willing to pay extra taxes for nursery when their kids need expensive childcare, but not as their kids grow up!

The OP doesn’t actually want to address inequality in any way. She just wants the kids in school for longer.

She has completely ignored anyone with alternative suggestions to increasing the access to holiday activities or helping with holiday hunger.

And seems to believe that changing the school holiday terms - including staff contracts, exam periods, plus the connections to nurseries and further education - can be done quickly, and conveniently has ignored anyone who suggests otherwise.

There are loads of good suggestions on this thread, just not the OPs

Wouldn't it just be easier to just increase UC amounts for 6 weeks in the holidays to cover the extra cost of meals - I mean it really is not rocket science is it. UC is amended weekly to cover discrepancies in income so its just a small adjustment to a computer programme - easily done.

Simple - last two weeks in July and 4 weeks in August people with school aged children are allocated an extra £13.00 per week.

I know the dates would need to be different for Scotland and NI - not sure about Wales but Jesus Wept - its not hard. It would not solve all the issues but would go a long way - just takes the will and desire to make it happen - could easily be put in place.

But unfortunately the UK government has created a population of mostly reliant, entitled people who are barely willing or able to pay for much.

Successive governments in fact. Labour in their 13 years was quite happy to borrow money to pay for higher benefits which made people reliant on them. Some people may think that was on purpose to encourage those people to keep voting Labour - a kind of bribe in fact??

Wouldn't it just be easier to just increase UC amounts for 6 weeks in the holidays to cover the extra cost of meals - I mean it really is not rocket science is it. UC is amended weekly to cover discrepancies in income so its just a small adjustment to a computer programme - easily done.

But there would still be food banks and there would still be parents unable to feed their children because giving more money is unfortunately not the answer for some ppl it just enables them to spend it where they see fit...ie not on their children 😢 some ppl are “broke” no matter how much money you throw at them. 🤷‍♀️

Wouldn't it just be easier to just increase UC amounts for 6 weeks in the holidays to cover the extra cost of meals - I mean it really is not rocket science is it. UC is amended weekly to cover discrepancies in income so its just a small adjustment to a computer programme - easily done.

Given the clusterfuck that UC already is as much as I think this is a good idea it would turn into a disaster. Any changes would be a nightmare to implement because the system isn’t fit for purpose

But there would still be food banks and there would still be parents unable to feed their children because giving more money is unfortunately not the answer for some ppl it just enables them to spend it where they see fit...ie not on their children 😢 some ppl are “broke” no matter how much money you throw at them.

People who choose to neglect their children is an entirely different matter and shouldn’t be the main focus of the solution for the majority. Unless you are suggesting that the majority of people using foodbanks are doing so just because they choose to spend their money elsewhere??

But there would still be food banks and there would still be parents unable to feed their children because giving more money is unfortunately not the answer for some ppl it just enables them to spend it where they see fit...ie not on their children 😢 some ppl are “broke” no matter how much money you throw at them.

We can’t institutionalise our children by removing most of their holidays and preventing parents taking them on holidays! We will end up with a strata of rich people whose kids have lovely long holidays and a lower rank of ‘everyone else’ who gets no holidays and the state decide what food they eat because a minority of feckless parents don’t know how to deal with their own kids.

That is inequality at its worst.

If people are receiving their benefit money and not spending it on feeding their kids, that needs to be addressed-presumably by social services. Not by the entire state education system of children losing their holidays.

If people are receiving their benefit money and not spending it on feeding their kids, that needs to be addressed-presumably by social services. Not by the entire state education system of children losing their holidays.

there are many people working in low wage jobs. I think it is a disgrace that we live in one of the richest countries on this planet and a high number of families with children struggle hugely throughout the school holidays because there is no affordable childcare.

Many other countries have longer school holidays but when I speak to friends living in Germany and Scandinavia, the situation is completely different because these parents have access to affordable childcare.

It's not about wanting things for free but it is a huge shame if working parents are driven into destitution and into food banks because they dont earn enough to pay for a flipping school holiday club.

I used to follow a smug lady on twitter ( self styled 'food writer') I blocked her after all her posts this year regarding trips to Africa, Devon/ Cornwall, Hertford and Portugal and various family camping festivals.Plus I got sick to the teeth of little messages about how perfectly her kids have eaten their hummus and nduja. One kid is a vegetarian who loves salami apparently.....

The hols are wonderful if you have loads of money and torturous if you don't.

In terms of taxes, I can only speak for myself, but I supported and voted for parties on higher tax and higher public spending manifestos pre kids, as investing in education is better for us as a society, and mine never actually needed expensive nursery. Given that on a population level we get more right wing as we get older, I'm not sure its about current experience of nursery costs per se. Otherwise 18 year olds would vote less for higher tax parties than people in their mid 30s do, and they don't.

we live in one of the richest countries on this planet

Do we really though? Given the massive amount of debt which gets larger every year, that suggests we're living beyond our means and we're only "rich" because other countries are willing to lend us money.

I’m a teacher and I have always said the summer holidays should be 4 weeks long. Just have August off, sorted.

I feel for the most deprived children missing out on education, socialisation and also just food...

Please think very carefully before having children. So many of here just don’t want to be a parent.

Regardless things aren’t going to go your way so I guess you are just going to have to get on with it

shortening school holidays will not address inequality. it will only shift it. better to have all schools follow the same term times to avoid mix ups. Oh and to realise that school isn't free childcare, and we school teachers don't actually get paid for the summer holidays - it's just that our wages are spread out over the year.

There was a post on here a while back about how teachers "having 12 weeks off" was "unfair" and that schools "should be open 48 weeks a year". I do see a bit of this here, although as long as the time off is redistributed, I guess it could be examined. One thing needs to be said though, LOTS of schools do maintenance and deep cleans during the summer hols, and this would be compromised marginally by a shorter break. I do agree that too many patents these days regard schools as childcare and are at a complete loss what to do over the break

But you'd have to cover the same amount of holiday, and 2 weeks at October and May is more likely to be raining (disclaimer: British weather can change at any time) so how would it be any more equal?

I have to say I feel my children sorely needed the long break and do each and every summer and half term holidays. My husband and I have specifically tailored our lifestyle and expenditures since having children to allow me to spend the best part of all the holidays with them. We don’t have a fancy car, the children wear second hand clothes, we don’t eat out much and our day trips are primarily walks, Country Parks and National Trust where we take a picnic and we save money wherever and whenever we can so I can give my children the time when they need it when they’re young.

We already have 2 weeks in October, have done as long as I can remember (eldest is 17). We broke up 19th July and go back tomorrow. For me the holidays are just right, we have not done a lot, just pottered about and had the odd day out. My children have loved the break, and they needed it too.

Nope, let them enjoy the only three months when the weather is reasonable!
Let their minds and imagination run free. Children will make their own games, they don't need entertaining all the time.

Some children don't cope well with long holidays. They need structure and familiarity and facilities that they can access that are set up for their needs.

I see all the difficulties of it as I have them too, nevertheless I think it is very important for children to have that break. Not just to recover but also to have the long time with the family (and yes, all the fights and hassle too). being thrown together for such a long time creates an everyday that would not develop in only one or two weeks.

It would be interesting to know where the money would come from for the extra cost involved in shortening the holidays

Teachers salaries would increase (and would probably have to dramatically increase to stop a deluge more leaving)
Support staff salaries would increase
Incremental costs would increase - heating, lighting, electricity

Costs would also go up for parents - more school lunches/packed lunches, uniform would have to last longer (my DS looks like he's in rags by the end of the year!), school transport costs would be higher etc

Plus the opportunities to let out school buildings would decrease considerable. We currently pay out around 20k per year between the playscheme, and breakfast and afterschool club (we get subsidised rates for part of that as it's cheaper when the school is already open). Another school

Cut the holidays in half and you increase your costs whilst decreasing income that the school/council desperately need.

As opposed to the cost of providing lunches during the holidays for children on FSM... The maths don't work!

Summer hols are a nightmare, you are right to be exasperated. Today there was an article on the BBC about the "What I did in the holiday" essay. That is also a humiliating exercise and a social marker. I hated having to try to make stuff up to compete with the other kids' holidays in Spain/Italy/Greece. How do you explain in writing, as a 10-yr old, that you kicked around the streets doing bugger all except maybe get into trouble?