Sense of dread at the start of the summer hols

[Fruitteatime]

A few weeks ago I made lovely plans for the summer holidays. Mainly just to visit family and a week away in the UK. This afternoon my daughter has come home from school and this awful sense of dread has now descended on me. It seemed to be set off by seeing lost of children going home on play dates and we were just going home by ourselves. My daughter never asks for people to come round and it's really difficult with the size of our home and dp working from home. Anyway there's no real reason for the sense of dread and I want to know how I can shake it and enjoy the six week break! Does anyone have any tips or even share the feeling?

I always dread it the first few days, then I just start counting down to September. I find that helps!

The thought is always worse than the actual thing.

I know that feeling well. And it's often swiftly followed by an equally lovely side-order of mum guilt for feeling this way 🤷😐. I think the trick to a good summer holiday is to maintain a routine of sorts and to do something 'fun' every day if possible (even if this 'fun' thing is something very small). Also, allow lots of time for chilling out and kicking back. There is a beautiful sweet spot of balance between fun activities and having enough downtime, I find.

Every year, I promise myself I'll get lots in the diary before the holidays start, and never do. And every year I spend a little while feeling a bit dread-filled and anxious as I settle into the whole thing and, by the middle/towards the end, I've become a summer holiday seasoned pro and have nailed it!

So... I feel your pain, but it'll all be OK, I'm sure 💐

DD is in year 3 and I don't remember feeling like this before. In fact I really used to love the holidays when I was a SAHM, I started two days a week about a year and a half ago and perhaps this is influencing my attitude towards the holidays.

I agree op.... My DD is in year1 and DS is in nursery... she breaks up today and i am sort of dreading the long holidays.
I love having her home and spending time with her, but I'm on my own and there will be a lot of days where DS is in nursery and i am wfh and she will have to amuse herself. She is good, she likes playing in her room with her lol dolls and kindle....
We don't have a summer holiday planned as i couldnt afford it, i have planned a few day trips and her grandma will take her out a fair bit but there will be plenty of days we will be in the house. My daughter quite likes movie and duvet days thank goodness but i always feel bad she hasnt been abroad yet like her friends and we have a small back yard.

I guess i have mum guilt creeping in when i see pics if my friends kids kicking balls along exotic beaches or being taken to Disney land....

Don’t think too far ahead. Take each week as it comes, almost like today is the Friday before a normal half term.

Have a look and see if any of your local Churches are doing any summer holiday clubs/activities, they can be great fun and inexpensive (ours is).

It will fly by. Enjoy the summer don't wish it away and don't worry.

I used to make a planner of what we had already got planned, what days they were in out of school club etc and then add things as they came up and tick them off as we went.

It might just be my two getting older anyway (9 & 11) but I feel quite lost with filling the holidays these days.

Minimal cost outings like going to various parks were absolutely flogged to death when there were few options due to Covid restrictions. There's things they've grown out of but without being replaced, well other than staring at screens or days out that quickly stack to £50+.
DS1 has ASD so holiday clubs are his idea of hell. Teenage apathy is kicking in but without the independence to do his own thing with friends, not that he's sociable anyway.

It's 6 weeks of 24/7 parenting with no escape time... oh and DS1 has been just been sent to his room already at 55 minutes in... 🙄

our council (Vale of Glamorgan) has planned a huge array of free activities this summer for kids, there’s some great stuff for all ages. Even I’m impressed and that takes some doing!

As far as I can see you don’t need to be a VoG resident to attend. We have great train links into some of the main towns too so it might be of interest if you’re not too far away.

It is a long holiday and I imagine it feels longers with nothing planned. I don't feel dread about the holidays though, I just have a horrible feeling that descended today. We have lots to look forward to, mostly with family so some of it is probably around worry that my daughter has no friends and outside of family I just don't make meaningful connections with people. I know some people won't have family to see either so I know I need to keep some perspective. I just want rid of the feeling so it doesn't spoil our time together.