To think it's just me that doesn't want the 6 weeks to end !

[seasonalnamepending]

Reading on here and on various other different social media platforms has me thinking that I am quite alone in not wanting my child to go back to school tomorrow.
I have absolutely loved the summer holidays - it's my first one after the first year in reception, and I just don't want her to go back!
I'm going to really miss her!
All I saw before the summer holidays was parents saying how much they were dreading it, and midway through saying they were counting down the days until September..
And now, all I am seeing is posts and videos of parents joking about how they will be at the gates early, practically shoving their children through the gates and skipping home afterwards.
It makes me quite sad. Why have children if you don't want to spend time with them??

Anyone else going to miss the time they get with their children during the holidays ?

I was the same when my DCs were at school. I absolutely loved spending time with them but luckily I didn't have lots of work in the holidays. I mainly had a term time job. This is the first year I haven't really seen my two now adult DCs much over the summer as one has a job and one mainly lives in London now and I really miss those days when they were little! Enjoy it while you can !

@Blueybanditbingochilli perfectly happy with my sense of perspective, thank you. For one, it allows me to countenance why some parents might find the summer holidays tough notwithstanding my own privileged circumstances. And I think you’re possibly being trite but just in case you’re not, there’s a lot that lies between “inoffensive” and “swastika”.

When my kids were young, they thrived on routine. Holidays turned them into monsters because of the change in daily schedule. God forbid I attempted to keep them up late, they turned into screaming, crying disasters.

As others have said it really is very variable depending on how many kids, whether you have a full time job during the holidays or even a part time one that's a fair few hours, whether your H is around trying to work , how much money you've got for getting out and about and the personalities of your children- I've seen little girls sit crayoning for hours and young boys shredding the house up - and occasionally vice versa!! And last but not least for many- the weather ! I am past that stage now but would certainly have enjoyed the holidays a lot more if I hadn't had a full time job that wasn't WFH, and was busily trying to fudge a mix of holiday clubs, 2 weeks away and the odd day of grandparents- and a H trying to work from home and needing a fair bit of quiet for the job

Christ no, we have three kids including two with additional needs. Bring back the term time routine!

Good for you. Others find it offensive.

Do you really honestly think you’re the only parent who enjoys, or would enjoy, spending all summer with their DC 🤣

That is rude. I am not disparaging anybody !
I'm talking about the people that openly say they practically hate the summer holidays and can't wait for school to start again!

I think it’s pretty offensive. It often gets thrown at working mums. The implication is that people who either don’t want to, or can’t, spend every waking second with their children shouldn’t have had them.

@Blueybanditbingochilli
I don't currently work, which obviously helps as I'm not juggling childcare.
My partner does not really get involved. He's been on one family day out the whole time.
My child is NT and generally well behaved yes.
We are not very high income really, we get by okay. And not been on any holidays. In fact, I've never even been abroad myself.

I felt the same as you except I don't feel sad about other people's comments or judge them, the vast majority of it is light hearted after all! And it can be hard work to care for children.

My DC1 started yr 1 yesterday after an absolutely fab summer and both DH and I were sad about it tbh. DC has had a great first day of yr1 today though so onwards and upwards!

@BellesAndGraces what do you mean by that? I don't really understand your comment.

I love my kids but I am not a natural mother. It was a hard adjustment when I had them (in my 40s). My DH worked long hours and often away and his eldest moved in at 14. I resented how I went from me to someone's wife or mother. Like my 40 years single and child free didn't exist.
Summer holidays were nice (and 9 weeks long), but very full on. The lack of routine was a tricky. Plus I had one kid full of energy one not.
I didn't spend my summers longing for the end, but was happy when they did.

I work nights and her dad works days, I'll miss her but I need my sleep pattern back, she's not back until Thursday and I'm back at work tonight so tomorrow will suck.

I do have empathy and admiration, as I've stated.
It's not smug at all, if you knew my actual circumstances, and it's probably nothing like you're imaging, you really wouldn't say that at all.
There really are people out there, who are lucky enough to get to spend the entire holidays with their children, and hate it.

I feel the same OP, I hate it when they go back. I have 4 children, my eldest is at uni and youngest at Preschool.

I'm sorry to hear that, it wasn't meant to be smug at all. As I've stated in previous comments, this is more about the people who have younger school age children (I should have made that clear in the OP) who are lucky enough to be able to have their children for the whole summer, but don't want to really entertain a second of it

I can promise you 100% that there is no privilege here. Believe me.

Nope.

All three of mine start back tomorrow.

Ds1 is starting A Levels so the summer holiday period has felt particularly long because he's been home since June after GCSE's finished - so never an empty house, for nearly 3 months now. Then ds2 is in Comp, ds3 in Primary.

I love my kids, I loved the summer. They've had a ball and they're fairly well behaved.

But now I'm done. Bye fuckers! 👋

Please read my other comments before making this conclusion. It's not what was meant, and I have explained this.

Surely this just shows how ridiculous your post was because you don't know everyone's circumstances, just like you're saying we don't know yours..

Now, you come across as disingenuous. Still no excuse for ........"It makes me quite sad. Why have children if you don't want to spend time with them??"..... that was mean.

I'm sorry you're wildly exaggerating to back up your OP; I think maybe <1% of parents 'don't want to entertain a second of it'.

If that's all you took from the post, and it made you not want to share your views on the holidays and how you manage them, that is nothing to do with me.

But it is privilege. You are clearly in a position where you have the time, space, family support and finances to enjoy time with your child. I've got one DC, and I've been extremely fortunate to have had a lot of the summer off with them and have managed to juggle the finances to accommodate things to do.

But it has been fucking gruelling at times and whilst I'm sad they're going back to school, I'm also glad to go back to work and know they'll be enjoying time learning with their friends.

You sounded smug. Don't punch down in the future.

Of course not, but after a while mindlessly scrolling through social media and seeing a lot of different parents and their videos and posts about how their children annoy the hell out of them all the time...... it can feel that way. Yes.