To ask how you feel about school holidays?

[Justformenow]

Especially if your children are young (reception / KS1 age.)

I am kind of looking forward to mine starting reception but dreading the long holidays as well.

a week is great- anything longer is expensive to fill- you just about financially recover from one and another is round the corner.

I think the holidays are great year round but the 6 weeks are FAR too long. I think they should be divided between the summer and Christmas holidays. We definitely don't need all of that time off in one big block !

I used to enjoy them.
My method of managing the summer was to draw a chart up and note down any free events etc. Then we would have our summer holiday and do a couple of big days out, with other cheaper things interspersed. I also recorded what we actually did (to stop DH saying we hadn't done anything!).

Mine are older now but even so we always loved the holidays. Even when we where just home. The lack of having to be somewhere to truely just clock off from expectations. Then again I enjoyed lock down with a preschooler/reception and two older.

It’s how I justify working full time in education. We got so much time off together as well!

I love them.

I think they should be divided between the summer and Christmas holidays.

I would hate this. Losing weeks when it's warm and sunny and you can take the kids out to do free stuff only to gain weeks when it's cold, wet and dark and you've got to pay to go inside anywhere would be horrendous!

I love them, I love the school holidays so much, love the long summer! (And yes I have a full time job but lucky enough to accrue lots of leave/flexi)

Thanks … I’ve got all of August off with ds1 this year. He finishes nursery end of July.

I feel a little daunted. To be honest I’m daunted at just having a week at Easter!

I love the holidays! I love being able to spend so much time with my DC, and not having the routine and rush of school and work. Just spending time with them, or pottering while they chill or play. We plan lots of things to do on a big whiteboard and have our own routine and structure which helps.

I get some time to just do my own thing as well, as the kids are old enough to play and be in the garden without me.

I work term time only and love it. Six weeks never feels too long either, I'd love it to be longer!

Apart from summer holidays we pretty much make zero plans and just go with the flow of how we feel. Summer holidays we go away for a week or two.

I had the whole 6 weeks off with DD1 (5) last year as I was on maternity leave with DD2. I was daunted, particularly with the age gap and managing naps etc. for littlest but honestly it was really lovely to have that time. Just spending quality time together, days out in the park and lots of ice cream. Really quite sad that I'm unlikely to have the opportunity again. Currently working during Easter hols and really feeling quite sad.

A week a few times a year is quite nice and Xmas/easter are fun but the summer is too long. When I was a kid my mum was a sahp and I played out all summer with friends. That is not the reality for most kids now. I work part time so have to organise childcare which gets expensive, then when I’m off it’s either costly activities or screen time interspersed with a few games/parks. The six weeks is an archaic system that needs modernisation to reflect todays society.

When my DD was that age I jused to start everyday with writing a to do list and then would get her to draw a picture next to each thing. For example dentist would be a picture of a tooth. It made me feel much more in control and let her know what was going on that day.

I love them. I am a teacher so obviously off work for them which makes it much easier for me. I've really enjoyed them over the years with my own kids. We used to make a plan of all the things we wanted to do ans are lucky enough to live near beaches, tourist attractions and beautiful walks, cycle trails etc so lots of outdoors stuff. We'd also go camping, or to static caravan parks with the sun holidays so really cheap weeks or weekends away.

Not quite as easy to entertain them now they are teens but we still find plenty to do and they need downtime as well because term times are relentless with all the homework and clubs.

No school age children now myself.

Shorter school holidays would push up the price of going away, be it in the UK or abroad. Employers would be saying no to holiday requests more often.

I think it should be -
3x 1 week half terms
3 weeks Xmas
2 weeks easter
3 weeks summer

Then two weeks that are school specific (school chooses which two). or parents choice (in certain points of school year) to try to give some option of holidays in non peak times.

I love them. I plan the days / off days. Today we’ve been swimming, done a shop and it’s amazingly sunny so we’ve played in the garden and I’ve sunbathed - whilst the kids have a water fight. Off to walk the dog next and have tea when I can tear myself away from the sun 😂

Our summer holidays are really long- 8 and a half weeks so I have to plan those well. We go away / visit friends every weekend and have a summer holiday mixed in. Then in the week it’s a mix of free days out, parks, walks, we have yearly memberships to places we use, and we do some clubs. I don’t think we spend loads as we can’t. But just not having to get up and out at a certain time is lovely

I always find it flies by, even the long summer holiday is over in a blink of an eye, and then I feel like we haven't done enough, we've worked too much, haven't made good enough memories etc. (Even though we always try to go way once or twice in the 6 weeks off) Xmas hols are just manic, they seem to break up quite late, so the first part is just manic last min Xmas prepping, and then it's Xmas, and catching up with family and then they're back at school. We always go away for Easter, so we look forward to that break. I've never found the holidays a chore, but we only have two kids, and on the whole they're pretty great, and I love being around them. I can't imagine what it will be like when they're grumpy teens who are impossible to please and don't want to be seen dead with us, so try and make the most of the good few years we have left until they're at that stage 😄! I find that going back to routine after the holidays is the hardest part, because we seem to have no rules, time restraints, and worries when they're off, and then that "reset" into normal life can be hard. As much as I think how I'd love to take them out of school and home educate, honestly, the holidays make me realise how that wouldn't work for us... we're too scatty, spontaneous and unorganised, and school forces us to actually get our shit together and conform, which I don't think is a bad thing for our family 😄.

Well being that we are day 1 of the Easter holidays and we’ve already gone through the phrases ‘I’m bored’, ‘can I have a snack x 100’ and ‘what are we doing tomorrow’, I would say the holidays are hard work! People say cherish this time whilst they are little but it’s literally survival mode. I do enjoy not having to rush out in the mornings and I don’t miss the school run, but my kids thrive on routine and I think I do too. Financially it’s too costly to go out to places all the time so it’s a lot of parks and to be honest they get as bored as I do sometimes. I’m dreading the summer ones most as I’m on maternity leave at the moment (3rd child 😳) and I’ll be back working nights and not sleeping.
My main aim is to get them out somewhere every day even just for a walk as mentally it makes you feel better. And then some crafts, playing, garden time and tv time too. And then before you know it schools back!

Genuinely why three weeks when at the time we have the worst weather? Three weeks in winter I think would be terrible for those on low incomes as well.

I love them! The break from the normal routine, days out, being lazy if you want, holidays! I would hate the 6 weeks in the summer to be shortened. We’re away for 3 weeks this year and we’ll get some down time.
I do get 8 weeks holiday plus bank holidays though so that helps. And holiday club nearby is only £18 a day should I need it. And I only have one child.

I’m a teacher and I think this is why I am a bit ‘oh shit!’ - going from a busy and jam packed exhausting term to a busy and exhausting holiday 🤯

Agree, 3 weeks in the dark when days out are so limited is not a good idea! I would just stay in and eat more chocolate!

3 weeks in summer...!
I would quit!
Today was sunny in school and it was hard enough to get mine to do work because they were starting holiday mode in April.

We get 9 weeks here and it's just about right. (As a teacher and parent!)

I love them, and would hate for the summer holiday to get shorter. DH and I both teach though so for our family they represent glorious freedom: the payoff for the long slog of term time when we hardly see each other. Proper unstructured time is so important for children. But I understand if you’re juggling work & childcare it’s a very different prospect.