To find the summer holidays THIS hard?!

[EdgyCrow]

I have been a primary school teacher for 15 years and have a 7 year old ds and 4 year old dd. I feel like I should find the summer holidays fine because the nature of my job means I have what I would consider good levels of patience, resilience and planning for young children
And yet I am willing away the days I can return to work and send my children back to school. My daughter has been relentlessly difficult for weeks- causing arguments non stop. I feel like they are barely getting on at all and lurch from one argument to the next. I have no more energy to plan and my house is constantly a tip. When does it get easier?!

Is it just my house or are others in a similar boat?

It's really shit at those ages, another 2 years and you'll be loving them. It goes downhill again when they reach 12 and don't want to go on days out any more effectively trapping you at home. On the bright side you get to relax more. Chin up. They're nearly over !

Agreed. Exhausting no matter what the age of children. Some of us are have kids who benefit from routine and have no family support....counting the days til they go back....

Similar boat here.. I’m a teacher too. Three children 10,5 & 3. My partner also has no holiday to take as he has started a new job.
like you I’m pretty organised and I keep the kids busy but I am getting tired now!.. my eye has been twitching all day. I want to enjoy my children but the 10 & 5 year old argue all day. 10 year old is full of hormones and is taking it out on me. 3 year old is a whirlwind. Kids constantly snacking, arguing, making a mess, taking forever to get ready in the morning…
2 more weeks. I think the routine will benefit everyone!

Totally feel you. I have come down with some sort of illness today and I think triggered by pure exhaustion of trying to entertain three kids all day and work (self employed) too. Every parent I know feeling the same!

9 and 11 and the relentless fighting is awful. As is the moaning and constant need for entertainment

Same here, having three DC at home with me, DS5, DD2 and a 4 month old baby has been hell so far and 2 weeks to go! My two eldest scrap constantly and I’m sick of refereeing them when I’ve got the baby to deal with too. I hate staying in but it’s very hard taking all 3 out and about on my own at the ages they are, I simply don’t have enough hands to keep them all safe.

6 weeks is far too long in my opinion, I am already dreading next year when I’ll be back from maternity leave and working at home, trying to find clubs and childcare to cover it all.

I feel that with the summer holidays one should be on top of housework - erm no. This is on a reduced timetable 😂

Children should be entertained at all times when on summer break - erm yes the TV is great for this and going to the supermarket is an adventure!

Sometimes we all need routines. Sometimes one day out with the kids means 2 days of getting energy levels back. I have one 7 year old who struggles to play on his own and it’s exhausting!

It’s ok to feel what you feel and it’s ok for the kids to not do much on some days!

And oh my god the constant meals and snacking. My bank balance can’t take it anymore. I do a huge shop on a Friday and run out by Monday/tuesday.

Holiday clubs and nursery places dear mums are what will save you going forward to next years summer hols. My dd went and I didn't work so didn't need them at all, trust me it was worth every penny not only in terms of my sanity but dd was occupied and happy with her friends.Did I feel any guilt ..NO!

This is basically what parents used to do, send kids out to play and only back for dinner. Parenting has become so isolating and intense , no wonder the next generation are opting out.

Wait until they're older and your trying to get them to moderate technology which is designed to be all encompassing and addictive. But it the parents fault they're not out playing in the fields ffs

You are all doing an impossible job on your own...when you should have so much more support and less expectation. Do what you can to make it easier and yes...feel NO guilt

Primary teacher with three kids here. One is at a transition summer school this week. The youngest who is 6 has been going to a summer club 3/4 days out of 5 of the weeks we’re not away. They all get on, but my life is easier if the younger one is occupied in a club so I can actually have a break from small children!

This year hasnt been too bad, I think the weather has helped us to be out most of the day every day. However last year DH would often find me in tears from the constant fighting. Mine are currently 4 & 6, whilst I am not a teacher I only work 3 days a week so I've had quite a lot of time with them. I often offer holiday club to the 6 year old even when I don't need it. I offered her two days this year. She screamed with delight and merrily skipped in. Thankfully the 4 year old will be able to go from October half term.

I heard another woman shout after her two teens today in a park "are you two fighting again, do we need to go home?" I found my soul sister I could have high fived her for saying what I've said aloud for the last 5 weeks.

Oh yes, and I've only got one, but that means I'm designated playmate. Throwing things all over the house is the game du jour. Screen time and mum guilt are on a steady upward trajectory as are meltdowns, whilst nutritious home cooked meals and sleep are on a steady decline. Eat whatever you want, whenever, wherever because I can't take the screaming at meals in your underpants like some tiny Gregg Wallace. Coming upstairs at 7pm for the 9.30pm shutdown is killing me so watch woeful dino based cartoons until 8.30/9pm while I scroll MN for some kind of adult interaction to remind me that this isn't it, forever. Only it feels like it is when it starts all over again the next morning, with a random headbutt and the first of an unceasing list of unreasonable demands.

We've recently moved house as well, so totally out of routine and it's really draining me. Plus can't get anything done to sort it, because of preschooler's daily itinerary of screaming at me every time I try, until I stop. DH has no set work patterns so always on the hop with that, just to add to lack of focus, help and support. He's been out since yesterday morning trying to finish for a deadline, then I'll find out he has to go away a day later for 2 nights or something. Fielding "Why daddy not here?" has become almost a full time job in itself. Alongside my side gig of getting the constantly barking dog to settle down. Nerves, shredded.

I put DS back into nursery one day a week to get some respite, at £80 a time 😬 That's now a 2 hour round trip, on a good day, since we moved. So fairly pointless really. Cannot wait for September.

I’m sorry to laugh because your current situation sounds really tough, but your description of your toddler screaming at meals in his pants like some tiny Gregg Wallace has me snorting 😂 partly because I recognise it so vividly

Teacher over here too and could have written this post myself! I feel like I'm going back in sepemteber more tired than when I left in July! 🫠🥴

September*

I am struggling too. Between a toddler and a teen who are both testing me in very different ways I am just done. I try to do things with them. The toddler is weirdly easier than the teen who really is far too old for ‘days out’ in the conventional sense but I am insisting on at least one per week to balance out the screen time. I don’t especially enjoy these days because there are very limited things you can do with both kids other than national trust places, walks and McDonald’s. I miss routine. I miss not having to make one million snacks per day. I wish I was one of these mothers who just got up excited for each day and effortlessly made memories without really having to try.

It actually is easier with younger dc in my opinion because although they are hard work they are easily pleased whereas teens need cajoling often bribing into doing things.

We're all calling it sepemteber at this point 🫠

Touch wood I feel like this summer has been the best yet. But DS8 has been going to football camp 3 times a week which he loves, then he has a day home just chilling as he’s tired, then we have 1 day off as a family to gave a day out. But if he was home 5 days a week, it would have been hell!!

I think they really miss the routine (I do!). Mine are 8 and ten and start off well but then begin getting bored, evenif we are doing fun things. They stop complaining so much about not staying up late every day as they seem more tired by the end of the day which I think might be from boredom.

They are at holiday clubs all this week, two different clubs so a lot of ferrying about and I will need to make up some hours at work but at least they know what they are up to. Up, breakfast, out. Home relax, dinner, bed. Everyone is happy.

@londongirl12 this sounds like the dream!

I remember being a child on our 6 week summer holidays and we might do 2/3 trips to a zoo or the seaside but other than that it was literally play outside with your sibling. Now my DD5 expects to be doing something every day and even then as soon as we get back she asks what's next and proceeds to get out her bead kid or play Barbies 🥴 admittedly my DS is 17 months so she can't exactly play with him but I feel like between the two of them I haven't so much as had a wee to myself for 7 weeks!

I'm a sahm with a 7yo and 3yo, and I've been pretty happy this summer. We've had 6 days of family holiday, the eldest has been to a few week-long activity camps, the 3yo did a morning-only camp for a week, and they both did a few random days of camps together. We've had a few appointments and planned events, and there haven't been many other days to fill. We have zoo membership and some big playgrounds and splash parks to visit, and we've had busy weekend days out with DH to theme parks and seaside trips, so they've been happy to have quieter days afterwards.