AIBU to think children do not need packed summer schedules?

[Didhereallyleavethecountryinabetterplace]

We have finished school where we are. We live in a warm place by the beach and swimming pools and so many things to do.
A family member has signed her children up to hundreds of activities and different camps. She doesn’t really work or at least not many hours and from home, they have plenty of money and a large home and garden.
I completely understand full time working parents having to rely on camps/clubs etc. But if you don’t/didn’t have to, is there anything wrong with just letting your kids relax and be at home with you and their friends a bit?
I love mine being off, do get overwhelmed sometimes yes, but generally love it and we can find lots to do and days that we don’t do much, they can relax-watch tv, play in the garden, do crafts, go for a bike ride, swim and so on.
Why do some have to be so over scheduled, especially when they have that normally with school then clubs and homework every night
As a child, I remember loving just lolling around, seeing friends and having some days not really doing much

I don’t understand it

The thing with saying they should be seeing friends is that you don't actually know whether their friends are going to be around and available or not. If a parent knows the DC are likely to benefit from social access to kids outside the home, actually the most reliable way to get that may very well be paid activities. You'd need implausibly detailed knowledge of their friend's mates holiday and parents annual leave plans to have any real idea how much friend time is realistic.

Oh I loved summer clubs so much as a child! I would have been mid primary in age and there was a full time nanny at home (so no necessity for me to go) but I adored the week of short tennis, the week of making plaster of Paris masks etc etc. I used to bug my parents endlessly to be allowed to go. I loved seeing my friend to but clubs were such a joy!

My child is naturally very athletic and high energy so would be bored with chilled out days every day. We've booked a mix of tennis, maths and multisports clubs to break it up a bit, she's excited to go so.. why not.

So do you think a lack of money is driving the OP's judgement?

It sounds as if your kids have the same sort of summer holidays l had,and loved. There might be one organised thing in the holiday-the cinema or going to a museum or something,but no more than that.

As a kid I asked to sign up to every club, camp and activity going in the holidays! My parents would happily have let me stay home with my siblings if I'd wanted to.

But kids need to learn to entertain themselves, independence and resilience to support their advancement into adulthood when not everything goes your way. If there is SEN or a diagnosed need to provide perpetual structured attention, that's fair enough. But for a child who just has a different temperament, you're not teaching them anything by pandering to them.

Hmm, but as an adult you have the autonomy to go out and do things, so it's very different. A person who enjoys structure and feeling busy can fill their life as an adult with work, volunteering, gym, hobbies, or anything else that's accessible to them and takes their fancy. Some people always do better with a routine. Some people like jobs that are constantly full on and then several gym classes afterwards. It is actually quite possible to build a life that doesn't involve having to tolerate hours of bored frustration in the house if that's not your thing.

I do get a sense of a lot of pressure families feel to ‘do’ something with their children. And that they are failing somehow if they don’t . I agree, some take it too far .
And if you do entertain them all the time they learn to expect others to attend to their entertainment. Always.
Thinking or doing things for themselves takes less priority.

They miss out developing an imagination, or just doing whatever it is they fancy doing.

I think it depends on audits and their kids.

My ds was an extremely quiet child who could entertain himself for hours. He did t need nor want constant attention and loved quiet days at home building with Lego for hours.

Therefore I could have lazy days where I could read/ litter doing housework, watch TV etc.

My friend with a DD the same loved doing housework far more than me and her younger DD was not able to self entertain, constantly talked and made demands etc.
this then wound up the eldest who wanted a look in on mums time.

we both work education and our summers looked very different.

we’d meet up 2/3 times during the week for just an hour or so at the park, swimming or whole days out.

either side of that she used clubs for both or 1 at a time as that worked for her and her kids.

I didn’t as ds wasn’t as sociable and chatty and o could crack on if he was home.

We were both right because we both did what worked for us and our children.