...to be irritated by people who pack their DCs off to clubs as soon as the hols start?

[juicy12]

I'm not talking about people who work full/part-time here. But really about people who are SAHM/SAHDs. Some people seem to be terrified at the prospect of spending any time with their DCs just in the home, just hanging out or doing home activities. I've got a DS - 5 and a DD - 2.5, and I'm looking forward to some weeks of chilling out, painting, craft stuff, swimming, playing etc. I've lost count of the number of other SAHMs who take the "can't possibly have them at home for 6 weeks" line and schedule the entire break to within a nano-second. Or am I being mean not booking DS1 in for loads of different activities?

Have just got back from taking DS1 to his Church run holiday club, he loves it, he gets to see his friends, and more importantly he doesnt want to sepnd his whole holiday with me.

YABU - I think the OP should spend some time over the holidays getting her DC's to help her polish her Halo.

my dd has church camp 3 hours a day next week. She LOVES it. This will be her 3rd year attending and she talks about it all year long afterwards.

I love love the people who set it up and run it.

Think we could be accused of the opposite ! 8 weeks to fill, some days of holiday club last week (while I worked/was ill), the odd actviity course(non sporty, antisocial ds(11) needs to learn to mix outside school), Brownie pack holiday for dd(7), family holiday and maybe the odd family/friends visit in between. In between they pretty much entertain themselves. A break for mum/dad during this time is not a sin surely ! I would n't have done it when dc were your kids' ages (although I think ds still did do an activity club for a week or so) but in 5 years' time you will probably be eating your words !

YABU.

I used to go to all sorts of holiday clubs when I was a kid and loved them.

Far better than hanging round the house/going to the park/all the usual stuff.

It was a huge treat.

Ever heard of balance ?
I am on maternity leave, but normally only work 2 days anyway. But I have ds1 booked into a club for week 3 of the hols. I have him at home this week. Then to my sils to see his cousins for a few days, who he adores - AND they will be going to an am club for 3 mornings. Why ? Because both boys BEGGED to. Then a week at home. Plan to do NOTHING other than maybe a picnic in the park. Then we are off for 2 weeks camping in our new caravan. Then he will be back at school. I am worried that I have packed too much in. But it is just the way it has worked out.
If you can manage 6 weeks of sole care. Painting and arts. Then good for you.
But YABtotallyU, but crucifying those that don't.

My dc do not want to spend time with me and asked to go to a club this week with their friends . It is 50p per child per two hour session for this week only. I would be crazy to refuse surely?? They will have to spend time with me at some point though!! There is no escape [evil cackle].

Forgot to say this is also a church run club. My children need God and this provides it .

I don't thik the OP is tryig to be judgey or means to come across as some kid of perfect parent. I think (presuming here) she feels that because of increasing pressures of modern life on parents and families, children are perhaps not always getting enough one on one quality parent time, which they need more than ever today and all parents can relate to that, whether they work or not.

Kids do spend increasing amounts of time in bureaucratic organisational structure at a increasingly earlier age. I remember going back to work when eldest DS was just 6 weeks old and looking for nurseries when he was 6 months. I couldn't wait till a school nursery place came up and just felt relieved when he went with no fuss. Then I couldn't wait till full -time reception started. I used to groan at the thought of the holidays and say I couldn't wait for them to go back.

I suppose a couple of bad life experiences caused me to take a fresh look at myself and I realised that there are soooo many things required of us today that really aren't helpful in terms of creating/maintaining strong family bonds and some of those things are necessary things that simply can't/shouldn't be dispensed with. So it's nice to be able to redress the balance of those pressures during the holidays if-one-can spending more family time together in an ideal world because things are so difficult these days.

I have 2 ds's eldest is 10, youngest is 21m, i wish i could pack them both off to a club because trying to pack to move while dp is at work and i have a 10 yr old whinging "I am boreddddddddddd why can't we go out" and a 21m old who keeps opening the fridge and saying "cheese" then getting a knife out of cutlery drawer at which point i have to chase him to retrieve both. oh then there is the stopping for a coffee to destress myself lol

here, have a jaffa cake

not forgetting i have to fit in the mumsnetting packing while caring for them both who wants to help me??

ok have another 3 then a big coffee

ZZZ was the Jaffa cake for me??? if so thanks they is my favourites

lol ohhh i like you ZZZ,

I never realised how much crap stuff can be collected in 2 years. I have thrown so much away.

they're good on they?

Best send ladyevenstar the packet. I thinks she's going to need them !

I'm worried she'd throw it away by mistake

oh nooo I won't i will scoff share them with the brat eldest and the demon urchin baby..

ZZZ, best not to then .
Or we could also send her one of those dummy attachment thingys, and she can have her jaffacake permanently attached to her gob, to prevent her from screaming at her bored children

Oblomov lmao you know me too well!!!!

ZZZenAgain do you have any Custard Creams?

no! Do you think I should nip out to the shops?

ohhh custard creams and bourbons please

Not read the whole thread, but just a few thoughts:

How do SAHMs/Ds afford so many organised activities? I have occasionally paid out for holiday tennis lessons or a half day in the leisure centre, but I certainly couldn't afford a whole week of activities, let alone longer. I always assumed that the children who went to these clubs all the time were children of working parents.

I don't really agree with parents here of older children saying "it's easy being at home with little ones, you wait until they are older and fighting each other". I actually felt the need for organised activities when mine were younger. As they get older, they are better able to occupy themselves without recourse to adults. Now mine are even older and the answer is simple: bored? go and call on a friend (well, this works for the 13 yo, 11 yo and 9 yo - 6yo is still too young for that).

Thirdly, I also don't quite understand the notion that because you are a SAHM you have endless time to play with your children. SAHMs are working people too! Otherwise, when the children were at school, they would all be sitting around idle.

Lastly, school holidays? What are those? Mine are, even as I type, all still at school, poor sods.

YABU how other people organise their childrens lives during the holidays is nobody else's business.

School hols are very difficult when you have a 13 and 11 year old fighting pretty much constantly from the moment they get up is not much fun.