to want to throttle dd for saying

[kickassangel]

'mummy you're making this the worst summer ever'
it's the first day of the holidays here - we have 12 weeks before school starts in sep. she is already bored.

How old is she?

I'd tell her to get her brain in gear and make some plans.

12 weeks!!! gosh....

12 weeks - where abouts are you?

LOL - tell her if she thinks it's bad now, wait until she really upsets you!

Tell her its gonna get worse before it gets better .

we're in the US. she is 6, so kind of up to me to make plans, but i can't afford endless 'camps' & have hurt my back so can't run around & entertain her. it's also been raining loads so can't take her to the mud bath park.
d'ya think making her tidy the play room was a bad tactical move for the first day?

time to head out for a walk, methinks, it's what my mum used to do to us if we said we were bored.

next week we have swim class booked, that should sort her out.

Tell her that it isn't your problem-she needs to think of something to do!
Get her to write a list of things that she would like to do. Add the things that you would like to do. Tick the ones you can agree on and agree to fit them in at some point. Explain that she will have to amuse herself the rest of the time.

it's the amusing herself bit that is the problem - she has PLENTY of ideas for that!

How about writing a list of topics i.e Vikings, Dinosaurs, History of Costume, making suggesting she chooses one, and then that can be her exciting summer holiday project, to do a little bit each day.

This is what DS s looking forward to this summer holiday-we are going to do History of Transport!

Ofcourse she can make plans. Help her to recognise the cheap/free options (park, baking, treasure hunt, library, swimmign) and the special trip options (cinema, zoo, bowling). Then tell her to make a plan, only include a certain number of special trips and then check over her plan in case you need to change it a bit.

Every kid loves a holiday plan.

x post piscesmoon- great minds, eh?

The b-word was banned in our house when I was growing up. Mum used to threaten to take all our toys / games / books etc away and then see how we felt if we said it again. Since she wasn't the type to make idle threats, we learnt to find something to do!

actually, i am liking the idea of a plan - i do have a load of ideas, some 'big' some 'little'.
the prob is, dh works long hours so often it's just 2 of us, but i am going to arrange 'playdates' and invite people along on some of our outings.

stupidly, i thought that after a v busy end of term, with dance recital on sat, that she would want some 'downtime' the first couple of days, and now i've hurt my back so don't feel up to loading bikes into the car etc.

i like the idea of a project - she is v bright & needs that kind of thing.

reading project starts at the library this fri & she is already excited about it.

last year is took 4 weeks before she was in tears & asking to go back to school.

12 WEEKS! IMG

Is that typical in the US then?

How on earth fo working parents manage? When DD was that age I found it hard enough to arrange child care and holidays for 6 weeks.

They only get a week at spring and winter, no? And they haev summer camps so you can send your kids away.

Send your kids away?

Tell her that boredom is character building.

Actually I agree with Orm. I don't remember my Mum stressing over how to fill my day when I was on holiday - that was my business!

12 weeks for the summer is typical in many countries. My italian niece and nephew start the summer break around Jun 10 and finish around Sept 10 - so about 12 weeks there as well!

yeah, 12 weeks is normal, with less breaks during the year, BUT they still do a total of about 7 weeks education less per year. teachers get more planning time per week than uk teachers, and class sizes here are about 20, with a full time TA and a lot of parent helpers. people say teacher salaries are poor, but they're comparable here to what i was paid in the UK, have great benefits and housing is way cheaper.

can't wai til i get a work permit. sadly, due to michigan being one of the worst hit areas of the recession (car industry), teachers are being laid off at a massive rate.

many of the 'camps' are day care, especially at dd's age.

and i kind of feel responsible for entertaining her cos we haven't lived here long, so it's not her fault she doesn't have loads of friends.

wore her out today - playplace AND swimming. wore me out too.

I feel your pain. DD breaks up from school next week and she'll have about 9 weeks to fill. It is far too long IMO. What I tend to do is get her a couple of sheets of A4, make a grid so you have a calendar then fill in the dates with what we will do. that gives her a visual idea because she still isn't good with the concept of time (9.1).

only the boring are bored

seriously, everytime she complains of being bored say cheerily - thats great, Ive been looking for someone to help with insert boring chore

my mother used to do this, and oddly enough we soon found lots of interesting plans and projects to do. And sometimes we helped with the housework....

oh yes, the 'well this needs doing' approach. so, today we will do some painting (of the diy type).

one problems is, we're applying for a green card and know that immigration will want to see us 'in about a month or so' and possibly another month after that. we don't know when it will be, or how much notice we will have,but when they whistle we'll have to go running, so planning more than a week or two ahead is impossible.

dh hasn't had a single day off work so far this year, and we want to go on holiday, but can't book anything because of this. nor can i book a trip over to the SIL. it's v frustrating.

so i have activities planned for the first 3 weeks, then we'll see.

actually her original comment was not so much due to boredom as me making her do housework type things.