I HATE HALF TERM!!!!!!

[pfer]

Ok it's Tuesday night, only got 12 more days without a break.......going mad......won't leave me alone.........they are going to break me this time......help me someone help meeeeeeeeee.....................

I like the holidays - it's good not to have to rush about in the morning getting 3 kids ready and out the door. This half term has been 'ok' but I've been potty training ds2 so not the most fun ever!

I think we have to remember also that everyone's situation is different - people who normally work and then take the holidays off are doing something completely different for a start, and it's a chance to get and do things they don't often do with the kids. It's a bit more of a novelty to have all day with the kids. If you are a SAHM and have kids round you 24-7 anyway, it's just a harder version of a normal week (if you have say some kids at school but some pre-schoolers too).

Gobbledespook - exactly. I'm a sahm who also works (self employed from home, ds1 is 3yrs 10months and ds2 is 13months. ds1 has had quite an intense dislike of ds2 since he arrived and it's only just starting to get better so the last year has been exhausting and I really resent people suggesting that myself and others in the same situation shouldn't have had kids. They obviously have perfect children who behave wonderfully all of the time and get on with each other - rather than kicking each other in the face, biting each other etc... Playschool is fab. it gives ds1 a break from ds2 and vice versa. They need that. And tbh so do I. During the hols they get so demanding and competitive that everything else just gets left, the house is a tip, the ironing pile is about 16feet high (just slightly more than usual) and my work has been left untouched. Does that make it any more understandable to certain mums why I find the hols difficult?

pfer - snap. I'm a freelancer so work from home - my 3 ds's are 4.5, 3 and 14 months. Usually ds1 is in school (just started reception), ds2 has nursery 3 mornings a week and ds3 is home with me all the time. So generally I'm either looking after kids, doing housework etc or working in the office and have very little time actually to myself.

I'm not complaining btw, I love my life and it's a very fortunate one but it is exhausting. I do like the holidays but the summer ones are easier than the winter ones (not really been a week where they can play out as it's lashed it down every day! ds3 would be a soggy mess falling over in all the puddles!) and it does get quite trying by the end of the week - particularly this week as I've been potty training and decided to pretty much stay in so they've gone a bit stir crazy!

On Tuesday this week I went out to work (had to go into the office of one of my clients) while Mum had the boys - when I got back at tea time I was still fresh as a daisy with tons of energy! If I'd been at home all day I'd have been falling asleep standing up!

The thing is, if you are a SAHM, the stuff you do in the holidays is just the same as the stuff you do on a normal week but I'd imagine if you work, you take a week off and relish the whole week that you get to spend with your children and you fill it with all the things that you don't normally get to do but that SAHM's do week in week out.

Gobbledispook - glad I'm not the only one who starts to feel a little ...........worn, by the end of the day. It's like when dh comes home friday pm and says thank god it's the weekend, well I don't get one. The kids always play up for him and so even though it is easier when he's a home at the weekends (except today, he seems to have gone off for some 'me' time by himself - since 11.30am) it's rare that I get to be alone to do anything that I need to do. TBH I'm looking forward to DS2 starting playschool when he's 2.5, I'll be caught up on work, the house will be clean (maybe ) and I'll have more energy to spend time playing. They'll enjoy it more and so will I.

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ggg, I think she does know that but, like you say, everyone gets frazzled sometimes and pfer was just exhausted and letting off steam. I don't think it's really fair to say 'why have them?' - nobody dares say this to WOHM!

Oh come on! On threads discussing SAHM and WOHM, you would get seriously flamed for saying 'why have kids if spending any length of time with them is so unbearable?'

This poor poster was having a stressful time, vented her frustration on MN and didn't deserve that response! We all get fed up with it sometimes and have a moan about it!

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Pfer was stressed about half term and she's a SAHM the rest of the year as well! Plenty of posters on here freely admit to being unable to deal with their kids day in day out and go to work instead but nobody asks them why they bothered having them!

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I know you would Codster! It's not a fair comment though in this case imo. Jeez, some women can't wait to get back to work just 5 months after having a baby - should they not have bothered?

I agree with you but it's not right to suggest they shouldn't have children.

That was to Cod, but equally applicable to Beetroot.

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Bloody hell, if thats the attitude ggg 75% of mumsnetters shouldn't have had kids in your opinion

Having kids doesn't mean you are automatically able to cope with everything and if having a bit of a rant on mumsnet gets you slated theres no bloody point in posting

I for one (and it looks like I am the only one as per bloody usual) am really fed up that half term is over.

It'll be with a heavy heart I take them back to their full time other life once more.

Not for long though. Hehehehehehe!

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I joined mumnet in the vain hope that sometimes if I ever needed a shoulder to cry on or an ear to bend I'd be able to do just that. It appears I was sadly mistaken. After reading this and other threads it appears that there will be a lot of troubled adults out there in a few years time as their parents have been unable to instill in them some of the more important values in life that everyone should have. The ability to listen without judging and condemning and the gift of empathy. For those of you that have these values "congratulations". Your kids should turn out pretty darn well balanced and open minded, for those of you that haven't "shame on you", you are going to spoil your children and that's really sad. And I know that all of you reading this know just which category you fall into don't you?

I chose to stay at home to look after my kids, not only because they are (on the whole) an absolute joy but also because AS I CHOSE to have them then I don't think it's right to palm them off with other people whilst I go to work/out socialising etc. For those of you that have to work, well so do I. I work from home to get the extra money we need to pay the bills. With half term being only half way through here, I can see the overdraft getting bigger as I've not been able to do any of this much needed work, so next month we are going to be right in the s*. But what's more important? The time spent with your kids, that you don't get to have over again, or the expensive tv's etc that you want, but could really get at a later date? Think about it before you sit in judgement. What sort of person makes the better mum?

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pfer, I sympathise with you, although I think, now my children are a bit older than yours, holidays are, on balance, less stressful than school days. I can well remember one terrible summer holiday though, just before ds1 started school, when I thought I was being clever booking our summer holiday in term time, thinking it would be our last opportunity to have a cheaper holiday. Of course, what that meant was, I had six unremitting weeks of holiday with three children under 5 to care for. I thought it would never end!

Anyway, sympathies also for the two week holiday. We have something simlar here - the childre don't go back to school until Wednesday and my youngest doesn't go back to playgroup until the following Monday. I think they are trying to introduce the 6 term school year here, hence the longer holiday now to break up this long term.

Lonelymum - just had that long summer with 3 under 5 myself! What a killer!

Actually, it wasn't toooo bad as it was at least nice weather - great if they can play out, and you can go and do picnics, zoos etc - nightmare if you are stuck in with 3 energetic boys! DVDs are all very well but mine don't watch TV for more than 10 minutes before they are looking for something else to do!

I tried to get them to watch a Disney film the other day - Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Nemo....they didn't want to watch any of them! HEEEEEELP!

I had visions of us all snuggling on the sofa with sweets cinema style but they ain't having it!

Won't be long though before things will change. Unfortunately, mine are new to the area and we live on a busy road, so they can't go out alone and meet up with friends which is what they were getting close to doing in our old home, but I find my three older ones now go upstairs and play games in ds1's bedroom for hours on end, leaving me with ds3, who, amazingly, will watch videos or CBeebies for decent lengths of time. It is defintely easier these days.

Glad to hear it!! I'm hoping that when they are a little older they might be able to entertain themselves a little more on the computer (now they really need supervision and I have ds3 climbing up my legs while I try to help the others so it's always really stressful) and that they'll be able to say for themselves 'can we do x, y or z'. Plus they might actually watch a film from start to finish!

Don't get me wrong - the boys are great fun and we do get out and do stuff a lot but sometimes I just wish they could be entertained for longer so I can get on and do something! I am a SAHM though it's 24-7, 365 days a year. I don't get a break by going to work!