Are summer holidays outdated?

[emkana]

So Caitlin Moran says in the Times today. She says they would never be invented now and are a relic (sp?) of the time when children had to help bring in crops etc. Totally impractical nowadays with work etc.

But I would hate for my children not to have that experience of six weeks stretching ahead of them...

I think summer holidays should stay.

[Peachy]

AGree, also summer holiday costs would shoot through the roof if the season was narrowed- and whilst its Ok to say well holiday at half term, if like us you don't / can't fly, woudl we really want to? No.

Anyway, , back home loads of kids used to help out on the farms in the summer! And get farm jobs at college, as well.

Forgive me, but I'd much rather entertain my boys in the (usually) warm dry weather than attempt it in damp october.

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

I'd love 8 weeks holiday. My DCs get tired and jaded and really need the break. A long holiday gives you scope for more adventures and gives them time to daydream and learn to entertain themselves (v. important stuff). When the holidays are shorter it's too easy to plan every minute of every day and too much 'organised fun' for children just turns them into an audience waiting for their parents to entertain them .

Also, I find the first few days and the last few days of any school holiday is a winding-down or winding-up period and they need the relaxing bit in the middle. And so do I.

[kookaburra]

I would actually like the summerhols to be longer - 3 months sounds about right, and am looking forward to them going to independent schools to get longer hols. Today they go back to school and I am in deep depresssion - we have had so much fun these hols. There is no need for them to regress academically - we keep up with reading, maths and writing a daily diary and they learn lots of other stuff just playing.

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

And we DO have crops the DCs help to bring in actually!

[portonovo]

The other downside with a shorter summer holiday is that would be harder to get together with friends and family. Even with six weeks, by the time a lot of people have been away for a week or two, it can be hard to co-ordinate things.

My older two are at the age for arranging get-togethers with their friends, having picnics in the park or whatever. But this year they found they had a very short window in which to get even 3-4 friends together. Imagine how much harder that would be if everyone had only 4 weeks to choose from for their holiday away!

I also agree with Peachy, in that many of us choose not to holiday abroad for various reasons, which means that practically speaking you'd be left with going away in only a 4-week stretch. I've spent the last few weeks trying to find somewhere within our budget for next summer's holiday, and many places are booked up already. Again, if everyone were vying for one of 4 weeks instead of one of 6 weeks, that would be even harder to arrange.

The only way that might be solved is if we had a 2-week break say at the end of May or in June, when the weather is often good so some people might choose to take their main holiday then.

[Mercy]

3 months holiday

I suppose I might feel differently if both my children were at school, I had more money and someone to help out, but atm 6 weeks feels too long (crap weather doesn't help!)

[paolosgirl]

Just of out interest - how many posters here who happy with the way things are just now are SAHM, and how many work outside the home(and have to rely on playschemes/childminders etc?). I'm curious as to whether or not that has a bearing.

[Peachy]

Student- which means I rely on care at half term etc rather than summer, plan on teacher training after a year out to have this baby. have been working Mum up until now.

I think a knock on effect of short holidays would be a soaring of famillies taking holidays outside holiday time, already a big issue for schools.

[IdrisTheDragon]

I don't have any children at school yet, but the thought of a 3 month summer holiday is a little too much.

[Tortington]

i hate them. i think that children should have a more equal timetable. My children are now longing to go back to school - the novelty of not doing so having faded at around the three week mark.

on a personal level - the six weeks hols make things a lot easier for me

there are no uniformed to be ironed. no books to be found no missing PE kit no detentions, no school trip letter given to me the night before with a begging son or daughter "pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaase can i go - everyone else is"

6 weeks is easy. i get up LATER get ready in peace, i even don make-up for work - becuase i have time.

so i make my assertions based purely on educational reasons. i think that many children would benefit from a more continual school year.

[bozza]

Some areas already to have an extra week at Spring Bank though, don't they? I am jealous because you can go abroad for a fortnight with nice temps and cheaper than August. When I was growing up in NE Lancs we actually had 5 weeks starting at the beginning of July and going into August and then another week or 10 days mid September. They stuck with that until very recently but have now standardised. It was great for the people living there, because they could go on holiday either in the very first couple of weeks or July when it is slightly cheaper or in September.

I would be happy with the idea of splitting the holidays into two summer breaks but really don't see the point in adding to time off at the end of October or mid February which are both pretty dreary times of year. I don't altogether buy the childcare issue either. Because DS has 13 weeks holiday a year which need to be covered in one or another whenever they take place in the year.

[bozza]

Agree with custy's point. Also so much easier actually getting to work over the summer.

[jenkel]

I agree with TheDuchess, I think its really good for kids to just be able to chill, learn to entertain themselves, etc and 6 weeks hopefully would enable that. Saying that we have just had the most manic and enjoyable 6 weeks, not much time for chilling.

However, 2 week breaks at other times of the year would help with family holidays, I would like a week going away and then a week at home and the only chance you get of that is during the summer or easter, and easter is a little early for good weather.

[Blandmum]

I would like them to have a month in the summer, less time at easter/christmas, and give them three , two week long holidays for half term.

I find they come back after the weeks half term still tired. And they come back to school after the six weeks having forgotten how to work a bit!

And if you had longer holidays through the year, you'd spread the load of people taking their holidays all in the summer months.

I'd love to take a holiday in the Oct half term, but the time is just that bit too short.

[scienceteacher]

I like a long summer holiday. I think it is important for the children to get really bored and to start using their imaginations. You don't get to that stage in a shorter holiday.

I'm pretty happy with my holidays. The only change I would make would move the two-week half term from October to February, so that we could at least dream of going skiing.

[Hulababy]

No they are fab. I have loved having DD home for the school holidays, doing fun stuff together. It's been lovely and she has had a really good break.

School was never intended to be childcare. So being impractical re wrok is just one of those things you have to put up with IMO, sorry. We know what it is like before we go down that road to having children surely?

And I can only imagine how difficult it would be , and even more expensive it would be, to try and get a non-term time holiday if they were changed!

[SueW]

DD gets longer hols - two months in the summer, 3 weeks each Xmas and Easter, a week each half term (but 1.5 weeks this Oct only).

I'd like to see two weeks in October definitely and 10 days-2 weeks in February. Her summer term is usually only about 9 weeks (4+5) so it's a bit impractical to have two weeks off in the middle of that.

[Lazycow]

Well 6 weeks is nothing compared to the 3 months for some of the rest of
European.

My niece and nephew in Italy break up in the middle of June and go back in early to mid Sept. Now THAT is a long summer holiday.

Most summer holidays until now (when they are teenagers) have been spent

• 10 days on a beach holiday with their dad
  
• 1 month in the UK with my parents
  
• 1.5 months in Italy staying partly with my parents (who go to Italy specifically to look after them) and partly with their other grandparents.
  
  I think it is truly a difficult problem for most working Italian parents and IMO is a major factor in the steeply declining birth rate there as it is such a nighmare to organise cover for the children over the summer if grandparents don't do it.
  
  Think of it - 3 months of having the kids at home !!

[unknownrebelbang]

I don't consider school to be childcare, and wouldn't particularly want to see less holidays overall, but I do think six weeks (seven weeks one year) is a tad too long for my lads, both in terms of education (agree with MB on this) and getting too bored and irritable (fortunately - or unfortunately remembering some of their escapades they have no problem with imagination, but they spend so much of their time being regimented that eventually they get fed up of no routine).


Having said that, I do agree with Custy about it being great for me as a parent having no uniform/homework etc etc, being able to work flexibly...and tea on the table most nights as DH has looked after the boys for most of the holidays this time.

[unknownrebelbang]

And given how crud the weather's been for most of this holiday, and how glorious it was at Easter (and reasonable in May), that's not a major consideration, lol.

As a family of ginger/blondes with fair skin, going abroad suits us better early/later in the year - May or October suits us. Would rarely consider going abroad in August.

[MrsSpoon]

miljee, I've just re-read my post and realise it sounds contradictory but it's not, honest. My children still had six weeks off in the summer (this coming summer they will be off from 4th July to 19th August, just over 6 weeks), the other local authorities in the area must have had seven weeks off. They then get 2 weeks in October and 2 weeks at Easter, for us this is a nice balance, and I think the 6 week break in the summer does us all the world of good. However with that I do have to admit that I am a SAHM/WAHM so don't have the same childcare issues.

[NKF]

They may be outdated but they're wonderful.

[Hurlyburly]

"School was never intended to be childcare. So being impractical re wrok is just one of those things you have to put up with IMO, sorry. We know what it is like before we go down that road to having children surely?"

We all have to work unless we

• inherit a lot of money
  
• marry someone who earns quite a lot of money
  
• live in poverty
  
  Society is changing and enabling more flexible and adaptive childcare. It's changing because it has to. Economically the country cannot afford 50% of the working population to be unemployed. But it's not changing quickly enough. It is a nightmare for working parents and it does the children no good at all. Caitlin Moran is right.

[HonoriaGlossop]

Hulababy I agree with you. No matter how inconvenient, difficult etc, we have to remember that school is to educate.

[Blandmum]

The thing is though, you are never going to have a situation where teaching of children carries on for longer to accomodate the needs of working parents.

the holidays may be re-arranged (and there are some reasonable educational reasons for doing this IMHO), but the amount of holidays is going to stay the same. So the net effect on working parents isn't going to be that great, except it will free up more time for holidays outside the summer months