OK - school holidays nearly over - so what score (out of 10) do you give yourself?

[Countingthegreyhairs]

positive:

• cooked good food (most of the time)
• read dd 4 books a day without fail
• hosted a play date once a week
• did loads of craft activities/baking etc
• threw a great birthday party for dd
• had a load of family to stay which made dd v. happy

negative:

• didn't go on holiday (too poor/busy)
• didn't go out enough(raining)
• dd watched too much telly/DVDs
• got very slack with afternoon nap/bedtimes
• I got despondent and shouty & had terrible rows with dd about getting dressed which I failed to handle well
• lost my temper & slapped dd twice (ashamed emoticon) and I don't believe in slapping

all in all I don't feel my relationship with dd improved over the summer and - because of that plus last point in partic. - I give myself a 4.5

Definitely going to try and do it differently next year.
How about you?

6/10.

minus 100

lol MABS

sorry to hear yr ds was ill girlwithnoname (would up your score if I were you)

stand corrected over cooking from scratch but I'm reasonably proud of myself that I didn't resort to ready meals/fast food outings etc tbh and that dd didn't eat too much crap

Hellish and Kaz - I failed on the swimming front - too fat/nork conscious to get in to my swimsuit ...

I love having school holidays with the kids.

I aspire to your marks next year PointyDog (well, at least an eight)!

My kids are older. I love spending time with them.

Do school holidays get easier as they get older then (relief emoticon)? Here's hoping ... seem to recall my brother and I as teenagers being particuarly putrid and sulking on holiday ...

Awards for:

Keeping the children busy: 8
Keeping the house clean: 2
Organising the holidays: 5
Keeping the rows down: 5
Making the best of the bad weather: 10
Making the best of the badly organised holiday: 10
Having fun: 8
Getting those important things done: 1

If you've all had fun then you have your priorities right Mrs Marvel ...

.. . only wish I could say the same ...

on bright side, dd - unusually - woke me up this morning and said "Mummy, get up, it's time for school"...

don't know whether to be or

Oh this thread makes me feel much better - I was feeling guilty because I feel like I haven't done as much with the dcs as I would usually in the hols (and there has been too much tv watching, fighting, shouting, etc because of this)

I think it's because the weather has been so bad - usually we do at least one whole day out per week (not necessarily expensive - usually picnic at a park a bit further away that has lots of different things for them to do).

I am hoping the weather is good tomorrow so they can have a nice day out somewhere for the last day of the holidays...

hope you have a lovely day tomorrow KTeePee

I guess we shouldn't be too hard on ourselves because the weather WAS exceptionally foul

positives
did lots of outdoor stuff despite the weather
Had a fab camping trip/festival holiday
Went out in the campervan lots
Did a MN meet-up (waves at Yorkshire MNetters)
Got to the beach
Had lots of chilled out relaxed days
Boiys spent quality time with grandparents
Had some very wholsome river days with picnics, paddling, fishing, swimming etc
Won a fab competition thanks to MN which has given us something lovely to look forward to in September

Negatives
Was working 3 days a week so 'missed' out on stuff with the boys
Had to put the boys into school club one day a week (which they hate)
MIL was very ill so we didn't get to see her
House is a shithole
Spent too much money on activities as weather was so poor and am now panicky about forthcoming birthdays/xmas
DH was grumpy and working too hard over the holiday period so couldn't take much time off and when he did take time off, was grumpy and tired
Negelected my allotment

"Had some very wholsome river days with picnics, paddling, fishing, swimming"

ah - Filthyminded vixen - that sounds idyllic

I have an over-worked/grumphy dh & a neglected veg patch too ...

I screamed my head off about 5 times. Am not proud of that but am trying desperately hard not to beat myself up about it as it is less than once a week One such episode was today when had taken the kids to gym and then out shopping, had bought them treats (books) and still they ask for more, I took them to a cafe and then we went to the local shop and still they ask for more (chocolate, after having cakes). They both ran around like lunatics and were very spirited shall we say, lots of shreiking and silliness. Got in the car and shouted so loud I gave myself a sore throat

On the whole though I don't think i've done too bad. We went camping for a week in Devon the first week of the holidays and went to Cornwall for a week the third week. They have seen their friends, I have had kids round a couple of times every week. We have been to the park, swimming, zoo, softplay, sciency place, beach etc etc etc. Can't do any more, can you?????

It was a disaster from start to finish but my dc still love me, bless 'em, so I'll give myself a 5.

I'm not always patient, very moody, a bit too old to be a mum to young 'uns, but I don't regret a thing.

What I'm really dreading is adolescence. I was awful (I remember that even then, I sometimes shocked myself) and what goes around, comes around.

dd was shipped between grandparents for the 1st 2 weeks, had a week with dh whilst I worked (or tried to with them in the house), had 3 weeks at Barracudas, a week in Cornwall as a family, then a week off with me and dss.

All in all, she had a great summer and has had lots of variety, very little TV but diet could have been better!

I on the other hand feel that I've missed out!

Sounds as if your kids had a great time West CountryL and Galaxy

What's too old FortuneCookie ... I'm ancient ...

As most of the people in my parents' generation are fond of saying, age is a state of mind. If this is true, I must be about 99!

on that basis Fortune I'm either 6 or 103 yrs depending on the situation