Year 7 summer holidays

[BettySundaes]

What do you do with your kids at this age in the school holidays? If you are working do you leave them alone all day at home or shunt them off to clubs/activities or have a childminder come in. I have asked my DD what her friends are doing and she was vague with her response. I know a couple are going to stay with family elsewhere for the duration but that's not an option. In fact we have no holiday plans at all so six weeks to sort out!!! Help.

Council run holiday schemes were good when DD was that age. Look up local sorts clubs or performing arts places, they often do one or two week camps too. It's too young to stay home. I found summer of y7/8 harder as DD felt too old for schemes but she was still only just 13.

When I was that age and my parents both worked, I was just left to my own devices as home.....mostly bored as no friends lived close, no ipads or tablets lol. No cable tv. I used to take walks, plan my lunches, read etc. I found ways to pass the time. These days children have way too much entertainment. They do not know how to do nothing lol. We tend to put our kids in sports or I plan an activity for the day, such as museum, swimming etc. Play dates with friends if any are around.

One week family holiday, one week musical theatre holiday club, so 4 weeks left to cover. I don't work Tuesdays so 4 days to cover. For each of those weeks remaining either H or I will take 2 days leave. So she's only home alone 2 days each week at most, and I don't mind her going a bit feral/goblin mode for shorter spells.

It depends a lot on your child. We found a couple of holiday camps that took them up to teenagers - outward bound camps that do abseiling, canoeing etc, a dry ski slope. We bought extra leave too. She felt a bit young to leave home alone for hours at a time, though I know other Y7s would be fine. We took turns taking them out a couple of days with one of her friends' parents.

It’s a really tricky age and child dependant. Some private schools near us opened up their holiday schemes, also like others have said it was a mismatch of leave, home alone, grandparents, hanging out with a friend or other activity like the school sports club did a 2-3hr session so they walked down to that and back.

It is a tricky one OP.

I was lucky (!) in that by the time my DC were this age I was working in education so had the holidays. I mean as a teacher I was working but I was at home and able to do stuff with them or just be there if needed as taxi.

I see that’s not helpful!

I think if your DC is happy with it, you are fine to leave them for a day or so a week; the rest of the time, it’s helpful to plan things. Can you wfh some days? Can you swap with a friend with same-age DC? Can you give them some cash and get them to arrange a regular meet up with a friend and the cinema or shopping? To me, it was less about “they are not safe” and more about breaking up the day and stopping endless screens or boredom.

There are sometimes clubs they can do to give the day a focus – sports if they do that, acting summer schools, camping with Scouts; we would also go away for a couple of weeks. Is there a close relative who can pop in for an hour on a quiet day? It’s a bit of a mishmash isn’t it.

We are working from home as much as possible. The odd day they will be home alone. I buy extra leave too. One week in a sports activity club specifically for older children.

I booked my Y7 DS into holiday clubs with his younger sister. Thankfully, there are still a few that take children his age. DH and I need to work, and he'd drive us mental if we let him stay home all day 🤷🏼‍♀️

My DD is crazy into musical theatre. Luckily there are theatres in our city that do a weeks worth of sessions and then a show at the end. I have managed to book both kids into that for 2 weeks.