Half Term Hell?

Another half term holiday, another opportunity to prove to everyone on Facebook how many activities you can physically squeeze into a week. Right?

I’m not sure about everyone else, but my kids were knackered when they finished school last week. Six weeks of lacrosse (just realised that makes us sound incredibly middle class!), rugby and swimming twice a week on top of all the normal school activities wiped the 7 year old out and the 3 year old was reeling from starting nursery five mornings a week. Mix into that the fact that everyone we come into contact with has a stomach bug or a virus or a cold and you have kids who are not only tired but full of every bug known to man.

Some parents approach the holidays with a timetable to shame even the most enthusiastic of tour guides.

Monday - The Museum of Science and Industry followed by lunch followed by swimming.

Tuesday - Cinema followed by park followed by dinner out.

Wednesday - Play-date in the morning followed by SeaLife Centre

Thursday - Legoland followed by a trek round Dunham Massey

Friday - Canoeing followed by Minecraft workshop topped off with movie night.

You get the idea...but it makes me wonder who it's for. Is it for the kids, the parents, or the hordes of people on Facebook who are intent on keeping up with the Jones'?

If you ask my kids what they would like to do, chances are they would say play on the Wii or watch a film. This clearly isn’t healthy 24 hours a day 7 days a week but every now and then there’s nothing wrong with it.

We’ve just spent two days at Grandma’s where we ventured out to the park once for about an hour (because it was freezing!) and spent the rest of the time playing games with family and watching TV. When it was time to leave, the 7 year old cried halfway down the M62 declaring he wanted to move in with Grandma.

Kids don’t need their life planning without a minute to spare. They need to discover how to entertain themselves, need to experience boredom every now and again and they need time to find their own ways to relax.  They don’t need dragging around every museum and tourist attraction available just so their parents can get kudos for providing a well rounded half term experience.

Let kids play in the garden and flop in front of the TV. Let them beat you at Monopoly and stay up late to look at the stars. Help them make gold in Minecraft or dance to the Frozen soundtrack in the living room. 

Let them do the things that they like to do rather than what you think they like (or think they should like). If that means rushing from one activity to the next, then that’s fine (some kids are like this apparently, although definitely not mine!). But if it means they’d quite like to play Mario Kart all morning followed by a back to back Toy Story fest then so be it. 

After all, they are on holiday.