school holidays mean nothing to me !
Working in a nursery now for many years, I worked towards each half term counting down the days till I could have a few days off, or work at the holiday club that the nursery ran. Many parents had said to me that school holidays can be such hard work as everywhere is manic. I have known parents go to a soft play areas with their child and be turned away as it was too busy.
My maternity leave started and I didn’t think about how many days till the next school holiday. If I’m honest most days I wouldn’t have even been able to tell you what day it was as they all started to jumble into one. It’s not until I started to look for classes to take Ava to that I noticed a lot of them were in 6 week blocks. So we joined a baby yoga class which is a pay as you go class which is fab . As I really didn’t want to pay for a 6 week class and her be ill for half of them!. When the half terms were coming up the yoga leader explained that the class wasn’t on. I was a little disappointed as Ava really enjoyed the classes but thought its only one week without it she will be fine . Well now the summer holidays have started and we now have no class !!. For parents like me the summer holidays are irrelevant we still have to entertain our children like every other day !.
I have taken Ava to places that we would normally go to and its horrible .For instance I took Ava to a soft play area that we normally go to and she really enjoys but this time it wasn’t enjoyable at all. The big kids would be running into the baby section with no though to the little ones playing in there. Whilst their parents are having a nice chat and a cup of tea not actually watching them. What do I do ? do I tell their kids not to do what they are doing, Go and ask their parents to actually watch their children or just take Ava out of the situation . We ended up doing the later which really isn’t fair on Ava it’s not her fault.
The other thing I have noticed is that some places put their prices up in the holidays which is infuriating. For me at the moment this isn’t an issue as Ava is normally free or I have to pay for myself which I think is stupid but that’s another rant for another day. I just don’t understand how this is fair for people who go to these places week in week out. I just wished that us parents with children who don’t attend school are taken into consideration.
Literally anything me and Ava normally do is closed for the holidays be it playgroup, play and stays or paid session. It’s ridiculous what do they expect us to do miraculously find something else to do. Well we would be lucky as literally everything is stopped or is stupidly busy.
So for the first time in my life I cannot wait for the schools to go back in September , so I can go back to normal and the routine I have become accustomed to.
4 Comments
Hannah Spannah
I totally get this but from both sides. When my son was younger, I hated that all our classes were closed, playgroups finished, swim lessons suspended and anywhere that we enjoyed would be manic. It can be lonely with a baby or toddler. We love our local farm and avoid it during holidays mostly and have the place to ourselves sometimes during term time. However, he starts school in September and it’s going to be love / hate. Love because I will have him all day again, no sharing with school and that we can go out and have fun but the memories of quiet trips will still be with me and I dread the crowds and queues and pushing and shoving.
Thank you for joining the #weekendblogshare. I’m so sorry that it’s taken me so long to read and comment! Hannah
admin
Don’t worry about it , thank you for taking the time to read . X
Let your light shine Mummy
I have an almost 5 year old and an 18 month old. School holidays are hard work. A bug bear of mine is definitely the older kids charging through younger kids play areas Grrr. I think parents are trying to find things for their children to do that don’t cost a fortune. My eldest starts school in Sept and I’m not looking forward to falling in line with holiday time, at preschool we could take our eldest away in term time if we wanted. Great post.
admin
Thank you , I’m sure in years to come I will write a post from a different parents perspective. As I will be the one looking for things to do with my child !.