Stressing about the school holidays?

• Published date: 28 September 2022
• Publication title: Courier, The

Your child needs the holidays to recharge their batteries and refresh themselves, ready for the next term. Holidays are also an opportunity to spend time with your child and have fun together

Keep it simple, affordable and fun. The key is enjoying time with your child — it does not have to be a chore or cost a lot of money.

Tips to thrive

■Take the pressure off yourself — decide that you are just going to enjoy hanging out together without the hustle and bustle of the school term.

■If you are working in the holidays, use the evenings or time when you are not working to have fun time with your child, free of the school-time routines.

■If you are signing your child up to school holiday programmes, let them be involved in choosing them — many programmes have a specific focus, like art and craft or sports, and your child will have more fun if they are doing something they like.

■Remember all the free, fun games and activities you enjoyed as a child (before tablets, PlayStation and Xbox)? You will be surprised at just how much fun you will still have and your children will enjoy them too!

■At the start of the holidays, get your child or children to write a couple of ideas for things to do and put them in a jar. Each day pull one out of the jar to do that day.

...