How do the holidays affect your children?

[Lovesoftplay]

Hi, just wondering if I'm the only parent whose DC go a bit mad in the school holidays? I know it's the change of routine etc etc, but my eldest especially seems to be really struggling with half term.

How do your DC react to school holidays, and does anyone have any handy tips for me? X x

[Hayleyh34]

Our child reacts particularly badly to the summer holidays but that's because she went away on holiday a week before intro's (thanks for that SS) and now thinks that she'll get a new mummy and daddy after every holiday.

We reassure her alot, go into lockdown mode before and after holidays, make sure that she has lots of physical contact as that makes her feel safe.

None of this probably helps you with your situation! Sorry!

[Lilka]

Oh yes!

I have a love/hate thing with holidays. I love it when the kids are calm and happy and we spend nice days together doing fun things without having to worry about dreaded homework. But holidays are stressful, especially for DD2 who nearly always gets very attention demanding and her MH issues are rather more evident. DS is much better with holidays than she is

We have a lot of structure in the holidays which is a lifesaver, we'd never do anything or go anywhere otherwise, and DD would go to bits

[mrspopov]

Holiday time can be a total nightmare! This year was v bad with DD aged 10. Whilst at home we try to keep things as structured as possible, as she is a stickler for routine. One of the things I do after school and in the holidays is get DD to do a plan of her time, this really helps her and means she is generally happy to do "boring" things as well as fun things.

Whilst away we go for lots and lots and lots of reasurrance, as the "change" of being on holiday can be tricky. So again, planning and keeping her informed about what is happening can help.

In a nutshell, she is not usually happy to just hang out or go with the flow, needs a structure to her day.

Hope that helps.