School Holidays – Yeah or Nay?

We are in the one week term break for the last quarter of 2014. And I’ve reached the stage where I’m not so sure if I should go YEAH or NAY during the holidays. The easiest bit is the YEAHs… this comes naturally, innate in all of us.

Yeah #1: No need to wake up early!

Woohoooo!!! that’s for all of us! We can sleep in a little, no need to push ourselves out of bed and go through morning rituals just to get ready for school.

Yeah #2: No School!

No need to say more. No School, no school, no school

Yeah #3: We don’t have to worry about anything School related

That is, no need to iron school uniform, wash school shoes, get ready lunch boxes. Yipee!!!

But that’s all the YEAHs I could come up with… As I proceed into my 3rd year as a Primary School parent, there are really more NAYs than YEAHs.

Nay #1: Kids are way too free

Unless you take leave from work to bring them out, or you occupy them with camps and holiday programmes, you would most likely have 3 phone calls per 15 min when you are at work. (God bless you if you are a stay home mum!) The phone calls I got ranged from, “Can I have a piece of chocolate bread?” to “I’ve finished page 1 of Math homework, can I stop now?” to “Can we watch some TV?” to “What can we eat now?” to “What can we do now?” to the usual tale bearing phone calls from crying sibling 1 and crying sibling 2.

Too free. Really.

Nay #2: No one is looking forward to next Monday

I mean, I don’t want to set the alarm again at 6 a.m. I wish we never stopped waking up at 6 a.m.

Nay #3: There is no space in the house

At the end of the first day of hols, the kids have pulled out everything in each drawer and cabinet. They have left their mark in every room.

Nay #4: Holiday programmes all happen at the same time

Yup. It seems the ones you want to go for happen on the same day(s) of the week, and very likely at the same time.

Nay #5: Holiday programmes ain’t free and there’s no school bus for them!

And yes, the better ones, the ones that really take up all their time, and still add intrinsic value to their lives… these programmes aren’t cheap. And there’s still their transportation to settle. Most of the programmes require the parent or caregiver to drop off and pick up the child, and usually these happen in the middle of the day.

~~~~~

But deep down I know school holidays are best. Kids can recharge. I get to catch up with them (and their strangest habits) and such time spent together are always so precious. At the end, I just have to make the decision to spend time with them. Life doesn’t go on when it’s school holidays. It does stop. It’s just whether I want to stop and enjoy it with them.

Happy days are here

 

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