food

"7 things I love about school holidays."

Yes, there are parents out there that love holidays and these are some of the reasons why.

I’ve already got friends posting on social media, ‘”argh how long till holidays are over?”.

What are you all on about? School holidays are awesome.

I have never been one for a stringent routine and I love when holidays come around and aren’t ruled by school pick ups and drops off and after school sport.

I remember being a kid and counting down till school holidays and I find myself doing the same thing as an adult. There’s so much less stress in school holidays. The general vibe of life is more relaxed and I love that.

These are the 7 things I love most about school holidays:

1. Relaxed mornings.

School mornings are hectic. Seriously how long does it take children to put on a damn pair of shoes?! Or eat a piece of toast? If anyone saw my kids in the morning they would think they are competing with turtles in slowest animal to get ready competition, meanwhile I’m screaming like a lunatic at them to put their bloody uniforms on.

Holiday mornings are so relaxed. It’s not like we sleep in, my early bird 7 year old makes sure of that, but at least I’m not obliged to wear clothing that doesn’t have an elastic waist, and I’m not forcing my children to scoff down toast at 7am. We laze around in our PJs and breakkie normally hits our mouths at a leisurely 8.30am. I love it.

ADVERTISEMENT
School holidays mean relaxed mornings.Photo - Lisa and her boys

2. Less washing the whites.

Not sure who the idiot is that made my sons' school uniform white but if I ever meet them we can never be friends. School holidays means no soaking - no white school shirts and no white socks and for that I am truly grateful. To keep school holidays washing to a minimum I try and let them wear there pants as many times as humanly possible without being totally gross. If they haven't played in the dirt I can generally push 3 days out of each pair. Less washing = win!

3. I actually get to DO stuff.

Does anyone else get to the end of the school week and think 'crap it's over again?'. I have these mental 'to-do' lists and nothing on them gets done until I hit the holidays. I swear I meant to clean out the toy room back in February. Yeh, didn't happen. I also didn't re-arrange the linen cupboard or get rid of those Salvos bags. I know it's all totally lame stuff but at least it gets done in the holidays.

4. We get to see more people.

The kids have cousins and friends that don't go to their school and by the time everyone has done their after school activities it doesn't give us any time for the kids to actually catch up during the school term. Holidays are great for day trips down the coast to see the cousins and play dates during the days to see their friends from other schools.

Holidays are a great time to see cousins.Photo - Lisa's son and his cousin.

5. Constant supply of cookies.

ADVERTISEMENT

I duno, maybe it's just me, but we bake a lot in holidays. Especially the Easter holidays, excess chocolate is a great excuse to make choc-chip cookies. (And I feel slightly less guilty eating the chocolate in cookie form...) Sure the kitchen gets covered in flour and my 5-year-old says brown sugar tastes like delicious candy but I don't really care, we have fun and the biscuit tin is full. What's there to complain about?

6. Late nights with no guilt.

I am, by nature, a night owl. Which kinda sucks when your children have their father's get-up-at-stupid-o'clock gene. At least during holidays I can let us all stay up late without the thought of having to get us all up and out of the house by 7.30am or 8am the next morning.

7. We get to play tourist.

Playing tourist is so much fun. We live in a coastal town with some great attractions but for some reason we never find time to see during the school term. School holidays mean we get to check out the local sights at our leisure. Most are free or relatively cheap so we don't have to travel far and it doesn't break the bank.

Do you love school holidays? What are you favourite activities to do with the kids on holidays?

“The one place I hate, my kids will make me go these school holidays.”

18 mantras to stop you losing your mind these school holidays.