WHAT THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS TAUGHT ME

We're officially in September and with Noahs' first day at school mere days away, I wanted to reflect on the six weeks holiday as a whole. Initially when they rolled around I was thankful, Noah before now was attending school on a part time basis every afternoon (a strange set-up that any child who turned four before December last year was able to do) and whilst he loved school it was really disruptive every day going back and forth four times. I craved the holidays. But as they came closer the realisation that it'd be me and the boys flying solo for 95% of the time was in truth, a little intimidating - they fight like cat and dog at the minute and I didn't want to end the month of August being able to add referee to my CV.

You can't do it all.
Dear lord sometimes you just can't do anything. I saw some quote at the start of the summer about how I only have 14 summers left with Noah before he'll most likely spend them with someone else and it panicked me into thinking we had to cram so much in. In reality, that's not true, firstly as soon as he hits the teenage years I'm betting he'll be playing out or at his friends as opposed to having snuggles with me. Secondly - why the pressure? Even if I have 14 summers, that's a vast amount of time and it doesn't mean we have to go to the zoo four times in the space of a week to feel like we got value out of our days.

Preparation isn't key
I thought with this being Noahs' first full year at school I'd be rushing out the door to buy his uniform in July. Wrong. I know if I'd have done that he'd of probably out grown it a week later, and the weather is so unpredictable that I wouldn't of had the foggiest on whether to send him off in shorts or trousers and a winter coat on his first day. I'm kind of glad I held back on picking up most of the essentials, as they wont be hidden in the back and beyond of his wardrobe struggling to be found in a few days time.

Memories over maths
I swore that I'd have Noah doing every bit of reading, literacy, phonics and maths you could dream of, but I quickly realised he's four. That isn't my job, sure I'm always going to be a pusher of a parent but it's not my place to add extra pressure that isn't there. Every summer going forward I'm sure the mountain of homework will be increased and at such a young age it felt unnecessarily harsh to inflict that on him. Noah is a bright cookie, I know he's not suddenly going to forget how to write his name and we never go a day without having a story, but I'm content in the knowledge I just let him do his thing over these few weeks and we didn't have any battles over rhyming words, as I'm sure we'll have enough over the next term.

Pyjama days aren't bad days.
I often feel awful if we've spent an afternoon indoors not really doing much, or if we're back in our comfies by 11am. But when I was little those were always the best days, sitting cosy, watching re-runs of my favourite shows on Nickelodeon, I was living my best life. The boys might be more Pj Masks than Sabrina The Teenage Witch, but I can still learn to enjoy the days when we don't actually have any solid plans or achieve any huge household tasks.

They are expensive.
It doesn't matter whether you're doing five different days out a week, or spend every single day at home - the holidays are going to be more expensive. If you're a working parent there is the obscene cost of childcare during the week, and if not you have to factor in just how much having the kids home 24/7 truly costs. My two would eat anyone out of house and home, with second breakfasts and snack rounds demanded by 9am, it's no wonder our weekly shop almost doubles in price.