How to Conquer School Holidays

School provides your children with a lot of routine. At school, children know what is coming up next. Teachers prepare students for each change using 5 minutes warnings or class schedules. School bells signal the start and end of things. Each child has their own desk, pencil case and lunch box. Some children really thrive with this kind of routine. They may not realise, but they really miss it. After the first few days of the school holidays, if there is no routine or warning about changes or schedule to understand what is happening they may start to feel a little lost. If your child is always asking “what are we doing…?” or “Where are we going…?” or “when are we…?” and they seem to be anxious about it, then your child is probably missing school routine.

Here are our pro tips:

• Maintain meal routines.
• Maintain a bed time or make it slightly later (30min) to make it special.
• Use 5 minute warnings before packing up, leaving the house, meal times etc.
• Talk to your children about the plan for the day and stick to it.
• If it’s not a certain plan then wait until it is certain before telling them.
• Create each child their own space that is theirs to use and sibling can’t touch. I.e. a table or room or couch.

FRIENDS

School provides an opportunity for your children to see their friend’s every day. This is impossible to live up to on the Holidays. Some children do not care whether or not they see their friends, but for some children this is really difficult. Younger primary school children may not recognise that they miss their friends but if they always seem bored, even with a million things to do or they constantly getting in their siblings faces or their always bugging you then they are probably missing that connection.

Here are our Pro Tips:

• Spend time to connect with your child.
• Play with them (it seems obvious) but these children need it most.
• Let them help you with what you’re doing.
• Spend time talking to your child.
• Arrange for them to have a friend over for a play date.
• Be prepared for emotional aftermath of that play date.

School is a great place for children to succeed and celebrate their successes with peers, teachers and their families. As much as I personally disagree with assessing and testing children, some children thrive on being challenged and being praised when they succeed. This can be a challenge on the school holidays because things at home are not tailored to challenge children. Parents are not always good at recognising their children’s successes and worse at celebrating them. If your child is trying to take control of play and their siblings or they always want to try what you’re doing or they always want you to come and see what they have done. Then they are probably missing the challenges and accolades of school.

Here are our Pro Tips:

• Prepare challenging things for your child to do.
• Create rewards for success (success is different to behaviour)
• Praise your child’s work.
• Encourage them in their endeavours and play.
• Let them try what you are doing (within reason)
• Allow them to try things you might think they can’t do.
• Get them involved with preparing meals and cleaning projects.
• Create ways for them to celebrate and share the things they are doing with friends and family. i.e. FaceTime conversations, Take photos and videos of their work.

OPEN FIELDS

As confining as school may seem, it always delivers on the open fields. Recess and lunch always roll around and every child gets and opportunity to go crazy on the playground or run mad out on the oval. Most, if not all children need this opportunity. During the holidays it is possible to let a whole morning or day drift past without ever opening the back door. If your child is jumping on the couch, or running up and down the hallway or you find yourself say “stop doing that or you’re going to break something” then your child is missing the open fields that school provides.

Here are our Pro Tips:

• Take your children out into the yard.
• Create something in the yard that can challenge your child’s gross motor skills. i.e. a monkey bars, something to climb, something to jump off, something to swing on.
• Take them to a park or bike track or gym.
• Take the dog for a walk.
• Go for a bike ride.
• If you’re stuck inside then search just dance on YouTube.
• If you’re stuck inside then create a maze to crawl through using couches and sheets.
• If you’re stuck inside then clear a room or garage for gross motor activities.
• Create an exercise game with pictures for star jumps, push ups, etc.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

School is constantly providing your children with new opportunities. Teachers are always looking for new ways for their students to have fun and great teachers make the most mundane things in school fun and exciting. But that’s their job, and they pour a lot of knowledge, experience and effort into it. At home parents can really struggle to make things fun, particularly the mundane things. So if your child is protesting when it’s time to pack up or finding fun ways to destroy their toys or spending their time figuring out how to get things they’re not allowed to have, then they are probably missing the fun that great teachers provide.

SCREEN TIME

Screen time can be your No. 1 enemy or your greatest ally. It may create peace and calm in the moment, but it always produces chaos in the end. Your School Holiday experience can almost be summed up by the balance you strike between the desire to have the peace and quiet that screen time promises and the chaos and emotional turmoil that it inevitably produces. Firstly, screen time does not fill any of your child’s needs. Screen Time only exacerbates their needs.

The truth is… screen time, fills our need for peace and quiet and space and sanity. Then, when it’s over, it just as quickly takes those things away. So how do you make screen time your ally? You use it like a weapon. You use it to very deliberately fill your present need understanding that you will need to give back two fold.