It’s no secret that I dislike early mornings with the kids and find school mornings inordinately stressful, even if I do have everything laid out and organised the night before. Let’s face it, I am just not a morning person and would much prefer to greet the day slowly, from the warmth and comfort of my bed.
But, that’s not how it goes once your child is at school. Most mornings, I’m lucky if I even manage half a cup of tea, before we’re out the door, dropping Amy off at school.
However, once the chaos of the actual drop-off is over and done with, we come home and Isaac and I have a leisurely breakfast, while he watches cartoons and I catch up on things I need to do.
With school holidays happening at the moment, I may be getting a slower start of a morning, but that is counterbalanced by the amount of attention my children need. And frankly, at this point, I’ll forgo a lie in, in favour of no screaming/fighting/kicking/hitting/toy stealing/whining. Which is what it feels like my school holidays have been made up of, so far.
I think half of the problem is that this is Tasmania and while the calendar says that it is Spring out there, my weather flat out refuses to play nicely and it’s been cold and windy. Cold and windy means that my children have been inside more than out and it’s starting to do our heads in, just a little.
I took the kidlets to playgroup today and LO, it saved our sanity. Isaac only had two meltdowns, and Amy painted plaster figurines, leaving me mostly free to chat to other mothers and herd Isaac into the playdough table.
After that, they weren’t even that terribly behaved in the supermarket! I am, exhausted, of course, but so are the children, so it’s not too bad.
And all I can say is, how long until school goes back? (8 days)
School holidays (even the short ones) are a very trying time for both the kids and I. They dont like being home all the time and I get short tempered quickly.
Fortunately now they are older we have an after care that stays open most of the year – she closes over Christmas so they spend their days playing with their friends there.
Being able to send kids outside for most of the year here saves my sanity.
Good luck 🙂 Play group sounds like a nice break from the daily madness!
Oh yes, school holidays are a mixed blessing. By the end I long for them to be at school but during term I long for the holidays. At least we can look forward to some Adelaide sunshine here when the holidays happen in a couple of weeks. I’m sorry Tas is being all Tasmaniaish. Hope you get some restful book reading time in the next week or so. Where’s that Nana? Shouldn’t she be doing holiday duty? I say you donate one or both kids to her for a day! Hehehe.
Oi! Dont be giving her ideas Ali. Lol I took Amy out on Friday and will grab her again before the holidays are over.
I always loved the thought if the school holidays. No scrambling around in the mornings trying to get them to school on time. No more trying to get their whinging, whining butts to get their homework done. No more thinking about what to pack for their lunches.
Three days in, I couldn’t wait for them to go back. LOL
We are two weeks away from school holidays, and with the increasing number of meltdowns around here I think they are sorely needed.
And that glimpse of Spring we had has certainly disappeared, although this weekend is looking quite lovely.
It will be school time soon enough, and before you know it you will be wishing for the holidays again. A couple of words to fill your heart with horror though – Summer Break!
I hated school holidays when Heidi was in PreSchool and Annie was in her first year of school. They were so so stressful. But now we have our routines worked out and mostly they are enjoyable.
I have to schedule the heck out of our holidays, so that every single day has something on – even if it is just a plan of what we are doing at home. That is tedious. But it avoids the worst of the dramas.
Also I think getting a bit older helped with the girls behaviours.
The Christmas holidays however are a different story. Far too long and nightmareish.
Our Adelaide weather is also behaving very wintery. After last week’s glorious sunny blue skies, we’ve got gloomy grey clouds and winds straight off the south pole.
Nice to hear the kids enjoyed playgroup.
I prefer to ease into my day as well, but after years and years of doing the opening shift, I find myself still waking at 4am. At least I don’t have to leap out of bed straight away any more.
Yes, I can very much relate. We still have a couple of weeks to go until our school holidays in Sydney. Unfortunately, with one still in daycare (which continues through the hols) I won’t be having any later mornings but no lunches to pack or homework to locate will make the start of the day that much nicer. Good luck with the weather!
School holidays are HELL. Enough said! *hugs* x
Our school holidays are in a few weeks – but it’s exciting for me this time as my son starts school next term – he is currently in kindy (pre-school). And we are going away on a holiday for the last week of the school holidays.
For me, as I work 4 days per week – kindy days are our relaxing days….we don’t have to leave home until 8.30am. But the other 2 days (today and Thursdays) we are out the door at 7.15am. So I love kindy days! School will be even better – as it will be a late start every day (not sure what I’m going to do about getting into work late everyday yet though).
I sympathize with you. I hate the early mornings for school. Especially dealing with my 10 year old sister (who seems to be a morning person, and I am not). I don’t even get time for breakfast or even a nice hot drink before we have to leave *sigh*
Maybe its because I’m in school at the moment, but I personally can’t wait for winter break (I’m in the U.S). Caribbean vacation with the bf and no whiny brat children (i.e. my sister) to deal with.
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