There’s nothing like being a few days into the kid’s holidays – to begin to wonder about ‘me time’. Not in a ‘selfish, lock yourself in your bedroom for two weeks and hide under the covers with books and chocolates’ kind of way. But in a ‘just give me a break from bickering, questions about whether we’re there yet on journeys, how much many more items we need in our food trolley and requests to do elaborate crafts’ way. You try to explain that they like their food, that there would soon be complaints about it if the fridge wasn’t full of treats, juice, cucumber – ok there might not be complaints if there was an absence of cucumber, granted – and milk. And that, yes, it’s boring, food shopping. We all find it boring, and it’s not in my interests to prolong it during the holidays, because that would be torture for all of us.
I think it’s partly about childhood being different these days. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against change. I’m all for it. Change is a good thing. I love lots of the changes that have been foist upon us all in recent years. I like Internet shopping for one. Especially if it stops me marching the kids around the supermarket during the holidays. I like my smart phone. I like Facebook, and Pinterest. But I do think the amount of technological advances in recent years has changed childhood. So, you do get some downtime when they’re on their Ipods, Kindle Fires, Ipads, and various other tablets and devices, but then you don’t want them being on them for toooooo long, so you limit tech time. Because too much tech time isn’t good for any of us. Not least it bombards us with loads of images, and we don’t have to do much work to interact with what’s on the screens, it’s easy to become a passive consumer.
And too much technology can stop kids being bored. Maybe you’d think that was a good thing, kids not being bored. But there is something about boredom, maybe the right kind of boredom, the mind wandering, I wonder what if kind of boredom that spurs us on to be creative
So, we probably all remember those times from childhood when we were left to our own devices for what might have felt like ages. I would go on a ladybird hunt on local shrubs (never harming them, of course) or thwack a tennis ball against the back of the house, or try 
to reach the sky with my feet on the swing in our back garden. For hours, if my memory serves. There was less structure back then. During the holidays myself and my brother would be taken into town by our mum, we’d visit the library, maybe have fish and chips for lunch, then we’d come home and there’d be days of freedom, interspersed with the occasional butterfly cake baking session. This was long before cupcakes had been invented.
And my mum would have had ‘me time’ I guess, though there were chores to do, and chores were more labour intensive back then. But still she had time to read the paper with a cup of instant coffee next to her. Or listen to the radio. And by her having ‘me time’ it meant so did I. Time to read, to daydream, to procrastinate, to think. Not that my thoughts were ever very deep and meaningful. They were primarily about planning the next torturous act I could carry out on my younger brother – what new and horrible act I could carry out that would make his life difficult. Maybe I’d have been better with more structure, after all.
I guess it’s all about balance. Today’s children’s lives seem so organised, somehow, so filled with activities for every waking moment – clubs, activities, sport, music lessons. You name I, they seem to do it. Which fills up our time too, as parents. And doesn’t allow for down time. Time to sink into a beanbag with a good paperback. Time to climb a tree to the top and watch the world go by from your new vantage point. Or time to drag a branch along fences, experimenting with the different sounds it makes. And then there’s the things kids want to do too….
So, in the holidays, try to strike a balance. Let the kids just chill, positively encourage it, especially if they are well able to look after themselves. And spend time with them too. Invite their friends around for tea, bake with them, do something crafty together.
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Disclaimer:- This is a guest post by Party Things 2 Go, see my disclosure policy for further information.
This post is protected under copyright. SusankMann 2009 – 2014