And so….the long, occasionally slightly warm summer holidays are upon us. Six weeks of no school, no music lessons, no homework or after-school clubs. Just….time at HOME. Lots and lots and lots of…time. At home. With you. All the time.
(Do you want a minute or two to recover from that thought, before we carry on…??)
It’s a shame, really, that the summer holidays are so often portrayed as some kind of endurance test, to be wished away as if it’s the worst thing ever to happen.
In fact it’s a lovely, carefree, relaxed time of year, and for children it’s almost the only – and certainly the longest time in the whole year when they can really LET GO. With no timetables, deadlines of the school or nursery day, they can sleep in, stay up a bit late, go on daytrips during the week, have friends for sleepovers as often as they like, and just… be FREE.
But yes. Their ‘freedom’ means, of course, less freedom for their parents! Especially those who work. I spend 90% of my summer ‘holiday’ trying to work out which child is going where, when, how they’re getting there, and….how I’m going to pay for it!
However, here’s one really important aspect of the summer that is too often overlooked, and can actually be great for the whole family, it’s a perfect time for Dads to enjoy some time with them too, which, unless they are stay-at-home-dads, they miss out on far too often.
For dads, spending time with the kids in the summer holidays is great, as they get to stay out and play for long chunks of time, and see them when they’re not about to go to sleep, or getting ready for school or nursery.
For children it’s great because they get to muck around with their dad in a way they often can’t when he’s at work. And for mums it’s a fantastic chance to get some time to NOT pick up a child every five seconds, and actually have a little moment to herself. For both stay-at home and working mums this can be a lifesaver! This is what we call a win-win-win situation. And as situations go, win-win-win is one of the best, beating the lowly ‘win-win’ by quite some margin.
According to a recent survey by Care.com, this is exactly what a lot of dads want, in fact one in three said they consciously devoted more time and effort to being around their children, mindful of a lack of time they enjoyed with their own dad, and seven out of 10 said they feel they play a bigger part in their kids’ lives than their own dad did.
SO use this time in the summer months to hand over, and let dad take on the day trips, mornings in the library, or even a weekend away just dad and the kids. It’s something they’ll never forget, and talk about and cherish for the rest of their lives.
And YOU can hear all about it….when you’ve got back from a day in the spa!
