School holidays - structured or free-flow?

The kids have a week's holiday from school. This is a term holiday of some kind, marking spring, in my understanding. Though it is all of 5 days from school, it seems long, for all of us. I am unable to focus on anything for more than 5 mins at a time, I know, one of my perennial rants. The reluctant gymming has been abandoned with relief and any freelance writing I could have done is at a full stop. Had to request a deadline extension too :(

A friend who is the mother of a boy has made plans for each day, playdates with a few people. Yesterday, she had come over to our place. Personally I find playdates tough to organise as I have two kids and it would be unfair to any one if I make plans to send one only on any day. Though I do think that would've given me some quality time to spend with the other. But I've been lazy on that front, and the thought of driving to unknown places frightens me still.  I don't mind kids coming to my house to play but am somehow not too comfortable about sending my kids over to people I don't know well.

I have plans for Thursday, where we will be going out for a greater part of the day. Then there is a visit to the library and the market Whenever the sun peeps out,  the kids can put on their jackets and play in the garden, it is pretty cold so they troop back in soon. Big G and me have started doing some zumba or even garba for fun. Her enthusiasm edges the lazy me to do some more. Lil G joins in if she feels like it. Starfall is done to death and we need to find something else to do. We attempted quilling a butterfly but lost interest midway. We could take it up tomorrow, maybe.

The thing with these kind of breaks is that the interests of 3 different people have to be considered, yes mine too. My husband insists that I should spend as much time with them as I can, but I personally feel that they should spend some time without direction or any structured activity from my end like reading, colouring, doing some Maths, spelling, painting, etc. I like it when they just focus in the distance, mulling over something, daydreaming. Often, it results in a barrage of questions. But they come to me all the time saying "now what", "I am bored". Yes, TV is an easy solution, and I do resort to it, with an uneasy and guilty acquiesence.  We have abandoned reading the encyclopedia , not so much for Dutch translations but one of the chapters is "how babies are made", I am not sure if Big G @7 Yrs should know it in such detail so soon. The other day she asked her Dad, "If say you are married on March 1, 2013, then is a baby born to you on March 1, 2014?" The husband did a sort of side-step by saying it takes only 9 months for  a baby to be born. But it has given her something else to ponder over, methinks.

And call me lazy, but I want a break from regular programming. Just being unstructured for a while. Is that too much to ask? No deadlines, no strict schedules, some spontaneous fun which suits us and just chilling at home msotly. Today, we painted our nails and discussed which colour of nail polish the little madames would like next! We learnt some big words like 'trust', opinions, etc. I  told some 'inspired' tales to Lil G on her naughty self, the sisters squabbled, made up and of course it is never ending. And I've decided no more second-guessing for me.

Comments

  1. Pooja Abhay4 March 2014 at 19:24

    You know, strangely, I have this confusion about how I should spend my day. I cannot keep up to a routine. No wonder, my boss gave me new tasks when I felt bored. But, now that I am home the whole day, I struggle to come up with new things and I end up daydreaming or mulling over a thought and it is refreshing sometimes. I guess it is a blessing in disguise. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chatty Wren5 March 2014 at 14:37

      I am like that too, Pooja, unable to pace my tasks for the day. Which often has me running against time end of day, because I hate carry-forwards. And I totally agree about the day-dreaming bit, we've all got too used to make each hour 'productive' in some way!

      Delete
  2. Arpita’s thoughts4 March 2014 at 23:14

    The mum in me totally identifies with your post. All in all!!
    Sweet post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chatty Wren5 March 2014 at 14:38

      Thanks Arpita, welcome here! Yet to meet parents who look forward to school holidays as much as the kids do:)

      Delete
  3. Renu5 March 2014 at 05:23

    Even i sometimes like no planning for anything..Lol:) at baby manufacturing date:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chatty Wren5 March 2014 at 14:40

      :) Renuji, I think this was an easy one, shuddering at kind of qns that will be asked 2 years from now.

      Delete
  4. pankti5 March 2014 at 09:30

    I too am more of free flow kind of person.. And wanting a break from programming is something I can relate to too..

    But in Zini's last vacation I had my maasi over and she planned all sorts of things for Zini to do. Before vacation she went and bought some games, charts and big cycle. I was much relieved to see that Zini was much better occupied and generally happy. But it may be because of my maasi too. She is great with kids.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chatty Wren5 March 2014 at 14:52

      I am not very good with planning generally, ZM. I plan one big activity for the day, like today was library visit and grocery shopping, evening is free, but knowing lil G we will finish reading all books today itself.

      Great that Zini had a good time with your Masi.These days, spending the whole day with the kids, I am ready to turn into bed even before them:)

      Delete
  5. Anonymous5 March 2014 at 16:37

    A good mix of unstructured and structured stuff works. I wouldn't worry much though - you'll do something, and anything you do will be fantastic for all of you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chatty Wren6 March 2014 at 19:18

      That is what has worked out for us, though unintentionally. We had 2 playdates already, and are now happy to just chill out in and around home.

      Delete
  6. Gauri Trivedi5 March 2014 at 18:15

    The problem is that we give our kids so much attention and organize their days for them so much especially the holidays that they don't know what it is to just loiter around the house doing nothing! Simple things like scribbling, coloring or even taking naps while there is a chance no longer appeals to them ..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chatty Wren7 March 2014 at 12:26

      Yes, I am struggling to work on the too-much attention bit, but I think with the kind of nuclear familiy lifestyles we lead now, that is inevitable. Some days, when TV is not allowed, nor the Ipad, exploration happens but even that needs a strong push from my end.

      Delete
  7. Gauri Trivedi6 March 2014 at 18:12

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Gauri Trivedi6 March 2014 at 18:12

    I think the problem is the kids have got into a habit of having their days and free time planned and organized so well all the time that they have stopped having fun in simple things like just loitering around the house or doing nothing for a change !! And plus, there's always this competition from what their friends are doing over the spring break..which kinda gets the moms too into the planning phase !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chatty Wren6 March 2014 at 19:21

      Agree, I see a lot of moms structuring the whole day for kids, pretty much like a regular school day routine. And I am too lazy to do it by the hour for the holidays, plus enforce it too. I like them to do nothing or something of their own for a while too. Not a bad way to be, with me being just a shout away.

      Delete
  9. Uma7 March 2014 at 15:29

    I am lazy to devise a structured routine too. While, I wouldn't want to chalk out a time-table for all days, it's good to plan for certain days during the holidays so that the kids look forward to it and then also look forward to doing nothing too. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chatty Wren8 March 2014 at 10:17

      Thanks Uma, I do that too more or less, make them look forward to the activity and then justify the break too:) I hope my kids don't turn out to be lazy like me:)

      Delete
  10. Anonymous10 March 2014 at 10:04

    The holidays are the most dreaded part of the entire year for me and they are soon approaching. I am not very structured so I let things flow freely. But the problem comes when the kids takes free flowing to another level.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chatty Wren11 March 2014 at 09:42

      I can totally understand - with longer vacations a bit of planning or structure becomes necessary and it must be done by the parents, not the other way around:) After a week long holiday, today is the first day I'm back at my blog, I can hear the sound of silence.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Leave a comment!

Popular posts from this blog

The slow thawing

I realise I am inconsistent in lots of stuff and instead of my usual defensive spiel,  here is a quiet acceptance of that. Guilty of that and many more things....but not being disciplined tops the list. It shows how I take care of myself, how I keep order at home, how I generally mange myself and my world. How easy it is for me to not keep up to anything consistently....Its embarassing, its seen in the constant self-talk I have with myself. It shows up in stuff pending over the week and taking over weekend, it shows in the amount of dirt that came out of cleaning under the dish-washer, just one of those things which I had been forever planning to do; it shows in how I finally managed to paint my toe-nails after one year - sometimes there was no nailpolish remover; or nail polish itself; other times it was something I remembered just before bedtime or just when stepping out, hence no time to dry itself; sometimes I did remember but pushed it away for a bit and then forgot because so...
Read more

May 2013 - The Elusive One

Image
Think back to a month in your life. Do you remember any month or period specifically from the sweeping past or present? Maybe the month before the board exams, last month in the hostel eagerly awaiting to get back home, the month before you were getting hitched that was crammed with frantic shopping and plans on the side to run-away solo or when you were expecting your first baby, waiting for the moment and savoring the peace as you balance one of the last books you will read in peace on your tummy.. I seem to have always had conflicting emotions in every situation, constant yin-yang and the entire range in between. As a part of this group  celebrating our first anniversary on June 2, 2013, we were given a small challenge. Totally voluntary, I must add. The theme being 'The Elusive One'. One could choose to do something new, make a small change in your lifestyle, person..something you've been putting off for too long. You get the drift, move out of your comfort zones and ...
Read more

Goodbye, Mr. Goosens!

When we saw the funeral notice with the name Christoph Goosens in the building lobby we did not quite know what to expect. It was in Dutch, a language we are not too familiar with. Only the previous day I had spoken to him; we had greeted each other and he had grinned his toothless smile.  He always held the door for me, a person of unfailing courtesy. His wife/partner had been put in a psychiatric ward of the Old People's Home a few months ago. The mind picks up pieces of information and makes random connections. I told my husband that the notice probably was about his wife passing away. 'Innige deelneming' - is what you say in Dutch to express condolence. I was wondering what I would actually say when I met him. We realised our mistake when another neighbour informed us that it was the man himself who had passed away in his sleep Monday night. His partner, he corrected our assumption, had died 3 months ago. They rented the ground-floor apartment. Mr. Goosens did ...
Read more