Surviving the summer holidays – The Newbie Takeover #5 Popcorn for Lunch

Surviving the summer holidays – The Newbie Takeover #5 Popcorn for Lunch

It is time for this week’s post in my guest blogging series, The Newbie Takeover. This week I have lovely Jemma from Popcorn for Lunch. I love this post, it is all about surviving the summer holidays. Are you ready for 6 weeks of hell fun with the kids Mama’s? I have got the fear I have to be honest. I hope you all enjoy the post, over to you Jemma..

Surviving the summer holidays.

Parents….I don’t want to alarm you but…..it’s not long until the [*whispering in a nervous/fearful way*]….summer holidays.

Yes that’s right 8 (or 6 if you’re in England) long weeks of having to be solely responsible for your child’s entertainment.

Now don’t get me wrong, part of me is looking forward to having no obligation to have everyone de-pyjamaed by early o’clock. And part of me is looking forward to having the ‘holy cow I haven’t washed her PE kit’ and similar sanctions on my life’s enjoyment lifted for a few weeks. And of course, a big part of me is looking forward to spending time all together as a family (admittedly though, that feeling wears off around 4 days in).
The holidays can, however, be tricky. Without the discipline and routine of school, my kids tend to become more mischievous, deviant and downright mental.

So I’ve been having a think about how to ‘survive’ (not being dramatic here) the holidays with young children and have settled on the following as being my top five tips for retention of sanity:

1. Pack the kids off to Grandma’s for a couple of nights every now and again. Marketing is key here…they’re not just visiting Gran, they’re going on an all inclusive break to Hotel Pushover!! Maybe make a brochure for them listing all the attractions at Gran’s pad? For example, ‘unlimited sweets!!!!!’ or ‘beds available for jumping on!!’ or ‘discipline-free accommodation!’

2.  Procure the assistance of your husband/partner and resort to bribery if you need to. If he’s off work you can start the conversation with something like ‘if you take the kids to the park today I’ll…..[finish sentence as desired]’ He’ll have the kids in the car and be hot-footing it to the park before you can say ‘Mummy has a headache.’

3. Stock up on a 2-month supply of wine. The summer holiday’s notoriety for late bedtimes accompanying steadfast adherence to term-time getting-up times will leave you needing a glass of something chilled in the evenings (or at around 11am everyday if we’re all being honest here). For parents who don’t drink my tip would be to start.

4. Get them to help around the house. It gives them something to do on boring days and helps you with the housework. Parenting win! Imaginative parents will be able to think up ways to make chores fun but if you’re like me and have the imagination of a plant pot then this can also work by introducing some sibling rivalry and the odd little white lie, e.g ‘oh your brother tidied up this room really well yesterday, do you want to see if you can do even better?’ even though brother was told to tidy up yesterday but peed himself on the carpet then emptied japproximately 982 Kinder egg toys (that silly silly  Mummy keeps, WHY???!!!!!) over the floor searching for one that must have obviously been at the very bottom.

5. Try (I know it’s hard!) to enjoy it! Of course there will be days when you’ll be tempted to set-up camp at the school gates and remain there until the first day of the new term. And there’ll be days when the kids will be running around semi-naked with the bathroom bin over their head and unexpected visitors will arrive. You’ll not notice that they’re dialling Social Services because you’ll be busy wondering just how you managed to get everyone dressed and bin-free by 8am in the not-too-distant past.
But (and I sort of hate that I’m going to use this phrase) they’re only young once. Soon they’ll not want to spend their summers with you and will be off cavorting with their mates for a week in Majorca while you sit at home (or maybe at Arrivals) worrying. And you’ll miss the days when 50p bubbles from Tesco lit up their beautiful little faces.

***

A bit about Jemma:
I’m Jemma, a busy Mum of 3 mini assailants. I started blogging
really just to give me something to do with my free hand during the
many hours I spent breastfeeding my youngest when she was a newborn.
I’m a qualified Solicitor but am taking a career break from the
madness to be at home with my kids for a bit (possibly worse madness).
My writing style tends to be light-hearted and funny (possibly only to
me) although I have written more serious guest posts for other
bloggers on the topic of perinatal mental health. My goal with my blog
is for everyone to enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.
If you enjoyed this post, please go and check out Jemma’s blog Popcorn for Lunch and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

***

Thank you for this post Jemma, it really made me giggle especially the bit about the kids running around half naked with the bin on their head, haha. So, how are you all feeling about the fast approaching summer holidays? Got any survival tips you’d like to share?

If your blog is less than 12 months old and you would like to get involved in The Newbie Takeover, you can check out all the details in this post and send your submission to wendy@naptimenatter.com

 

new blogger guest post series
You can find this post linked to some of these amazing blog link ups –

Maternity Mondays | Marvellous Mondays | Posts from the Heart | #MG | Big Pink Link | Twinkly Tuesday | Dream Team | Tried and Tested | Blogger Club UK | Best and Worst | Family Fun | Cool Mum Club | A Blogging Good Time | The List Linky | PoCoLo |For the Love of Blog | KCACOLS  …and of course #BlogCrush, the linky I co host every Friday.

Find me on Twitter ..

@naptimenatter

Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed this post I would love for you to share it 🙂

Follow:
Share:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge

16 Comments

  1. July 5, 2017 / 7:15 am

    Yep, so long as you’ve stocked up on bubbles for the kids and bubbles (aka prosecco) for you everything will be fine #bestandworst

  2. July 5, 2017 / 8:09 am

    aww I have all this to come next year. Currently I have my daughter 5 days a week anyway and I will be working during some of the hols, so perhaps not all up to me! Some good tips though. Wine…all the wine. Thanks for sharing with #bestandworst x
    Sarah Howe recently posted…Best and Worst Week #101My Profile

  3. July 5, 2017 / 12:00 pm

    It will all be fine…!! We tell ourselves #fortheloveofBLOG

  4. July 5, 2017 / 1:51 pm

    I just keep telling myself not be alarmed, it’ll all be fine, we will survive. The house will just be messier and nosier. Good luck everyone!
    Tubbs recently posted…Doing Small Things With Great KindnessMy Profile

  5. July 5, 2017 / 8:38 pm

    Ahh! I am looking forward to the school holidays. They are much easier when the kids are a little older. They are mostly happy to amuse themselves. hehehe x
    Kim Carberry recently posted…Win a Forest Friend Lottie Doll…My Profile

  6. July 7, 2017 / 2:47 pm

    The 2 month supple of wine cracked me up! #BlogCrush

  7. July 7, 2017 / 3:37 pm

    God I HATE school holidays!
    As a home educator all the places we would go to learn will be filled with children who are bursting with energy (rightly so, sitting still for 10 months SUCKS!), we won’t be able to learn like usual and will have to hide away!

    As a play worker, we have to battle theme parks and mini golf with large groups of these children that are bursting with energy.

    Good luck to everyone, may the odds ever be in your favour! #blogcrush

  8. July 8, 2017 / 7:36 am

    Ours arent at school yet but i can imagine yu quickly get used the routine and will be a shock when they are suddenly at a loose end for nearly 2 months! Supply of wine is a great tip! Haha #blogcrush
    pam lorimer recently posted…Life Hacks!My Profile

  9. July 9, 2017 / 2:21 pm

    haha! Summer holidays do need a full plan of attack that’s for sure. Thanks for linking up to #fortheloveofBLOG x

  10. July 10, 2017 / 8:00 am

    I’m always so torn between excitement and dread when it comes to summer holiday time. It’s bittersweet. My top tip is plan activities at different points of the 6 weeks so that you always have something to look forward too and it’s a great bribe for good behaviour leading up to those activities x

  11. July 13, 2017 / 2:02 pm

    Love this! It really made me chuckle, especially the bit about doing a brochure for Grandma’s house saying “discipline-free accommodation!”. I always look forward to having the kids at home, but I worry about how it will go – you just never know when you might have “one of those holidays” where they’re an absolute nightmare and nothing will keep them entertained. The thought of them holidaying alone really pulled me up short though – eek! No – I don’t want that to happen!!! I want them always to be at home with me! #blogcrush
    Lucy At Home recently posted…Stay At Home Activities For The School HolidaysMy Profile