Planning the Summer holidays

This is the first year when we had to cope with school holidays and we seem to have negotiated the half term holidays fairly well- a little bit of trial and error here and there but no big disasters.  Baby's summer holidays start in 3 days.  Yes, that is much earlier than most other school children; lasting 9 weeks, it is also much longer than summer holidays enjoyed by most school children.  However, Baby's school days are longer so he does in fact attend school for the same number of hours as other children.  Having done more each day, the children at his school are given longer holidays.  This works quite well as it allows parents to work normal working days, and also results in holidays that are slightly staggered from the rest of the school children and often means we can take advantage of cheaper travel deals.  I am happy with this arrangement, which is why I chose the school, but it is daunting to plan activities and childcare for 2 months.  Fortunately Baby gets on well with my parents so he will be spending a substantial amount of time with them this Summer, hopefully progressing with his second language as he will have plenty of opportunities to practice.  He will also have time to get to know his extended family a bit better and it will be an opportunity for him to learn to be more independent.  We will be popping in to see him at my parents' so hopefully he won't feel abandoned and we will have an opportunity to have a break from being parents.   We tried this at the last Easter holidays and it worked very well.  In fact he asked me yesterday when he will be going to stay with his grandparents, and was disappointed when I told him there were a few more days to go.  Having a child has drawn the family closer together.

It will be fun and games at my parents, but there will no doubt be homework to do so we will be spending the last three weeks getting back in to the groove of learning.  Baby will come home and homework will be tackled.  We have organised attendance at an activity club so he can do some sports and meet new people.  Hopefully there will be enough time and good weather to allow for a short camping trip.  I hope that variety of experiences will be good for him, a respite from the daily routine.  It should all work but who knows.

It is expensive though and it makes me wonder whether it may be better to cut down work time and just spend more time with each other.  After all we are paying for other people to watch over him while we work.  What is the purpose of work?  I love my job and don't want to leave it but there is also a pull towards my other love, my family.  It is a constant balancing act but is also kind of fun.  It is a challenge, and we love challenges.