Oh my god ! He's only got a week left

Panic! No, it's OK; we have time. Lets think about this.

The Boy is going to need at least a week of home-based nothing to readjust to holiday life. The change in routine means probably a few bad nights of sleeping, unreasonable grumpiness, followed by lots of screen time and communicating only in grunts. So, on the positive side, I will still have some time to organize myself before the 'Summer' starts! (Cue sound of impending doom!)

I won't be able to leave the house, though! Must remember that and book food delivery. Clubs will probably still be running until the 'normal' schools (state schools) finish, so that part of his routine will stay! Phew! So, first priority is keeping the house stocked with food to avoid 'hangryness', making the routine change harder.

The Girl has another week after that! Her end-of-term things will bother him a LOT, but hopefully (as it's his old school) he won't put up too much resistance to going along. He might even enjoy it and join in. Last Christmas, after initially refusing, he even briefly put on a Christmas jumper and sang his heart out, putting on his own show for the surprised people sitting in our row, singing at the top of his lungs and doing all the actions to the carols so loudly and aggressively that a group of rather surprised grandmothers visibly flinched at the end of every line. He had a lovely time, despite rather terrorising the elderly. You never know; he could enjoy the summer concert just as much!

Well, that was a stupid thing to put out into the universe. Now I am more likely to spend the end-of-term celebration service standing on a hot road, surrounded by tourists, while the boy shouts his suicidal determination to not leave the 'safety' of the terrifyingly hot car. Maybe his dad will be able to work from home that day?

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to start thinking about our plans. It's raining! The Girl is at a play-date, and the Boy is re-watching a Marvel movie while giving his dad a monologue on what’s happening. Lucky Daddy!

We don't do holidays! The disruption to routines is usually more trouble than it's worth, though now my children are getting older, they are becoming more flexible and are able to 'cope' with the unknown much better than when they were young. That said, they will only really want to do the comfortable, same things that they have done and enjoyed in the past, so our school holidays, like so much in our lives, have settled into a predictable routine we can all cope with.

But still, every year I enthusiastically push my children to try a new trip or activity, with differing levels of success. Do we never learn! We do this in the full knowledge that it will either be declared a disaster and never mentioned again or quietly incorporated into the 'things we do in the holidays,' and my children will demand it's done each and every year at the same time, regardless of expense or inconvenience (something we have learned to our cost). Worse, Harry Potter World, for example, was demanded every time 'having-a-little- treat' was mentioned for a six-month period, despite the PTSD-like symptoms we all left with. But that is a story for another day. For now, I have set up the calendar, and with trepidation, I hit Google. What is on for us this summer holidays?