I remember not going anywhere during my school holidays as both my parents worked and we could only ever go away as a family once a year due to financial constraints. I would spend my 3 week holiday playing at home with my siblings and our neighborhood friends. I remember always going back to school having had the best holiday as those were such fun and memorable times. Those days don’t exist anymore, I have become that parent who entertains my child during her holidays, mainly because she doesn’t have a sibling her age to play with. So her holidays are spent going on endless play dates with her cousins or friends and doing activities together. I have to admit that despite her being taken out by myself regularly, she does enjoy playing on her own and coming up with crazy games, which entertains me to no end without her knowledge of course J
However, it does make me wonder if I am raising an entitled child who will eventually take going to the movies for granted as opposed to seeing it as a treat that she has earned. It does make me wonder if she will see going to have a quick bite to eat or going for a hot chocolate as a treat or something that she is so used to having as a result of my busy lifestyle. It does make me wonder if holidays will always be seen as a “mummy needs to entertain me” period or if she will grow up to appreciate the fact that I tried my best to make sure she wasn’t bored at home everyday with her mum. School holidays especially can be trying times as we try to balance not spoiling our kids too much as opposed to not letting them be idle for too long. As our kids get older, its easier for them to sit down with a book and read for an hour or 2 but expecting that from a 4 year old is pushing it a tad. Now that I have introduced a rewards system, reiterating the earning potential as opposed to the just getting potential , things have become easier for me getting this value system through to my 4 year old. Holiday’s will get easier as well, the older our kids get, they will soon begin to want to do other things in addition to running around non-stop with no burnout issues insight. Strength to all mum’s in this predicament, we are rock stars in our own right ❤
