Summer Holiday Blues

This is your friendly reminder that you aren't in competition with anyone else and their summer holidays activities.👌

This summer I have great plans. We're not holidaying anywhere specifically as Lee and I are both working throughout the summer, but day trips have been planned and the goal is to get out and explore our local area in a way that we've not been able to do for a few years. The reality? A dog who slipped out of the house and cost us a small fortune to get back (thanks for that Rosie you old girl), the work/life balance tipping heavily in favour of 'work', and the general cost of life causing us to take a sharp intake of breath whenever we food shop for the basics. 

It's easy to scroll online and see everybody else living up the high life, but the question really is, "who are you doing this for?". For your kids? For your family? ......For yourself?

I'm letting go of the need to wow people with the things I get up to over the holidays. My kids crave attention and quality time and they get that just as much from baking in the kitchen as they do at a funfair. I need rest and quiet, and I can get that just as much with a book in a bath as I do on the beach or in the mountains. My husband needs hugs and kisses and physical affection and he gets that......well, you know.

This isn't about slating glamorous holidays in the alps, or day trips to expensive places on consecutive days, far from it - because one day I'll do those things! It's about letting go of the guilt and the shame that comes around holiday times that as parents we're not doing enough. For so many of us we are having to work whilst juggling childcare and there isn't the option to take weeks off and jet across the world. For many of us the recent price hikes in essentially everything you need to live has got us counting pennies a little more, or picking up extra jobs to cover the loss. Now is not the time to be adding to that stress by feeling guilty about all the things you should/shouldn't be able to do over summer with your families.

This summer I'm taking each day as it comes, prioritising simple activities, and investing in decent quality time with each of the kiddos. There will be some excursions (presuming that Rosie doesn't do another runner!) and I'm hoping we can find a last minute campsite in the peaks for a few days - if you know of any then let me know! - but mostly, whatever we get up to over the next few weeks, I'm going to let go of Mum-Guilt and just enjoy the time with my family wherever it comes. Life is too short to be feeling guilty all the time.

Until next time....