Half term – words of joy for a teacher but, as much as I love my children, these are words of torture for me at the moment! My DS and DD get a whole 2 weeks off school, that is two weeks of me trying to work, whilst trying to entertain the children!
Take them out, let them burn their energy -that’s the constant advice from my mother. As much as I appreciate this advice, where exactly am I meant to take four children, during a worldwide pandemic where one keeps trying to run off, another eats anything in sight, one is always bored and the fourth thinks she’s too old to do baby outings with her siblings! The local park was always a haven for me, however this was closed to a long time due to covid and since reopening has been taken over by, what can only be described as yobs. They use the park to smoke and drink. In the daytime when I have ventured there, I worry about the colourful language that my children are being subjected to!
My other haven was soft play, something for everyone at good old soft play but alas they remain closed in my area! So I have two weeks to fill now. I think about when I was new to parenting and I chuckle when I remember how I used to make a weekly planner for activities, the good old days when I was too naive to know what was coming haha.
Here is what I have done (other than reach for the wine), I have stocked up on arts and crafts materials, I have bought new activity books for my DD who loves maths and I have bought garden starter kits for the children to plant their own seeds in the garden. Thats day one sorted then(!).
In reality I will do what us parents do best, I will wing it. I will pray that my beloved children magically want to watch a Disney movie on the same day, and even better agree on a movie to watch… I will pray that the sun shines on my days off rather than only when I have to work from home and I will focus each day on 9pm, when all four are tucked up in bed and I can relieve myself of my anxiety of where I am going wrong as a parent.
My words of wisdom to myself and you are – you are doing great, ask your children what did you love about today, their answer will always surprise you. Hug them tight, let go of your worries that their day isn’t full of activities and you’ll be amazed at how much your love means to them.
By Mandeep Rai Kent
Mandeep Rai Canterbury 