As this half-term draws to a close, I have to concede that it has hit me very hard. I mean really, you should see the state of this house. Simply because the children have been around more than usual, it has been torn apart.
I’ve been doing this stay at home dad thing for a long time. My eldest child has been at school for well over a year. In essence, I should have been prepared for a brief, one week holiday.
The only thing is, something was conspiring against me. The couple of weeks before half-term were exceptionally busy. Housework had been ignored. As a result, this family entered the break with a house that was already in need of a desperate and thorough clean and tidy.
As I had been incredibly busy, I had also failed to prepare any activities for the half-term week. That was a big fail on my behalf. To entertain the kids away from the house, I have buckled once or twice and paid for them to do expensive activities I’d normally wish to avoid.
Oh yes, and the changeable weather hasn’t exactly helped. A week of glorious, warm sunshine would have been nice so the kids could have played outside the entire time. I guess, however, that would be wishful thinking in February.
The one saving grace is that my kids have had a really good time. Both have had friends round for play dates and spent time with mum, who often works very long hours. I even got to spend some one-on-one time with our eldest, Helen, which was a real delight.
From that perspective, it’s not been a total disaster, far from it. The kids have enjoyed themselves, as have my wife and I. I’ve also kept screen time down to a minimum, which makes me happy.
I am simply annoyed at my lack of preparation. It means that next week I will have to launch a major domestic assault as I knock this house back into shape and a headache as my wife and I try to figure out what to do about our overdraft. Needless to say, once the kids return to their usual routine, I shall bemoan the lack of quality time I get to spend with them.
Oh half-term, on this occasion you have done my head in. Rest assured I will not let the Easter or summer breaks do the same (…that’s the plan anyway).
Pic credit; Mysid. Reproduced under Creative Commons agreement and sourced from Wikipedia.
16 thoughts on “Half-term lament”
I absolutely know what you mean! Holidays seem to result in going back to work with a list of house jobs to get done… The thing is I think it’s my fault! I have the mentality of, “it’s alright, I’ve got a week off so I’ll just do it tomorrow…” And then the weeks over and tomorrow hasn’t come and the house is chaos!
Great post. 🙂
Half Term is a funny one is our house as my wife plans her yoga classes from home. This means she’s had to entertain & work at the same time whilst I pop off to work slightly later because there’s no school runs to stress over!
I don’t think you can hope to achieve too much in Feb half term, it’s still cold & dark early. Our dudes have caught up with old friends & neighbours have helped spread the care. They all spent the day in Battersea Park yesterday which was a corking day out.
Enjoyed your post & hope you get your house back in order. May Half Term is the one to plan for, Supersunshine etc.!!
I know what you mean about the house! Mine has been utter carnage. It was so bad that my parents came round to help clean yesterday and I also set my boys to work. We’re never very good at planning things for school holidays and I always admire people who do. This time it was a good job we didn’t plan as my daughter was ill for literally the whole holiday (hence why my parents volunteered to help clean!).
Thankfully I was spared this. Eldest lad had week off but spent most of it with his grandmother. Other two boys only had Thurs and friday.
With the normal after school activities karate and hurling the actual off school days were great. Quiet and relaxing.
Am ready for Monday though.
We are all guilty of this at some point or another! I had a very lazy week. I could have done lots but didn’t. As you say the weather changes have made it difficult in places but I could have made a better preparation. My trouble is that I plan and schedule loads in as part of home school. We go out interact and our days a jam packed with lots of really engaging things. I took one glance at Monday and went “No, I’m not doing it this week” In some ways I feel that I have wasted the week of full of opportunities but at other times I am ok and can restart as home school does. I may have a bit of catching up to do with house work etc but from my point of view I, as well as the household, need this break.
Great post as always. #bigfatlinky
A break from the housework. Yes, sometimes it just has to be done!
This half term is always hard as many big attractions are still closed, however the woods, beaches, parks and such like are a god send on dry days to wear them out and keep them off the screens. There will be lots open at Easter so no excuse!
Roll on Easter! I htink February half term will always be a difficult one because of the weather.
This half tern snuck up on me too and I wasn’t prepared…..We winged it and had a lot of lazy movie days. A total fail but we enjoyed it.
See I don’t mind lazy movie days too much. It’s watching those awful kids TV channel with htose dreaful high octane adverts. That makes my blood boil!
It is so easy to get behind the eight ball. You will catch up! And if you don’t, no big deal!! A messy house pales in comparison to happy kids and great memories!
The idea is to catch up on houswork today. Wish me luck!
Kids will wade through a house full of garbage and not notice a thing if they are having a good time. It’s hard to try and keep up with the house and entertain the youngsters. If I spend all of my time cleaning, I feel guilty because i’m not spending as much one-on-one time with them as i’d like. If we spend the whole day playing together, i’m mad because the house is in shambles and i now have to put it all back in order, sacrificing what little time to my self I would have had. In other words…I feel ya!
Ah yes, the conundrum of when housework starts impeding on quality time with the kids. That is an awkward one.
Love the photo! Glad to hear they have all had a good week. It was lovely to meet your daughter. I hope her story writing is going well. I look forward to hearing how the Easter break goes! Good luck 🙂 Thanks for linking up #bigfatlinky
I didn’t plan half term either, thinking it would be nice just to hang out with the little fellas. How wrong I was! We had a nice time overall and by the end, like you, I was wishing for quality time with them, just as they went back to school.