Summer holidays; Two words that strike fear in to the heart of many parents. What to do for 6 whole weeks? How can we afford to keep the kids entertained?! Have I really got to use up all of my vacation time?!!
I don’t know about you but when I was growing up (Mrs NP says I haven’t, but for the record it was some point last century) we managed to occupy ourselves for 6 weeks, no trouble. Maybe there was a family holiday for a week to somewhere that wasn’t home, but for the majority of the time we “just played.” We’d get to the end of 6 weeks and look back and think, “blimey, that went quick. I have achieved nothing but it was awesome!”
Nowadays most kids get bored if they are detached from their games consoles, tablets or mobile phones for less than 3 minutes. I must admit those gadgets are handy for travelling in the car, but as much as we dread the sound of the alarm clock in the morning imagine the horror of seeing your beloved device only has 10% power left. For a tweenager the world may as well just end there and then.
The good news is there are absolutely oodles of activities to do in Norfolk, whether it’s events, leisure activities, visiting heritage sites, communing with nature, or, well there’s loads of stuff we could point you to. You’re on NorfolkPlaces so you already know that and know where to look!
From a personal point of view the summer is a mixed bag. My boys are super sporty so they are happy to spend time on sporting courses for a lot of the summer. And if they aren’t they will go in the garden, which is fine because they need to burn a lot of energy off! So, the summer holidays are often planned around their sporting activities and something known as “Boyz Time”. That’s where Mrs NP decrees I am solely responsible for the entire kingdom whilst she marks books, plans lessons etc. Of course, Boyz Time does include some trips to do some reviews and so on, though not as much as I’d like to. Why? Well, because their summer schedule is so well planned that to do anything else would absolutely cream-cracker them. And after all the taxi duty and time spent watching sport does have a tiring effect on me too!
Running NorfolkPlaces is awesome because I can choose my own hours around my family (which is why sometimes article may be written past midnight…). That totally beats working for a big company, however, being able to say “sorry, I got to work throughout the summer” would’ve been handy as the eldest approaches those mega-grumpy teenage years!
The summer can be disruptive, it can be hard work, it can be expensive, it can be wet and it can be a scorcher too. But it can also be an opportunity, especially for kids. It’s a time to spend building memories, a time to develop new skills and a time to forge friendships. Above all else, it’s six weeks to go out there and just play!
How have you kept the kids occupied this summer, or may be in the past? Share you thoughts on school summer holidays by commenting on this article or contact us if you have an awesome summer story to tell!
