Summer holidays. So long anticipated, kids exhausted after a final manic term of plays, residentials, sports days, maybe even final year at school.

Now, finally it’s the holidays and you can do all those things you didn’t have time to do in term time. Too many after school clubs, everyone is too tired, weekends disappear before you’ve quite registered they’ve started.

Now you have time to relax without the rush of the school run. You can arrange all those playdates you never got around to last term. You can visit friends and family who live further away, those ones you never get to see but always promise ‘you’ll sort something out soon’

You can do all the activities that the kids are always begging to do but you can’t quite get organised for in term time.

Sounds brilliant right?

Except…

Before you can blink it’s a week or two into the summer holidays and you’ve only just recovered from the shock of everyone being home all the time enough o even start thinking about all of the above.

Everyone else is already fully booked for playdates.

Those far away friends and family only had a window in the first few days of the holidays but you’ll definitely ‘sort something out soon’

Kids can’t remember all those activities they were sooo desperate to do, you had written them down but obviously lost the list.

People are always asking you ‘got anything exciting planned for the holidays?’ You give a panicked grin and stammer something about taking it easy and seeing what everyone feels like.

They tell you all about their amazing plans booked and organised months ago, because they are ‘proper adults’.

So for everyone who is constantly bemused but those who seem to actually plan, organise, and put those plans into action, yup, I don’t get it either.

But hey we are always available for playdates so long as it doesn’t involve thinking more than 2 days ahead!