Shropshire Woman

Jackie Jarvis writes

“If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers.” Edgar W. Howe

That time of year, which strikes fear into the heart of many a parent, has come around again.

The summer holiday, now in full swing, can be the cause of a six-week long headache for mums and dads as they desperately try to invent ways in which to keep their nearest and dearest free from the clutches of boredom.

And, as if right on cue, the great British weather always seems to take a turn for the worse as soon as the school gates are firmly locked behind the little darlings, dampening the prospects of a whole host of activities in the great outdoors.

I hate being the harbinger of bad tidings but, as the heavens opened with such relentless force on St Swithins Day this year, we could be in for a whole load more of the wet stuff. If folklore is to be believed, the entire holiday will, therefore, be a total washout.

But there is respite, of sorts, from the ‘I’m bored’ syndrome in the shape of the annual family sojourn to some holiday resort or other, near to home or further afield in some foreign clime, if the purse strings will stretch far enough to cover the hiked high season prices, of course.

Holidaying on a budget is no mean feat for many couples with kids.

One cost-cutting option is to park up on a caravan site and pray the sun shines. Finding yourself cooped up in the cramped confines of what is basically a tin prison on wheels for two weeks, with the rain lashing down outside, is not the perfect setting for a game of happy families.

The children of today, exposed as they are to so much media hype, have developed such highly demanding tastes that a trip to the local play park for a quick swing and a go on the slide will simply not pass muster for these sophisticated little creatures.

A visit to a theme park, which could well bankrupt their poor parents before they even get on board the stomach-churning rides, is de rigueur.

And then there are the cinema trips to take in the latest must-see family films of the year, which are always released like clockwork to coincide conveniently with school breaks, no doubt engineered by movie moguls with their sights set firmly on profit margins.

As if the tickets weren’t a pound too far, factor in those oversized buckets of popcorn, cans of fizzy drinks and copious teeth rotting treats and your bank balance takes yet another nosedive.

And what of those mums and dads who have no choice but to carry on working during the summer months?

With the average cost of holiday childcare now standing at £558 a child, it’s enough to break the bank and the morale of even the most stoical amongst us.

Whichever way you look at it this is a costly and stressful time of year for the majority of parents.

But, looking on the bright side, children do eventually grow up and leave home!