A school holiday without going on a holiday

X has her first long 6 weeks December holiday this year.  Before the start of this holiday, I was alone with the baby in the whole afternoon everyday.  I could take a nap, the baby had peaceful sleep and I was free to do my things as and when the baby is sleeping.

Then start the holiday, I wanted XX to enjoy her holiday and that means I have to sacrifice my sleep, make some adjustments and accept that my peaceful routine with the baby has to take a backseat.

I started with having XX do up a time-table, a practical one together with me. It is important that she is involved in the time-table planning so that she will not back out on any schedule in the days to come. I decided that the time-table will not have any academic stuff since this is going to be her holiday to play.  The time-table looks like this:

She has to make sure her start of the day routine like brush teeth, breakfast and piano practice is done before she can start her play time.  Her iphone game time is limited to 1 hour a day or at most 2 hours.  The time-table is kinda flexible to some extent.  I am fine with that as long as she accomplished the piano practice and reading part.  Other than playing on her own, I scheduled some activities like making jelly, art and craft, bringing her to the library, outdoor play, cycling, and included her in the cooking preparation too.  I had even played a game of monopoly with her while breastfeeding the baby and putting the baby to sleep.

Since the baby is so young, we could not have any overseas holiday this year.  The kids are understanding on this part and appreciate that they have a baby for company instead.  Since XX is at home everyday with me, she is my good little helper, handling the baby’s cries as and when I am busy around the house.  She is very hands-on and loves to help in changing diapers, The baby’s arrival is really timely as both the baby and I are at home to accompany XX for this long long holiday.  Otherwise, I would have been at work and like most mums, using the phone as a “remote control” to “control” my child’s activities at home (meaning to call home to check on what XX is doing everyday while I am not around).

My boy does protest daily that he doesn’t want to go to school and envies his sister on her long school holiday.  He feels left out of the “fun” that his mummy, sister and baby brother are at home and he has to be away.  I try to make up to him by paying more attention to him when he is back in the late afternoon.  Involving him with the baby makes him happy too.  It’s great to have older siblings around a baby.  The baby is their playmate, needs them as little helpers, and makes them feel they are big brother and sister in the house.  This boosts their self-esteem and enables them to be more independent. They are also more adaptable to changes that arise due to the needs of the baby and have become more understanding and tolerant.

As the December holidays are nearing an end, I will start XX with some academic revision during the last 2 weeks of holiday.  This is to let her get used to a little of her school work before she starts Primary 2 next year.  But it will not be more than a couple of times a week.  The last thing I want to do is to kill her academic interest before she starts Primary 2.

I wonder how it will be like next year this time.  Well, that’s still a year to go.

Till then, let her enjoy her holidays now 🙂