The Summer Holidays: Expectations Vs Reality

Ahhhh, the summer holidays, the time of year when you get to spend more time with your kids, where routines and school runs go out of the window, the time of year when you romanticise how special every moment is going to be… shame reality takes over, eh?!

 

Waking Up

Expectation– Great, no pre-school run, no rushing around, we can just chill all morning in our pyjamas and watch TV.

Reality– 6am wake-up calls, early morning demands for breakfast, ‘what are we doing today?’ x23, ‘do I have pre-school?’ being asked over and over followed by the why not? 9am feels like 6pm.

 

Soft Play

Expectation– Oh good, he’s now old enough to go in by himself whilst I have a rest and scroll through Facebook!

Reality– He won’t go in alone and drags me through the smallest gaps, up the soft play and over obstacles… did I mention I’m pregnant?!

Also…

Expectation– He finally decides he is brave enough to go in alone

Reality– Pretty much five minutes pass until he comes out screaming and crying because a bigger kid has run into him, knocked him backwards and he’s banged his head.

 

Going To Town

Expectation– Let’s have a nice stroll around time and look for some nice new clothes for Mummy.

Reality– Oh good, every other bloody person who lives in this town has had the same idea!

 

The Farm

Expectation– Today we will go to this lovely farm and feed the animals and take lots of fun photos for us to remember the day.

Reality– Child gets a splinter within 10 minutes of arriving and has tantrums over it for over an hour because he won’t let me look or try to get it out. Result is two of us holding him down whilst he screams bloody murder so I can pull out the smallest splinter which wasn’t even all the way in!

 

 

Swimming

Expectation– I’m going to take you to a brilliant swimming pool that I used to go to as a kid, it’s an hour away but it’s totally worth it.

Reality– I’m sure it was bigger and better than this when I was little?! Oh great, it’s full of humongous kids who don’t realise their size- why do they always take over the baby area? Urghhhh.

 

Arts and Crafts

Expectations– I know, let’s create something amazing that will put those Pinterest Mums to shame!

Reality– Child bores far too easily and starts to paint with his hands. Black being his favourite colour… Cue paint being dripped all up the hallway, on the rug, in the downstairs sink… I spend more time cleaning up than we actually do painting.

 

Garden

Expectation– We are going to spend so many days in the garden, playing in the paddling pool, enjoying the sunshine and just chilling.

Reality– Summer 2017 is the wettest summer EVER!

 

Holiday

Expectation– We really need this family holiday, it’s going to be lovely to get away and spend most days on the beach.

Reality– We chose Wales… see above comment about the wet summer… you can imagine the rest.

 

 

Oh, the joys of parenthood, eh?! I mean, not all summer holidays will be like this, will they?…

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