Sunday, July 22, 2007

The Big Summer Holiday

We are now in the middle of the long summer holiday for all the school children. This is the time when grandparents are dragged (well sometimes) kicking and screaming to look after their grandchildren in order allow to their parents to go to work.

The first half of this two month holiday is usually taken up with organised summer programmes, sometimes run by the local councils, sometimes private and sometimes by independant organisations. They can be general in nature or specific, for example tennis camps, or science camps and a multitude of other subjects.

However as the end of July approaches and these programmes come to an end, then the parents have to beg, borrow or steal some help with the children so they can go to work (at least most of the time!!).

This is when the grandparents come on the scene. So what sort of activities can they undertake. Of course it depends on the ages of the children. the little ones are happy to take a dip in the sea or in the pool on the balcony, others get involved in jewellry design, boys can go cycling or bowling, then there are zoos, theme parks, snake parks, safari parks, monkey parks, kangeroo parks, nature parks and so on. Of course they are all attractive places to visit, but when you are taking 4-8 kids out for the day, it becomes rather expensive by the time one has paid for entry and then bought ice creams all round and other "incidental" costs, if you know what I mean.

The grandchildren get spoilt, the grandparents get worn out and before you know it the children are back in school and everything goes back to normal.

No comments: