Summer Days Drifting Away

The juggling of childcare in the summer, the expensive excursions, the daily battle to feed the little mites etc. can take its toll. For others, including me, I just feel sad that they are going back to school and leaving me behind.

Slightly worrying that they seem delighted to be going back to school, and equally delighted to be leaving me behind.

Throw away the timetable

There are many things I will miss about the holidays - the obvious one being the absence of any timetable.

The boys can get up when they want, wear pyjamas all day, and go to bed at midnight. But as their mother suffers (I would like to say "slightly") from OCD, a complete lack of any schedule sends me into a very dark place, so the reality is that they tend to get up and go to bed as normal, and by 11am I'm getting jittery if they are still in their PJs.

Exceptions to this rule were Movie Days (my favourite) when I manipulate a disagreement amongst the boys as to what movies to watch so I get to choose (luckily I'm a big fan of Marvel movies), and they get to stay in their PJs. And evenings on the beach around a camp fire with marshmallows (for me and them) and rosé (all for me) when we all get to stay up late.

World War Pantsâ„¢

I will also miss the spontaneity that kids display when out of school. We have seen a variety of very interesting games come to light in our household. "World War Pants" was a good one: it involved throwing your pants at your opponents whilst shouting "Achtung!" very loudly, and where you gained extra points if you got them in the face.

"Willy Action" was a favourite of my youngest: this was a true game of stealth involving standing behind a person with your willy hanging out without them noticing. Extra points were scored for hiding said appendage in a pocket of a person without them noticing. This was a highly amusing game on the beaches of Cornwall, but could have ended in arrest or social services being called, so not to be recommended. I also learnt that my husband once played this game - the difference was he was 26 not 6.

Our own summer Ashes

The wonderful weather has also meant our own mini Ashes being played out in the garden - with no hint of bad light stopping play (only the lure of fish and chips would bring our Test match to an end). My boys have also taken to celebrate their victories in true Ashes style by weeing all around the boundary - whatever our English cricket boys can do, mine can do better!

It truly has been a great summer, and thank you to the weather for contributing to that. May we have many more summers like this to come.

Amanda Coxen, Working Mum and Tinies Director