How to Prep for a Calm School Holiday with your Kids

The school holidays are almost upon us again already over here in Western Australia so I thought it might be a good time to think about how to make what can sometimes feel like an overwhelming time a little calmer 😉

One handy technique that I’ve found really helps us to keep calm and avoid overwhelm in the holidays is to simply discuss with my Mr 6 what his expectations are for the holidays.

So for example (and this is a real conversation we’ve had over the past week or so, and in preparation for each school holiday period):

“Hey! The school holidays are coming up, you have (x number) of days until they start. Is there anything in particular you would like to do during the holidays?” 

You can also add in a disclaimer if needed around how many days or times are available for your child’s wishes to be fulfilled (depending on your own availability and buget).

…and seriously, the first time I asked, he said “Ummm, I’m not sure, can I think about it?”

and then he went on to ask if I had any ideas about what I wanted to do over the holidays (which was lucky, because I did!).

This led to me suggesting a few things we could do and then eventually my Mr 5 (he was 5 the first time I tried this technique) went on to list some activities he wanted us to do together at home.

We go through a similar process each school holidays and it really helps both of us understand the expectations of the holidays from each others point of view (and it meant we got to do plenty of fun things together)!

As a side note – it really helped to set expectations around what we could and couldn’t achieve over the holidays too 😉

If you have a chance to have to have this discussion with your kids and it helps your holidays run a little smoother (and calmer) let me know! I’d love to hear how you went.

I hope you and your family enjoy this school holiday break!

If you have a chance to try out this technique for discussing and setting expectations around the holidays comment at the bottom of this page or pop an email through to me dominique@ohbeehave.com.au – I’d love to hear how it works for you 🙂

Before you go, make sure you scroll down to check out my FREEBIE to help you introduce CALMING TECHNIQUES to your child this school holidays!