Unpopular opinion: The school holidays are not too long. Here's why.

You know it's the end of January when every conversation begins with, "How many days till school goes back?" followed by, "Why are the holidays so long?"

As a mother of four, I nod with empathy. Having the kids at home for six weeks over the summer is exhausting, not to mention expensive. (Since when is it $24 for a movie ticket???)

Mums find themselves mid-January exhausted by:

• Kids fighting.
• Kids on devices.
• An endless mountain of laundry.
• A sink overflowing with dirty dishes and glasses.
• Juggling working with entertaining/driving/feeding kids.

No wonder mums count down the days until school starts.

While you're here, can you relate from these car moments with the kids? Post continues after video.

January needs a reframe. Instead of gritting our teeth, why do we not embrace the 'break' from routine?

Nope, this is not a vomit-inducing sermon about how the kids are only young once, so you should make memories while you can. 

This is about us. Mums.

Mums finding respite from the daily juggle of work and school. Mums taking time to reset after the craziness of term 4 and Christmas. 

The brilliant thing about the summer holidays is that they are long enough to create new routines with the kids that work to your advantage.

Here are five summer holiday routines so you can enjoy the school hols as much as the kids:

1. Use Saturday sport time for you.

Remember the delight of getting kids to school or club sports at a god-awful hour on a Saturday morning? Not a thing in January. So go crazy, sleep in, exercise, or go for coffee. It's a gift.

2. Trade technology for chores.

Let's agree that kids are on devices way too much in January. Why not use it to our advantage? If they want to use devices, they first need to help at home - hang out the laundry, mow the lawn, cook dinner, or water the plants. The double win here is that there are fewer jobs for us mums and the bonus of a quiet house when they stare at screens to get some work done.

Image: Supplied.

3. Make them think twice about fighting.

The kids are going to fight. Probably over a game that no one has played for the last six months. In our house, when they fight, they get to do the dishes. No one likes doing dishes. Especially me. Another win.

4. Ease into the morning.

One of the joys of school holidays is not having the morning rush of alarms, breakfast, packing lunchboxes, finding uniforms, and running to catch the bus. Use the time before the kids get up to exercise with friends, drink a coffee in peace, or sleep in. I’m sure there is a study somewhere that proves that doing something for yourself in the morning makes you happier.

Listen to this episode of This Glorious Mess where we reflect on our parenting highs and lows of 2022 and have a think about our parenting new year's resolutions for 2023. Post continues after podcast.

5. Insist on 'nap' time.

Mid-term, there's no time for a cheeky weekend nap between kids' sports, parties, and trips to Bunnings. But January is different. With no sport and parties few and far between, there is often the time for an after-lunch lie-down. The kids may grumble but insisting they lie down with a book may cause everyone having a siesta. I occasionally insist on a mid-week lunchtime nap too!

Let’s keep it real. January can feel long, especially when your Instagram feed is full of friends in faraway places.

Instead of seeing January as a punish that we must endure, let’s make it a break for us too. We owe it to ourselves to enjoy it!

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Feature Image: Supplied.