I hadn’t planned to write a blog about our half-term but then I read a few blogs since and there were lots of lovely posts with kids doing various activities, which I enjoyed reading. I also read this post from Tinuke at Circus Mums, which really resonated as I was just about to launch my first Proudly Imperfect Parents e-course at the time – on the very subject of letting go of perfection and embracing ‘good enough’.
So I thought back to the break and what a good time we had, and decided that I actually would write a belated blog about our week – with, as the title suggests, a daily dose of honesty, because, well this is real life isn’t it?
So here’s my recipe for a happy half term:
Take one highly sensitive, reception-aged child and add…
Saturday
- A FREE day at Discover Story Centre in Stratford with London Book Swap
- The Bear Hunt exhibition (Mushroom has been with school and loved being able to show me the ‘secret’ things)
- A random visit from the Tiger (the one who came to tea).
with…
- A dash of ‘I never want to leave this glorious place and no, 3 hours is NOT long enough!’ – complete with shouting in the street that took 20 minutes (ok probably about 5 but it felt like 20!) to diffuse.
- A pinch of falling asleep on the bus so deeply he needed to be carried home, where he promptly woke up.
Sunday
I have no idea. Honestly, I don’t remember. Must have been a pretty average day then.
Monday
- A day at a Fit for Sport holiday club, with a variety of sporting activity and kids ranging from 5 to around 11 (a guess)
- Mushroom’s favourite coaches from last year: Bradley and Theo (hi guys!)
- New friends
- Packed lunch (super exciting when you’re used to school dinners).
with
- A dash of ‘I never want to leave Mummy’s side for anything ever’ for 30 minutes the first morning
- A pinch of ‘let’s stop at every playground on the way back to maximise Mummy time, get really overtired and meltdown before bedtime (should have seen that one coming).
Tuesday
- Another day at Fit for Sport – with added swimming (a Mushroom favourite) and new friends
- The super brave act (for Mushroom) of choosing and paying for his own drink in the cafe afterwards, while I watched from a distance.
with
- A dash of the ever popular falling asleep on this bus (luckily it wasn’t such a deep sleep this time but he still wasn’t happy to be woken – would you be..?).
Wednesday
- A lazy morning watching TV and eating pancakes (midweek! A real treat)
- A little creative activity
- A rather grown-up lunch at Pizza Express
- Watching a movie (Alvin and the Chipmunks – Mushroom can’t get his head round the fact that Auntie L and I used to listen to them on a record player! as kids) and eating popcorn.
with
- A dash of ‘I now need to run around like a crazy person and make a lot of noise after all that sitting and being quiet’, claiming, loudly, that he wanted to “walk all the way home!” just as we were about to board the bus and then once on the bus, promptly falling asleep. Again.
Thursday
- Make and do, and activity day
- The promise of silly string
with
- The first time I’ve bought a can of silly string since uni years – and it doesn’t work. Cue tears. A lot of tears. I didn’t realise just how important this was to him.
Friday
- Meeting up with nursery friends (not seen for a year) to go to the fair at the Olympic Park
- Chips and candy floss.
with
- A dash of over-excitement, too much sugar (did I mention the candy floss?) and needing to be ‘rescued’ from a playhouse that became just too much for him when the slide was too high up and he was left behind by braver friends.
Saturday
- A very low-key, low-sugar day to recover from the excitement of Friday!
Sunday
- A day at Fun DMC – A daytime block party for kids and parents (read: A family friendly hip-hop event. Yes!)
There were plenty more moments across this week… I loved discovering Goosebumps on Netflix and finding Mushroom loved it as much as I did as a kid, and held my hand in the scary bits, I loved snuggling in bed in the mornings after Daddy left for work and I loved when Mushroom picked up a ‘greatest mum’ Mother’s Day card in a newsagents and told me “It says Mummy so I want to give it to you”. I told him to have a word with Daddy about that!
Of course, there were plenty more imperfect moments but really, that’s just life and although I want to be honest I don’t want the focus to be on those. Now that Mushroom is back at school again he’s a little unsettled (he was just getting back into the routine last week when he was sick at school and and had to be picked up early) but he’ll be ok.
How was your half-term? Did you fill up all your days with activities or take some time to chill? And did the kids settle back to school easily or do you have sensitive ones too..?