How to Survive the School Holidays: An Unfiltered Guide for Parents

We are deep in the school holidays now, and I think it is fair to say that the shiny, first-week energy has largely left the building.

At this point, most of us have heard “I’m bored” more times than we care to count. We have packed the snacks, found the sun cream, negotiated the screen time, located the missing shoe and tried to make a normal Tuesday feel like a core childhood memory, all before lunch.

If you are wondering how to survive the school holidays, this is your reminder that you do not need to turn every day into an event. You do not need a colour-coded activity schedule, an endlessly patient tone of voice or a magic answer to every bored sigh. You are allowed to be tired, to want ten minutes of quiet, and to say that the summer holidays can be brilliant and a lot.

Here are a few school-holiday survival tips for parents who are currently doing their best with coffee, good intentions and perhaps one biscuit they did not have to share.

You do not have to make every day magical

There is a lot of pressure around summer holidays with kids. The days are supposed to be packed with outings, ice creams, big adventures and pictures everyone will look happy in. But real family life is not a highlights reel, and the quieter days count too.

Try choosing what feels possible rather than what looks impressive. A walk, a back-garden picnic, a trip to the library or a film on the sofa can be enough. Children do not need you to perform summer at them; they need you, as you are.

That does not mean every day will be calm. It simply means you can lower the bar from “make it magical” to “make it manageable”. It is a much kinder target for everyone.

Let boredom do some of the work

“What do I do when my kids say they are bored?” is one of the great questions of parenting during the school holidays. The short answer is: you do not always have to fix it.

Place2Be advises that parents do not need to immediately organise something every time a child says they are bored. Its guidance notes that children can learn to tolerate the feeling, and that occasional boredom may even spark creativity.

It is about taking the pressure off yourself to become a full-time entertainment service. You can offer a couple of choices, point them towards what is already available, or simply say: “I hear you. I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Then let the moment be theirs to solve.

Sometimes they will complain. Sometimes they will create an elaborate game out of cardboard, cushions and an alarming number of pens. Either way, you have not failed because you did not produce a fresh activity every half hour.

Give the day a few simple anchors

A loose rhythm can make the long stretch of the school holidays feel less like one enormous, melting clock. The key word here is loose. This is not a timetable designed to make anyone feel behind.

You might decide that mornings start slowly, that there is one outside activity after lunch, or that everyone has a quiet half-hour at the same time each day. You might repeat the same easy things: a library morning, a park afternoon, a baking day, a film night. Familiar does not mean boring; familiar can mean easier.

For many parents, the most useful school holiday activities are the ones that do not create more work than they solve. Choose the thing that is easy to start, easy to clear up and does not require a late-night online order. 

Take the pressure off yourself

School-holiday life can add extra logistics, childcare decisions and mental load to an already busy week. Mind recognises that parents can face additional responsibilities and difficulties during holiday periods, particularly alongside work.

That is why it helps to build in a little breathing space wherever you can. This could mean sharing a playdate with another parent, saying yes to the easy option, letting someone else take the lead for an afternoon, or admitting that today is a stay-at-home day.

It is okay to be Unfiltered about the school holidays

There is a strange expectation that parents should love every second of the summer holidays. Of course there are lovely bits: the lazy mornings, the extra cuddles, the random adventures and the fact that nobody is looking for a school cardigan at 8am.

There are also hot cars, endless snacks, overstimulation, bored children, a house that somehow gets messy instantly and a constant background calculation of what everyone needs next.

Both things can be true.

Being honest about this does not make you ungrateful, negative or a bad parent. It makes you human. One of the reasons we made The Unfiltered Tee was for exactly that energy: for parents who have spent all summer keeping everyone else cool, calm and entertained and who are now at the point where it feels perfectly acceptable to say things as they are.

Our tees are soft, easy to wear and made for real days: the hot ones, the chilled ones and everything in between. If the school holidays have made you feel a little more honest than usual, we see you.

Shop the Unfiltered Tee →