6 School Summer Holidays Parenting Myths That Are Making Your Life Harder Than Necessary
The pressure on parents to make the school summer holidays magical is very real. It creeps in from every direction social media, school gates, parenting articles, and that one overachieving mum from down the road who appears to be raising her kids on a diet of complicated crafts, activity camps, world travel and never ending expensive days out.
The result? You end up second-guessing everything.
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Should you be flying the family off to soak up other cultures, even if you hate flying, can’t get the time off work, or simply don’t have the money?
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Should every day out be Instagram-worthy, with coordinated outfits, perfect weather, and everyone smiling like it’s an advert for elderflower cordial?
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Should you ban screen time entirely and turn into a full-time activities coordinator, even though sometimes you just need ten quiet minutes and a biscuit?
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Or should you be getting them “ahead of the curve” with summer learning, ensuring they don’t fall behind by September?
It’s relentless.
And frankly, I want a summer too. I’m that permanently exhausted pigeon meme most of the time. I don’t want to spend six weeks bouncing between guilt, logistics, and other people’s expectations. Because if we’re stressed, it comes out. And that’s not fun for anyone. So what if, instead, summer didn’t need a master plan?
What if the best summer holiday activities weren’t planned weeks in advance but stumbled upon on a slow Tuesday afternoon? What if we stopped worrying about what we’re not doing, and focused on what actually matters to us? Let’s name the myths, reject the pressure, and find a slower, wilder, lazier way to parent through the school summer holidays.
1. You HAVE to Make the Most of Every Moment.
The myth that every minute of the school summer holidays must be meaningful or magical, or you’ve somehow wasted it is pretty pervasive. You’ll recognise it in the guilt you feel when people say “They’re only young once,” “You'll never get this time back” or the current favourite “You only get 18 summers.” And you’ll see it in the Instagram feeds, packed with crafts, castles, and curated family togetherness.
But here’s the truth. Being busy every second isn’t a badge of honour. It’s exhausting. For you. For them. And for whatever unlucky relative gets roped into the day out that nobody really wanted. Sometimes what you actually need is to do less.
Let them sleep in. Let yourself sleep in. Ditch the alarm clock. Watch clouds drift or shadows flicker through the trees. Some of the best summer activities for kids involve absolutely nothing structured at all. Sure, some children need a bit of routine for their mental health, and that’s valid. But you don’t need a laminated timetable with themed snack breaks. A loose rhythm is often more than enough. Meal times, wake-up times, and a few go-to ideas you can pick from if the mood takes you.
A flexible, spontaneous summer isn’t lazy parenting. It’s honest, realistic parenting. Especially if you’ve got a list of simple activities ready to go when the moment’s right, things that don’t take hours to set up or cost a small fortune (our Family Adventure Pack is full of these, by the way).
So yes, make the most of the holidays. But don’t confuse that with doing the most.
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2. Boredom Means You’re Not Doing Enough.We’ve been sold the idea that a bored child is a neglected child. That if your kids are at a loose end, it must be your fault. You’ve dropped the ball. You’re not keeping them busy enough.
It’s nonsense. Boredom is not the enemy. It’s the beginning of something. It’s the blank space where creativity can start.
Remember those holidays as a kid where you just mucked about in the sea or made up games in the garden? When the adults were lounging about reading books or drinking something cold, and you only came in when you were hungry or sunburnt? We’ve just come back from that kind of holiday. And I’ll admit it took me a while to accept it. We were in Italy. Beautiful, historic, packed with places to explore. And we did… none of it. No ruins. No guided tours. No ticking things off. Just a hotel room, a pool, good food, and unstructured time. I read. I floated. I stared at the sky. It took days to settle into it, especially after a difficult year that started with a car crash and never really let up. But by the end, I finally felt like my brain had had a proper rest. And my son? He found new games. He swam. He made slept. He got gloriously, productively bored.
Give your kids time and space. Let their minds wander. Let them chase ideas, build daft contraptions, invent new rules. If they want to talk to you about them, listen. Don’t shut it down because it looks like “nothing.” In those moments, everything is happening.
3. Technology is the Enemy.Some people treat screens like parenting kryptonite. A moral failing that ruins childhood and melts brains. But for most families, screens are part of life. And banning them completely for the entire summer? It’s unrealistic and unnecessary, especially when you’re trying to get through six weeks with your sanity intact.
We use screens. A lot. My husband runs his business online. I run mine online. He talks to family back home through his phone. My son plays games and chats with his mates. It’s part of how we connect, relax, and take a breather from each other. The key is not total elimination. It’s intentional use.
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Yes, we set boundaries. Yes, we take breaks. Yes, we go outside every day. But kids screen time isn’t inherently bad, especially when its needed to run lives.
We’ve had some of our best moments with screens. Not in spite of them. Evening films projected in the garden. Mario Kart marathons on rainy afternoons. Onlinefamily quizzes with grandparents. It’s not about being anti-screen. It’s about choosing when and how to use them.
And let’s be honest. Sometimes, a screen buys you the silence you need to drink a cup of coffee while it’s still hot. And sometimes, that’s important too.
4. Big Memories Need Big Money
The myth here is that if you’re not spending a fortune, it doesn’t count. That the only memorable summer holiday activities involve ticketed events, hotel bookings, or expensive organised events. It’s nonsense. And it’s expensive nonsense at that.
Yes, we do the big days out sometimes. We love a good family festival. But most of our best memories happen much closer to home and on a much smaller budget. We love outdoor activities for kids that don’t need lots of gear, hours of preparation, or planning.
We’ve balanced our summer between muddy walks, lazy picnics, puddle stomps, and backyard movie nights. The cost? Minimal. The value? Huge. This is where the Family Adventure Pack comes in. Simple, seasonal ideas that feel exciting and doable. No pressure to organise long in advance. No purchasing lots of equipment. No panicing you've forgotten something. Fun doesn’t scale with cost. And honestly, some of those big-ticket days end in overtired tears and tantrums. You don’t need that every weekend. You just need moments. Small, honest, real ones.
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5. You've got to Keep them Learning All Summer You’ve seen the workbooks. You’ve heard the warnings. Maybe you’ve even downloaded the maths app with good intentions. Because what if they forget everything over the holidays and spend September floundering? Here’s the thing. Most kids are shattered by July. What they need isn’t another worksheet. It’s rest. Recovery. Room to play.
That doesn’t mean learning has to stop altogether. We choose learning by stealth. Creative challenges, books they actually enjoy, nature activities for kids, casual museum visits, conversations about things that interest them. No pressure. No homework vibe. Just curiosity. And some days, learning means helping with dinner or running a market stall with toy money in the living room. It all counts. Your job is not to replicate school. It’s to offer space to grow.
And if you don’t want to do any of that? That’s fine too.
6. “Everyone Else is Having More Fun Than You”This is the myth that creeps in quietly but stings the most. You scroll through your feed and see smiling families at theme parks, sun-kissed kids hiking up volcanoes, and strangers declaring that their family trip was “just magical.” Meanwhile, your house looks like a laundry bomb went off and you’re having an internal crisis about what to cook with the last three fish fingers and a slightly sad courgette. But social media isn’t the truth. It’s the highlight reel.
I had this moment on holiday too. Watching people trek up Vesuvius while we lounged by the pool. I thought, should we be doing more? Are we wasting this chance? And then I saw those same families later. Sunburnt, overheated, dragging small children who’d clearly hit their limit hours ago. And I realised, we were exactly where we needed to be. You don’t have to curate a perfect summer. You don’t have to perform it for anyone. So turn off the comparison engine. You’re doing enough. Probably more than enough. |
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Conclusion
Maybe it’s nostalgia. Maybe it’s burnout. Maybe it’s a refusal to play the game. But this year, I’m choosing something different. I’m choosing a slower, guilt-free, wild summer.
Not wild in the sense of chaos, though let’s be honest, there’ll be plenty of that. Wild in the sense of freedom. Mess. Curiosity. Unpolished joy. The school summer holidays of my own childhood were largely uneventful. And I loved them. Long days. Minimal structure. Time to just be. And that’s exactly what I want for my child, too.
So this summer, I’m lowering the bar. Not because I’m lazy. But because I want to be present. I want to laugh. Rest. Get outdoors. Feel the sun, or more likely, rain on my skin. Chase ideas. Do nothing. Do something. Just do it on our own terms.
And above all? I’m ditching the guilt for good.
If you want to join me in embracing a more simple summer, The Family Adventure Pack gives you quick, easy outdoor activities you can actually use, without lots of planning or equipment requirements. You can sign up here and make your summer simpler.