Holidays and homework

Holidays are approaching again, and parents have to find things to do with their offspring. Some of them, like mothersoup are tempted by who knows what pressure to offer their children "more of the same" in the form of holiday homework. I want to say to them - forget about the workbooks! If little Timmy wants to write a poem, do sums, read about dinosaurs, great! Let him do it and tell you about it. If he wants you to explain something, so he can achieve what he wants, fine! I think mummies are really for doing fun stuff with, and for allowing fun things to happen, however the children interpret that. So put that shiny workbook firmly back on the shelf beside the others.

I'm going to sound all Happy Families now. In the dim and distant at home, my children painted, glued-and-sticked, made cardboard creations from cereal boxes, made playdough with me in a variety of colours and then played with it, cooked and baked stuff and ate it...you get the picture. When they were a bit older they wanted to learn knitting, sawing, yes and sewing, making bigger and more challenging creations. I assisted by giving them the things they needed and offering help when asked (or, in the case of the sewing, arranging for Granny to visit.) They made up dances to their favourite songs, wrote out the lyrics and moves, and constructed concert schedules for which Granny and Grandad, when available, and I were the ticket buyers, audience and critics etc etc They also liked to read, do sums and asked me to give them quizzes. When they were older they made quizzes for each other and developed complicated paperwork for imaginary clubs they invented. They wrote their own stories, books and magazines. At that stage, I mainly just listened and admired when required. All this was on their own terms and not dictated by me. We went to the library, the swimming pool and the park, sometimes ourselves, sometimes with friends, played football, learned to roller skate, ride bikes and skateboards....

The things I've described cost little or no money, but they were certainly valuable. The fact that I now have four well-balanced and bright young adults who say they remember those holidays fondly and will probably eventually do the same with their own kids is probably proof enough. And of course they were learning Maths and Spelling as well as a whole host of other things, in a "need to know" way - their need, no-one else's.

I'm almost certain that if our holiday activities had been a structured diet of Teach Your Child Maths and Practise Your Spelling, mixed with extended sessions at the Easter Sport Academy and the Revision Club, my children would be no brighter, and a lot less well balanced.

I loved the holidays and looked on them as an opportunity to spend time doing things we all enjoyed. At the heart of it all was the fact that I enjoyed being with my children....