A Day With Kids Is A Long Day

Entertaining a small child is no mean feat

I remember that when I was a kid, the summer holidays seemed endless. There were just hours and hours and hours to fill.

The exciting part for me was when we went on holiday to the beach, often with other families that we were friends with and spent long days by the sea, body boarding and building sandcastles in the sand.

But those holidays only lasted for two weeks.

The other four were spent at home in long, boring days.

When you’re a teacher, the feeling is the opposite: the holidays fly by far too fast. You spend the first half decompressing and the last half thinking about the new year to come. Before you know it, it’s back to school again.

Routine is good for kids. It breaks the day down a bit. Provides important landmarks — breakfast, school, playtime, dinner time, bath time, story time, bed. Without that structure, the day is long, long, long. Especially with young kids.

I’m writing this as I’m on holiday with my boyfriend’s family.

We’re with his parents, brother and brother’s children — two kids under the age of five.

They’re up, full of energy, from 8 am to 10 pm. An hour will pass of happy playing, followed by screams of “That’s mine!” and “No!” and “Give it to me!” Tears ensue. Shouts. Screams. Followed by some time out. Then the cycle repeats again.

The playing often moves outside and someone has to keep a constant eye on them.

We’re in the countryside and there are dangers everywhere. As well as joys. The kittens that the barn cat has just given birth to, the stream full of little fish and beetles, the little pool we set up to splash about in.

It’s both a myriad of adventure and a myriad of potential injuries.

Maybe because I’m not a parent exhausted by the constant vigilance necessary, I see the dangers everywhere. Possibly I’m too sensitive to them.

I’m not sure if I’m being too honest here, or just stating a fact that is so obvious nobody else finds it necessary to say it out loud: I find it tiring being around young kids.

Everything has to be for their attention, for their entertainment. I’m counting down the time until I can resume activities that I want to do for my life — when I can be liberated from babysitting duties.

I see some mums and dads sneaking furtive glances at their phones, thinking about work, thinking about their social media posts, looking at what else they could be doing with their time, largely ignoring their own kids. And other parents who are relieved to be sending their children back to school.

It’s not to say that I don’t love spending time with my nephews, because I do. They’re great kids. Excited, curious, active. But I like spending time with them in short bursts.

I’m grateful to all of the parents who are out there putting in hours of dedicated effort to bringing up their kids, but it’s not for me. I just don’t have the patience necessary. But I’m happy to help out where I can.

I agree that it takes a village to raise a child, otherwise, you end up with parents who are completely burnt out.

I try to be as active as possible in my niece’s and nephew’s lives and relieve their parents for a couple of hours of free time as often as I can.

I’ll be part of that village. I just won’t be the chief.