School holidays: the headache for parents.

Have you ever felt the added pressure of being a good parent when the summer holidays arrive? If so, you're not alone. More than one million elementary and secondary students across the province have said goodbye to their schools for sixty days or so. Many parents will have been scrambling over the past few weeks to find a way to keep them busy during this time. This can be a complex task, as the holidays can be stressful! One of my clients admitted to me that she was frankly nervous at the thought of not having finished planning the summer for her three young children. "It's a real headache! She will be working all summer, her partner will be working all summer. There is no shortage of interesting activities. "But I don't just want to keep them busy while I'm at work, I also don't want their summer to be a mere extension of the 9 to 5 rhythm they have at school!" In Quebec this summer, just over half of 6-year-olds will spend more time with a camp counsellor or babysitter than with their parents, and one-third will be babysat all or most of the summer. Some parents try to compensate by finding the best and most interesting activities where their children will be best supervised and most stimulated, I'm told.

They want to keep their children on their toes and stimulated, and that's perfectly normal. But they should not lose sight of the fact that summer is first and foremost a time of relaxation and rest for their children," he says.

This is why one of my clients wants to send his two boys to spend three weeks with their maternal and then paternal grandparents, where they will officially "do nothing". Twenty-one days where, when they wake up - without a clock - their only task will be to find something to play with. He wants his children to relearn the pleasure of having a disorganised life, after 10 months of school where punctuality and organisation are the rule. "At first, they find it a bit difficult and they are afraid of being bored. But it doesn't last!"

Sonia Lupien, Director of the Centre for Stress Studies at Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital, notes that no studies have been conducted on the benefits of "disorganized" holidays. Lafontaine Hospital, Sonia Lupien notes that no studies have been conducted on the benefits of "disorganized" holidays. But, as far as possible, she does not recommend that parents send their children to summer camp all summer and overload them with activities. "Our children have been over-stimulated since they were very small. They are not the children we were, and it would be hard to imagine leaving them without activities all summer. But they are quite capable of keeping themselves busy for a while," she says.

Carole Sénéchal, a professor of child psychology at the University of Ottawa, adds that holidays can even be a source of stress for children "if they are forced to do activities that seem to be beyond their abilities.

But she believes that routine in the summer does not have to be banned from children's lives. Far from it. "Adults see it as a constraint, but for children, it is very reassuring and often necessary for them to function well.

And the advice applies to older children too. "It would concern me to know that my teenager has nothing to do all summer, especially with all the overweight issues there are today!"

My entire team encourages you to get back to basics. As a financial advisor, I have seen many families struggle to create a summer holiday worthy of "SUPERS PARENTS", when all we can do is educate our children to get back to the basics of life!

Source : www.lapresse.ca