Why I loathe the end of the school holidays

I always hate the end of the school hoildays.
We never seem to have enough time to do all the things we want to do.
Or just as we plan to go out somehwre the weather misbehaves and we have to re think our plans altogether.
That happens quite a bit here in North Wales!
I miss the times I have with the children.
When they return from school it's all such a rush.
I love the slowness of the hoildays, of sitting around and chatting, watching a movie or doing something together we don't normally get time to do.
As teachers, we are very fortunate to be able to spend every hoilday with our children.
I try to never take this for granted.

School has now started once again and I am always reminded of an ABBA song on the first day as they are invariably late and bags, scarves and shoes go flying around.

Abba - Slipping Through My Fingers
Songwriters: ANDERSSON, BENNY GORAN BROR / ULVAEUS, BJOERN K. / KORTNEV, ALEKSEJ ANATOLEVICH

'Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well known sadnessand and I have to sit down for a while
the feeling that I'm losing her forever
and without really entering her world
I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter
that funny little girl

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
the feeling in it slipping through my fingers all the time
do I really see what's in her mind
each time I think I'm close to knowing
she keeps on growing
slipping through my fingers all the time

Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table
barely awake I let precious time go by
then when she's gone, there's that odd melancholyc feeling
and a sense of guilt I can't deny
what happened to the wonderful adventures
the places I had planned for us to go
well, some of that we did, but most we didn't
and why, I just don't know'

It fills me with melancholy as well as reminding me to make each day precious and hold onto the memories.

However, I take great pleasure in seeing how much going to school and the huge opportunities it affords gives them.The challenges they face, and the issues they deal with and overcome will shape the people they turn out to become. The friendships they forge and make and the mistakes they learn from.
My children have the most incredible opportunities offered to them. Sometimes they overlook these and sometimes they grasp them with both hands.

I hope they will always see home as a refuge. Somewhere they can relax and chill and be themseleves as well as somewhere they feel comfortable to  bring their friends and partners too.


I love to re group in the hoildays. No matter how much time we get it is never enough.
The things we have not achieved will be put on a to do list. Ready and waiting for the next opportuntiy to come.


I will for now sort out and edit the photos from our last happy times together and scarp book these precious memories of my childrens lives.

Children by Fiona and Simon Beavan 2003-2012