Holiday at Home: Surviving It Solo

Being home for the holidays, alone with three kids, is no joke. Don’t get me wrong: I love being with my kids. I think we proved last year while on holiday together for a month, that the problem isn’t being in close proximity to each other. Rather, the challenge for me, is balancing the boredom with busyness. And let’s be honest: with the kids now being seven, four and two, it ups the ante this year.

Being at a loss for a plan, I set about creating one, right at the beginning of the break. We sat down with the kids, and clearly explained that we do not have the money for 24/7 entertainment – and actually, even if we did, that would not be the best route to take. So we let them choose two activities per week – one for during the week while Andel was at work, and one for the weekend. In addition to this, however, they had to choose at least one service activity each week that we could do together at home that benefited more than just the individual doing it. I won’t lie: this was a bit of a process. Some of the ideas were way wild like “let’s feed everyone in Cape Town on Christmas day” – I love the sentiment, but the logistics? Other ideas were, let’s say, not that selfless. Finally though, we came up with something we could agree on, knowing that the days in between were going to be keep-yourself-occupied-at-home kind of days.

I must say, I’m pretty pleased how it's all turned out. Of course, it required some flexibility. Sometimes things came up, or the weather didn’t play along, or the kids’ behaviour warranted a lesson of withholding or delaying something they we're really looking forward to. Anyway, in the end, we’ve managed to do a couple fun things that the kids asked to do, do some of the things that we need to do (like the Christmas prep, house cleaning, physical activity etc.), and do some things to be help or be kinder to others – and although the days Andel is at work are long and tiring, I haven’t given the kids away, yet.