Reflection - Holidays

It has been nearly a year since i wrote in here - i really should make time to start this again - but time is an issue lately - so I'm going to dribble on about the holidays - or lack of them.

I’m not really sure at what stage life started to pass so fast – but never is it more apparent than holidays – or the lack of holidays.
When I was a kid school holidays lasted forever – I felt we were on holidays more than school, 3 terms instead of 4 made a massive difference!
Maybe it isn’t just the change in terms – but the change in parenting styles – I remember the holidays as one big outside adventure – be gone at 1st light – back at dusk – what you did between these hours was up to your own discretion – from about age 3!!!!
I’d NEVER let my 3 year old child roam about with older siblings/ cousins etc and just expect them to come back OK, I don’t let my 10 year old have as much freedom – even my 17 year old - I expect to have a clearer idea of where she is than when I was under school age!
Is the way we approach holidays that makes them feel shorter – the way we approach life that makes it feel like it is passing faster?
I didn’t do ‘extra curriculum’ things growing up, so had more time to fill using my imagination – we never felt like we were on a time limit – with swimming lessons, dance and sport ruling out time… The only time limit we had was the hours of daylight each day had.
We lived – I never drowned in the creak even though I can’t swim – nor get bitten by a snake or other animal – didn’t get kidnapped by a stranger , and we weren’t stranger aware at all – and we did get lost, but we always managed to make it home before anyone noticed!
Are we limiting our children’s experiences now we have become over protective and wanting the best for them… or has time really changed that much that in order to keep our children safe we had to change also!
It will be interesting in another few decades to see how our own children feel, and how it continues to change in the future – will it go back to the past – or will we become so protective and scared of ‘living’ that they don’t leave the house…


hmmm bit deep for me - but it is a start - ive written something - lets see if i get back in a more reasonable time ;)