Ever since I became a parent, the concept of March Break came back into my life. When the boys started attending public school, March Break became a huge part of my life. But now that the boys are no longer tiny, March Break is shifting towards more of a Spring Break concept.
Every year, for one week in March, parents of school-aged children scramble for plans. Whether it’s a vacation somewhere, camps, day trips, outings, playdates, time with grandparents, or whatever works, March Break is a bit of a mess for planning parents. Outside of the teachers, the working world doesn’t stop for a March Break, which means using vacation time, planning the work day differently, hiring help, or calling Nana and Papa.
It’s nowhere near a break of any kind for parents.
For the boy’s early years, it worked out for us. I usually would take time off and plan some kind of Dad week. Peak Dad weeks included trips to the movies, the Hockey Hall of Fame, Casa Loma, visiting every mall in Toronto, eating at McDonald’s and for the last few years Friday turned into a “do whatever you want” type of day.
The point was that there was a lot of moving pieces, a lot of planning, a lot of energy spent and thankfully for the most part, a lot of fun and memories were had.
But as the boys moved past the age of 10 and into their teen and pre-teen years, these chaotic March Break weeks have calmed down quite a bit.
Now the main goal is to make sure they don’t sleep all day.
There are very loose plans, there are suggestions on what could be done and the only key to the whole thing is making sure the kitchen is stocked with food.
It sure feels more like we are moving to Spring Break style of week than the old school March Break madness.
Now the boys make plans with friends, disappear for afternoon and turn up when they get hungry. This opens up a lot of time for the parents to do actual work and not have to be the planner anymore.
They sleep past 10am. There is no stress of getting to bed early. And there is certainly no worrying on the parenting side that there isn’t enough to keep them busy.
All you have to do is mention some kind of chore like cleaning, and they quickly make plans with friends and are out the door.
But with all the pressures eased, it is still nice to do a few things that are out of the ordinary. Keep the March Break memories alive. I like that the boys still recall fun times had at Casa Loma, or even the depressing Covid March Break where we just built LEGO all week and never left the house.
This week the oldest and I are going to see Dune 2. Later in the week, we are getting together with my Sister and kids who are in town and will have some lunch.
And yes, Friday will probably be some kind of “Do what you want day”, which is code for a lot of video games.
Looking ahead, very soon our youngest will be in high school and March Break will never be the same again. Then it will be a rare treat to do something with them. Then before you know it, they are doing true Spring Breaks and spending 100% of their time with friends.
For those who have the kids off from school all week, what are you doing for March Break?
