I am probably wondering if this is actually true with other parents of one child. However, do you find the weekends and school holidays hard work? Parenting a singleton in lockdown was really hard work. So in theory the school holidays should be a walk in the park!

Siblings

Most of my friends have siblings, only one (including my husband is an only child. I notice that when we talk about siblings most of the time they say “I’m glad I don’t have them”.

Questions

William has recently been asking why he doesn’t have a brother or sister. It is way too early to go into the details of how we had to have IVF. To then tell him he had hospital treatment when he was born would be too much. Personally I couldn’t face all the stress again.

Does he need a sibling?

The problem is of course is that he could benefit so much at the moment with having a sibling. We are noticing it more and more just lately. He is wanting someone to play with so much. He is always asking one of us to play ‘lego’ with us or ‘superheros’. I really do not have the energy to run around with a cape on my back. Then once I do say yes that will be opening to asking me to do more. Those other games that involve running around!

This is what he does at preschool at the moment. Role play and I will often find him in the lounge laying out cushions on the floor. “Mummy don’t step in the lava.” I almost raise one of my eyebrows towards a make believe camera of my own. Feeling like I’m in some sort of comedy sketch.

Advice

“You’ll have to have another baby so that William has a sister or brother.” This is what my nan had said to me when William was a few months old. I didn’t have the energy to explain that it wasn’t that simple. That we were both in our forties and that ship had sailed already!

I do feel sad for William because he doesn’t have any cousins geographically close or close in age to him. The nearest he has is Ruby his second cousin who is two years his junior, but he never sees her. His other three cousins are all adults. Two of them (Ruby’s mum and uncle) are god parents, however we don’t see them as often as we’d anticipated.

Try to be organised

I’m looking forward and trying to be organised for the summer holidays. Obviously it wouldn’t be like lockdown because we can go out and about. Soft play will be a good option as they’ll be cleaner than before anyone had heard of Covid. Not only that many of them now have a booking system which limits numbers. We’ve decided that this year we’re not going away and will save up and do a holiday next year. Maybe we’ll do a trip in this country somewhere.

Bonus of having an only child

At least with just having William we can both focus on him, not having to worry about sibling rivalry. Then there’s the cost of children. I recently read that parents with children of Williams age can spend on average £15k a year.

Enjoy the precious moments

With all that being said, the time spent with him at the moment should be precious. One day in the distant future, we’ll be lucky if we’re blessed with his presence let alone any conversation. I am trying to convince myself that we don’t need to spend money on him to have a good time. This last weekend we visited some charity shops picking him up a new Meccano set that hadn’t been opened!

Childcare

We have managed to sort out childcare for all over the summer holidays between us and the grandparents. I know the grandparents love having him, but I do feel a sense of guilt when I drop him off.

Season Tickets

Do you have anything near you that you don’t mind going to 4 -7 times over the summer holidays? Or even if it’s somewhere further out if you drive?

We are looking at local attactions to do on a budget. Looking at spending about half of what a family holiday would’ve cost. We purchased some season tickets for us all to use rather than going to different attractions. William is at that age where he is just grateful for a day out he won’t mind where it is. Even better if the attraction is a large area. At least then you can visit a different area on a different day!

Garden Centres

What gardens or garden centres do you have near you? Or any large amounts of land where you can visit and walk around gardens? Or a museum that is set in a large area of surroundings?

We’re lucky enough to have a handful of those across Hampshire and our sister counties Wiltshire and Dorset. Hillier in Hampshire we already have season passes for which is a firm favourite already. Exbury Gardens which is also on our list as a possible purchase. There is Mottisfont Abbey is owned by the NT which is £126 for all of us.

Amusement Parks

If you can get to them within an hour or it’s somewhere that you enjoy going. Do they do an annual pass?

We used to have membership for Paultons Park (home of Peppa Pig World). When William was younger and being able to get there in ten to fifteen minutes was quite handy. Especially as I worked part time and we could go in term time when it was quiet. Since lockdown we’ve not been back or renewed our passes, purely for the cost of it. It is currently £110 for the three of us to visit for the day or £555 for an annual pass!)

Zoo & Farms

A local (or even further away) zoo or farm to visit is always a winner. We have a few and we also have a wildlife park. Season passes for one of these means that it’s somewhere to visit three or four times over the summer holidays. This will get our moneys worth.

Beaches

Beaches are free right? Well most of the time if you know where to park for free. We have quite a few in Hampshire but you need to make sure you pay for parking. You can always find out by looking on the internet. Alot of the time they have a Facebook page where you can ask questions like parking and how much. Many of them also have cafes but picnics are always a favourite of ours.

Play Dates

This week is the start of booking in a play date once a week with one of his friends. This makes it so much easier for him having someone to play with and breaks up each week. I’m lucky enough that I do actually get on well with his friends mums. I can quite easily sit for a couple of hours and talk whilst drinking coffee whilst the children play.

This is how I hope to overcome his loneleness for a sibling over the summer holidays and weekends. A few of the mums at his preschool have already asked about going to soft play or the park. I’ve also arranged to meet a group of his friends with parents up at the local park. Which is also something for the children, because they’ll mis each other over the summer.

Planning

I know in the past I’ve always said you can NEVER plan anything with children, but this year I’m tackling that all over again. I have always been a planner, already we’ve got all the dates sorted out including where we’re going and what we’re doing, almost every day. At the moment it’s all in my phone in my diary but as we get closer to the holidays I will write it on the fridge so that we all know what’s occuring. Let’s face it if we don’t know what we’re doing the days end up being a chore and it all ends up in tears.

I know I love my lists, but upon creating my list for the summer holidays I stumbled across some cute printable calendars which I’m going to print off and stick up.

Blogs

Since I have been blogging I’ve discovered lots of other blogs which are really helpful for activities to do with children as well as days out. You can usually find them quite easy with the help of Facebook or Instagram by searching for #familydaysout or #familyideas but here are a few of my favourites:

https://emmareed.net/ – lifestyle and motherhood with an eco-concious edge

https://beautiesandthebibs.co.uk/ – Parenting influencer Jess

https://girlabout.co.uk/area/hampshire – Sarah, a ‘girl about’ Ambassador for Hampshire, follow links here to find the Ambassador for your area.

https://justanormalmum.home.blog/ – Days out, food and drink and toys and games.

https://www.boorooandtiggertoo.com – Sarah aka ‘Boo’ who shares her working mum life of parenting with her husband and children.

Mums support network

I hope this blog has helped in some way, and if there’s anything you can add please comment below with any ideas for fellow mums!