When will these holidays end?

August 22, 2007 - 8:28 AM by Nicky

These days, you can see exhaustion written on the faces of parents across Israel. Is it the political situation that makes them look like this, is it the looming threat of war with Syria, Lebanon or maybe Iran?

No, of course not.
It’s the school holidays.

The children broke up at the end of June and they don’t go back until September 2 – that’s nine weeks of holiday.
Surely that should be outlawed?

In England they have just six weeks – a nice, containable number that doesn’t leave the adults or the children pulling out their hair in anguish.
But here, well the parents are fed up, the children are even more fed up, and everyone has run out of both ideas and money.
“This holiday has cost me thousands of shekels,” complained a friend of mine who has three boys, 9, 7 and 3 to keep amused and a full-time job to maintain at the same time. “I can’t stand it anymore. I just want it to be over.”

In this long absence of school, my six-year-old has forgotten how to read. He picked up a book the other day and found himself stuttering over his words.
My nine-year-old is also going crazy.
We have sleep overs, trips, movies, barbecues, bonfires, but you can see that deep down inside they are both longing for the nice, familiar routine of school and bed at a reasonable time.

I think it’s time to end these long holidays. They do no-one any good. It’s all we working parents are talking about when we meet at the playground or the pool. We need to launch a political campaign to stagger the holidays through the year.

In the meantime, I’ve packed my children off to their saba and savta for a few days, and oh the bliss of silence.
One more week to go, and then back to school. What a shame the next holidays begin just a week and a half later.

Share with others