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As adults, we all know the unspoken rule that you use sick days for non-sick activities. Yes, I know people use sick days for actual sick days but sometimes you want to play hooky and use those days for fun. (Let’s keep it one hundred, fam.)
So, I thought about what I wanted to do with Bear. He’s a good kid and an excellent student. He’s only missed two days of school (one being illness and the other being his day-after birthday celebration). I figured it’s time to give my kid a break when it’s not a holiday or a long vacation.
Every so often, we’ll play hooky.
Now, before I get the Judgy McJudgersons with their neck rolls and the “Can I speak to the manager?” Karens, let me explain: sometimes, kids need a break from school.
Kids are in school roughly 6 hours a day/5 days a week. Then, they have homework to do. And then reading. And then who knows what other activities they do outside of school.
And while it’s good to keep kids busy and off the tablets, sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming.
So, Maks and I discussed pulling Bear out of school every once in a while to give him a free day. Just to relax and take it easy. We wouldn’t stay home during those days. We would make it a point to go on a family trip or a museum day.
I think kids sometimes need mental health breaks. I can recall when my mom would just let me stay home and watch cartoons after attending school for X amount of days and it was fun.
(Now, in defense of my mother, it wasn’t like I was in school for three weeks and she told me I needed a break. It was more like I was in school for three months straight and she decided I needed a bit of fun.)
Our next mental health break will be during the week of our 10th anniversary – we’re going to Disneyland for a couple of days during the week. Bear will go to school Monday and Tuesday, and we hope to pull him out of school come Wednesday. We’ll be home that Friday.
By the time Bear will have that mental health break, he would’ve been in school for almost three months. I say it sounds good, doesn’t it?
How do you give your children mental health breaks?
