Column: 3 months vacation? Summer stress!

'Three months vacation? My dear, how long!' Glistening eyes of the man who says it. Very understandable. As a Dutch child it would have seemed like paradise on earth to me: around the 10th of June you throw your school bag in the corner of your room and only fish it out again in mid-September. Delicious! Enjoying seas of free time, nice weather and doing nothing at all. What kid wouldn't sign up for that?  

a different perspective

His parents' reaction is at odds with his. '3 months vacation? My dear, how long!' They look at me somewhat surprised and at the same time pitying. Surprised because the holiday is more than twice as long as in the Netherlands. But the average Italian summer is just too hot to go to school and learn something too. You notice that when the temperatures end May are starting to rise: in those last weeks of school, school-aged youth are even less energetic than usual.

And that pitying look comes from people who know what school holidays mean logistically. For many Italian parents, the summer vacation equals anything but a quiet period. Of course you no longer have to run and trot to school, sports and other activities. But your own vacation days are not nearly enough to bridge those 3 months. And who will take care of the brood?

Summer stress in Italy

So it's not surprising that from half AprilWhen summer approaches, a lot of people are stressed here. When will we all go on holiday? When can your parents babysit? Oh dear, that overlaps the period in which mine could too. That sucks, now we have to find a solution for the other weeks.

Which summer camps are actually organized in the area? When and – definitely not unimportant – what does it cost to let the children both go there for a week or so? And did you ask for the phone number of that one girl who also wants to babysit? Has she already made arrangements with someone else? Oh okay. Help! Who can we call then?

Plan and hope for a good ending

The month of May is therefore, in addition to all the hustle and bustle that comes with the end of the school year, for many parents also dominated by that energy-consuming summer holiday planning. Plans are made with benevolent grandfathers and grandmothers. Babysitters who do have time to keep an eye on the brood for a while. With the occasional variation with some summer camp, to exercise during the day, learn to speak English or just play games on the beach and fall asleep at night while eating.

So that everything is in place before June 10th. And the summer vacation is planned from the first to the last day. Hoping there won't be any unexpected kinks like fully booked summer camps. Babysitters with sprained ankles after tripping over Lego bricks. Or grandfathers and grandmothers who, after 3 weeks in the company of exuberant holidaymakers, raise the white flag and are themselves ready for 3 months of vacation.

Three months vacation? My, how long!

That long summer holiday and all the additional logistical stress I saw around me was the reason for me not to work here in the first few years. And later work from home. Although the argument '3 months of summer vacation' is not nearly as compelling now as it was then.

It is getting easier to leave them alone longer. Or let them go out alone for days at the beach with friends. Or do something fun together and relax after a year of hard work with relatively little free time in between. So that my eyes now start to sparkle more when I think about it. 3 month summer vacation. My dear, how long!'