Remember when spring break meant something really wild & fun? You know, the sun-soaked, alcohol-infused, bikini-wearing festivals of debauchery? Me neither, unless it was watching MTV from my couch. Spring break with kids certainly can get wild.
Just in a different sort of way.
Regardless of how you used to “enjoy” your spring break, it’s fair to say that spring break with kids isn’t nearly as relaxing or easy as it used to be prior to becoming a parent.
For most schools, spring break falls at that awkward time of year when the weather’s still not decent enough to do anything fun, & the wallet’s still recovering from the holidays. Oh, sure, it seems like a welcome break from the weekly school routine grind, but the reality is: everyone’s home getting on each other’s nerves all.day.long.
The parents of Twitter feel your pain, & are here to share their own spring break woes!
- Remember the spring breaks of your youth? It’s almost like that with kids… but not really.
Girls with bed-head hair, one in the jeans she slept in, drinks spilled all over the couch:
Spring Break…with my 6 and 2 year olds.— Jennifer S. White (@yenniwhite) March 28, 2017
2. No, seriously. MTV made us think spring break was fun. MTV lied.
I remember watching MTV Spring Break as a kid and thinking nothing's more wild than that but now my kids are on spring break and I'm making my son a replacement sandwich for the one he dropped off the side of the deck that the dogs immediately ate so yeah I was wrong
— Valerie (@ValeeGrrl) April 23, 2018
3. The break seems to just pop up on the school calendar out of nowhere.
Oh, next week's spring break? As in, no school for the kids? All week? pic.twitter.com/WzZgd66csf
— Stephanie Ortiz (@Six_Pack_Mom) April 4, 2017
4. Sure, you try to prepare for your kids to be home all week…
First day of spring break. Cupboards stocked. Wifi signal strong. Mom hiding in bed. Let the Hunger Games begin.
— MamaFizzles (@MamaFizzles) April 3, 2017
5. And by “prepare”, we mean: SURVIVE. By any means necessary.
*At Costco*
Him: Wow, you’re buying a lot of wine. Are people coming over?
Me: Your kids are on Spring Break this week.
Him: You want some vodka, too?
— Sarcastic Mommy (@sarcasticmommy4) March 24, 2018
6. But the reality of the kids being off all week involves a lot more mess. And chaos.
Yesterday this room was so company clean, it needed a velvet rope. Now after 1 day of spring break, it looks like it was spun in a blender.
— Mary (@AnniemuMary) March 29, 2016
7. And breakage. Everything.Is.Broken.
They really should call it "Spring Break Everything in the House Because I'm Off School for a Week."
— Kate Hall (@KateWhineHall) March 21, 2016
8. How about the constant kid noise? So much noise, all day long.
"STOP MAKING SOUNDS!"
-Me, two hours into my kid's Spring Break— Mommy Cusses (@mommy_cusses) April 1, 2017
9. Of course they want to talk to you- about Minecraft, YouTube unboxings, Roblox, & LEGOS.
6yo is regaling me w stories of LEGO battles while my baby sucks on a tube of butt paste. Spring break just started & I already want to die.
— Dad and Buried (@DadandBuried) April 8, 2017
10. With everyone home, there’s no break. Ever.
8yo: Can I tell you a joke?
Me: I'm in the bathroom.
8yo: …
Me: Fine, go ahead.
8yo: What do you call a dizzy cat?
Me: What?
8yo: A Catalina!
So anyway, that's how the first day of spring break is going. Thanks for asking.
— Paige Kellerman (@PaigeKellerman) March 11, 2019
11. And that’s all on Day 1! By Day 2….
Spring Break Diary, Day #2:
It's raining and the kids are jumping rope in the house while I wait for the sweet, sweet release of death.
— Rodney Lacroix (@RodLacroix) April 25, 2017
12. By Day 3, you’re already over it. And so are the kids.
8’s Spring Break, Day 3
8: I’m bor-
Me: Nope.— The Alex Nevil (@TheAlexNevil) March 26, 2018
13. You try to find quiet moments to be alone to… decompress. Or sob. Whatever.
Spring Break: Day 3 pic.twitter.com/HV5Wv1sPwc
— MotherPlaylist (@MotherPlaylist) April 12, 2017
14. Some ambitious folks take their kids on a spring break trip, but they’ll learn. Oh, they’ll LEARN.
Let’s get married and have kids so instead of spring break in Cancún we can stop 4 hours into a road trip to clean puke out of the audio port on the iPad and hose off the car seat.
— Simon Holland (@simoncholland) March 30, 2018
15. But most of us like to set the spring break bar nice & low.
Spent 3 hours at IKEA yesterday so now my kids can't say we didn't go anywhere over spring break.
— The 21st Century SAHM (@21stcenturysahm) April 8, 2018
16. (Or lower.)
Spring break means gentle reminders to your children to get dressed until noon when you give up and let them wear pajamas all day. Again.
— Robert Knop (@FatherWithTwins) April 12, 2017
17. But at long last, the end of spring break is in sight- not without tripping at the finish line, of course…
Last day of spring break. 12 hours away from the finish line. The light at the end of…"mom, I have this packet of homework due tomorrow."
— Julie Burton (@ksujulie) March 21, 2016
18. Which is why we parents are usually pretty happy once it’s finally over!
Me when everyone goes back to school after Spring Break. pic.twitter.com/9Fqz57k8oj
— TheMotherOctopus (@MotherOctopusKJ) April 17, 2017
Hope you get a “break” while you’re kids are off on Spring Break, parents!