How to Survive Three Weeks at Home with Kids: A Simple Summer Holiday Routine
Three weeks at home with children sounds lovely in theory.
No school runs. No packed lunches. No rushing around in the morning. No homework.
But after a few days, the reality can become slightly different: “Can I have my iPad?”, “What are we doing today?”, “I’m bored.” — followed by two children disappearing into separate screens for six hours.
I’m spending three weeks at home with my two sons, aged 13 and 8, and I’ve decided that the answer isn’t to create a military-style holiday camp. They need downtime, I need to get some work done, and everyone deserves a bit of time to do absolutely nothing.
What I do think helps, though, is having a loose daily rhythm.
The idea is to balance screen time with reading, exercise, creative activities, chores, independent play and family time — while building in some proper quiet time for adults to get work done.
Here’s the routine I’m trying.
The basic rule: don’t schedule every minute
The timetable isn’t supposed to mean that every day has to run perfectly.
Some days we’ll go swimming. Some days we’ll explore different areas of London. Some days we’ll meet friends. Some days we’ll probably stay in pyjamas until lunchtime.
Instead, there are a few things that happen at roughly the same time every day.
The children know what is expected, I know when I can work, and nobody has to constantly ask what they’re supposed to be doing.
Our Three-Week Summer Holiday Timetable
8:00–9:00 — Wake up, breakfast and get dressed
No screens first thing.
The morning starts with breakfast, getting dressed and making their beds.
They don’t have to be immaculate — the aim is simply to get everyone up and moving rather than spending the first hour lying in bed watching YouTube.
8-year-old: Make bed, get dressed, put pyjamas away.
13-year-old: Make bed, get dressed and help with breakfast or unloading the dishwasher.
9:00–9:30 — Morning jobs
This is the chore slot.
Rather than giving the children a huge list of jobs, I think it’s easier to give each child a few regular responsibilities.
Jobs for an 8-year-old
- Make their bed
- Put dirty clothes in the laundry
- Clear their breakfast things
- Feed a pet, if applicable
- Tidy their bedroom
- Help put away shopping or groceries
Jobs for a 13-year-old
- Load/unload dishwasher
- Take rubbish out
- Help with laundry
- Keep their room reasonably tidy
- Help prepare lunch
- Vacuum or sweep occasionally
The important thing is that chores aren’t presented as a punishment.
They’re simply part of living in a house.
9:30–11:00 — Independent time
This is one of the most important parts of the timetable.
This is also MY work time.
The children can choose what they want to do, but screens aren’t automatically the default.
They could:
- Read
- Draw
- Build Lego
- Do crafts
- Play with toys
- Listen to music
- Write
- Do a puzzle
- Play a board game
- Make something
- Go into the garden
- Work on a personal project
The 13-year-old is old enough to have quite a lot of independence here, while the 8-year-old might need a few ideas left out for them.
The important rule is:
Mum is working. Unless something is genuinely urgent, don’t interrupt.
This is also a good opportunity to teach children that being bored isn’t necessarily a problem that needs to be solved by a screen.
11:00–12:00 — Activity time
This is the part of the day that changes.
Some days it might be:
🚲 A bike ride
🏊 Swimming
⚽ Football in the park
🎨 Art or craft
🌳 A walk
📚 Library trip
🏸 Badminton
🧁 Baking
🧩 A board game
🏙️ Exploring somewhere in London
🌱 Gardening
🎮 A multiplayer game together
The aim is simply to do something rather than consume something.
It doesn’t have to be educational.
Running around in the park absolutely counts
12:00–1:00 — Lunch and free time
Lunch doesn’t need to become another organised activity.
They can help make it, eat it and then have some free time.
I quite like the idea of making lunch another opportunity for the children to become slightly more independent.
The 13-year-old can make something simple themselves, while the 8-year-old can help prepare food.
1:00–2:00 — Screen time
Yes, screens are allowed.
In fact, I think deliberately allowing screen time works better than trying to ban it completely.
The difference is that it’s a defined part of the day rather than something that gradually expands to fill the entire day.
This could include:
- Gaming
- YouTube
- TV
- iPad
- Watching a film
- Messaging friends
Once the hour is up, screens go away again.
Obviously, there will be days when this doesn’t happen — and that’s fine.
2:00–3:00 — Quiet hour
This is another protected parent work slot.
The children don’t necessarily have to sleep or even be particularly quiet.
They just need to be doing something independently.
For example:
8-year-old
Reading, Lego, drawing, puzzles, crafts or audiobooks.
13-year-old
Reading, gaming offline, music, drawing, a personal project, writing, coding or simply hanging out in their room.
This is a particularly useful time for emails, writing, admin or anything else that requires concentration.
And there’s an important rule:
You don’t have to entertain your children every hour of the day.
Learning to occupy themselves is an important skill too.
3:00–4:30 — Out of the house / active time
This is when I’d try to get everyone moving.
It could be something as simple as:
- Going to the park
- Riding bikes
- Walking to get an ice cream
- Going to the swimming pool
- Playing football
- Going to the library
- Visiting a museum
- Going shopping
- Meeting friends
Or it could simply be:
Go outside and figure something out.
If the weather is awful, this can become an indoor activity instead.
4:30–5:30 — Free time
Back home, everyone gets some downtime.
This is deliberately unstructured.
The children can play, chat, draw, read, build things or just lie around.
They don’t need an activity organised for them every time they say they’re bored.
5:30–6:30 — Dinner and household jobs
Dinner is another chance to get the children involved.
One child can help prepare food while the other sets the table.
After dinner:
Everyone helps clear up.
The 13-year-old can take on slightly more responsibility, while the 8-year-old can clear plates and help tidy the table.
It takes longer than doing it yourself.
But that’s rather the point.
6:30–7:30 — Family time
This is the screen-free part of the evening.
Ideas include:
- Board games
- Card games
- A walk
- Playing football
- Baking
- Drawing
- Lego challenge
- Family quiz
- Watching something together
- Reading
- Going out for an evening treat
It doesn’t have to be wholesome family perfection.
Sometimes we’ll probably just end up arguing over Monopoly.
That’s family life.
7:30–8:30 — Reading, winding down then bedtime
I’d like reading to become one of the things that happens every single day, even during the holidays.
The 8-year-old could read with an adult for part of this time, while the 13-year-old reads independently.
It doesn’t have to be a worthy classic.
Comics, graphic novels, magazines, fiction, non-fiction and books about things they’re obsessed with all count.
The goal is to make reading part of the holiday rather than another piece of homework.
8:30 onwards — Bedtime / teenage freedom
The 8-year-old heads towards bedtime.
The 13-year-old gets a later evening and a little more independence.
This is where having different ages really matters.
A 13-year-old doesn’t need exactly the same routine as an 8-year-old.
The older child can have more freedom, but also more responsibility.
The Simple Version
For days when we don’t want to think about the timetable, these are the basic rules:
Time |
Activity |
|
8:00 |
Wake up & breakfast |
|
9:00 |
Chores |
|
9:30 |
Independent play / Mum works |
|
11:00 |
Activity / outside |
|
12:00 |
Lunch |
|
1:00 |
Screen time |
|
2:00 |
Quiet independent time / Mum works |
|
3:00 |
Outside / activity |
|
4:30 |
Free time |
|
5:30 |
Dinner & chores |
|
6:30 |
Family time |
|
7:30 |
Reading & wind-down |
|
8:30+ |
Bedtime / teenage time |
The beauty of this is that the activities can change without changing the structure.
A Three-Week Challenge
To stop the three weeks becoming one long blur, I’d also give each week a slightly different theme.
Week One: Get Into the Routine
The first week is about establishing the rhythm.
Don’t worry about doing amazing activities every day.
Focus on:
- Getting up at roughly the same time
- Doing chores
- Reading every day
- Limiting screens
- Getting outside
- Learning to play independently
- Giving Mum some uninterrupted work time
Week Two: Try Something New
The second week could be about doing things you don’t normally do.
Each child chooses something.
Maybe:
- A new sport
- A new recipe
- A craft
- A museum
- A new park
- A bike route
- A book
- A board game
- Learning something from YouTube rather than simply watching YouTube
The idea is to turn some of that screen curiosity into actual learning.
Week Three: The Kids Take Over
For the final week, let the children have more responsibility.
They could each choose:
One meal to cook
One family activity
One place to visit
One thing to teach everyone else
The 13-year-old could help the 8-year-old with something, and the 8-year-old gets to teach everyone something they know.
It gives them a little ownership over the holiday rather than making Mum the permanent holiday entertainment director.
The Screen-Time Rule I’d Actually Use
I don’t think screens have to be the enemy.
The problem is when they become the default activity for every spare moment.
So rather than saying:
“You can only have one hour of screen time.”
Having a general rule like screens come after you’ve done your morning jobs and something non-screen-based.
There can still be exceptions.
Rainy afternoon ? Fine.
Long journey? Fine.
Everyone exhausted after a day out? Fine.
Holiday routines should make family life easier, not harder.
The Most Important Part: The parent gets a Holiday Too
I think this is the bit that often gets forgotten.
When children are on holiday, parents aren’t necessarily on holiday.
There may still be work to do, emails to answer, laundry to wash, shopping to organise and approximately 47 cups of water to locate.
So having two predictable periods when the children know that im working makes a huge difference.
The children don’t need constant supervision or entertainment.
And you don’t need to feel guilty about taking an hour to yourself.
In fact, one of the most useful things children can learn during a long school holiday is that other people have needs and responsibilities too.
Sometimes parents are available and Sometimes they are busy. Sometimes we do something together. Sometimes everyone does their own thing.
That’s probably a much more useful lesson than squeezing 27 organised activities into three weeks.
A Holiday Doesn’t Have to Be Completely Unstructured
There’s a tendency to think that because children are on holiday, every day should be completely spontaneous.
But children often actually thrive on knowing roughly what comes next.
A simple rhythm gives them freedom within boundaries.
They know when they can play games.
They know when they need to do their chores.
They know that reading happens every day.
They know there will be time outside.
And, crucially, they know when the parent/caree is working and shouldn’t be interrupted.
It also means that three weeks at home doesn’t have to feel like three weeks of trying to keep everyone entertained.
Instead, it can become a mixture of independence, family time, fresh air, books, screens, chores, creativity and doing absolutely nothing.
Which, when you think about it, is probably what a good school holiday should look like anyway.
Jacqui
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