She feels sad, scared and alone

She's spent recent weeks listening to the other parents say things like:

"Oh, I can't wait for the holidays"

"It's going to be so great having the kids home with me"

"I can't wait for the holidays, we have so much planned"

"We are going away to ... for the entire time - I am so looking forward to it"

"The children are going to stay with their grandparents ... we are going to have some time alone"

She has a strange sense that she is supposed to feel some of these things the other parents report being so ecstatic about ... but she doesn't.

Instead she feels fearful and anxious and ashamed.  She is not looking forward to spending all that time with her children; her parents don't appear to care enough to want to either take the children for a while or spend a single minute longer with the children than they think they should; she doesn't have the money to go on holiday or even book them into camps or a fun vacation-care event.  She is so tired and fearful that she doesn't have the energy for, and is overwhelmed by, the task of thinking of exciting, interesting and fun things for her children to do at home. 

She feels sad that her relationship with her parents isn't better and she is sure it's somehow her fault.

She feels sad for her children that she is not a "better" mother.

She feels uncomfortable around the other parents who appear to have it all together for their kids.

She wonders why she wishes school break wasn't so long, why she is different from those parents who want to spend all that time with their kids. 

She feels overwhelmed. She wants to eat or shop or watch TV for hours or keep busy or clean constantly ... anything to avoid feeling these feelings.

Anything to avoid the anxiety that arrives in the seemingly endless weeks that lead up to the school break. 

She thinks she is, but she's not alone...

... and neither are you. 

Sarah xx