The misery of school summer holidays

I’m a single parent living in Scotland with my son. Here, the school summer holidays run from the end of June until mid-August, so we’re just over half-way through.

I couldn't organise any space for my son in summer clubs this year as there are not many places doing them, due to cuts in funding. The capacity is less because of the lack of necessary funding to hire more staff over the summer. Community clubs can be so helpful for families like mine, and it is a massive loss to not have them running over the long summer holiday.

We’ve been on the waiting list for different summer club projects, and daily I wait, and hope, that someone will call and say that there is space for my son…

If you have money then there are arts or sports clubs you can join. Prices range anywhere between £10 to £35 for each session. I don't have such money.

In Scotland, it rains a lot. So I have to look for more indoor activities to occupy my son. I took my son to a soft play – it cost £40 for 2 hours, which included food, but only for my child.

One of my friends has 2 children; she says it's easily £80 for her to take 2 kids out to an activity like soft play. It’s just not affordable.

Yet when the weather is hot, there are additional costs, too. We needed to buy a fan, which increases our electricity usage, and my son – like most children – wants more ice-creams, lollipops or cold drinks to cool down.

The school holidays should be a wonderful break, full of memory-making activities, fun, and getting some rest. But instead, it is a miserable time. It causes me additional stress, and my child misses out on social activities that he really needs.

I feel terrible when other kids tell my son what activities they’ve been doing, the holidays they will go on. It shatters my son’s confidence, and he told me he wishes he had a different mum, who can get things for him and take him places.

My son has additional needs and I am his carer. Because of this I am unable to do other work and we are living on the low pay of my carer’s allowance.

I do my best. But we live in an unequal society. How can children living in poverty ever thrive when they have such limited opportunities and experiences compared to their peers?

The school holidays add up to a huge amount of time each year. For families in poverty or on low incomes, it can be a time of great despair.