There is a particular kind of pressure that arrives just before the school holidays. Somewhere between the last school newsletter and the first photograph of somebody else’s seasonal family outing, a week without school starts to look like an event you should have spent several months preparing for. There should be activities, apparently. There should be fresh air, craft materials and memories being made. In October, there may also be an expectation that you will pay to stand in a muddy field choosing a pumpkin, despite the perfectly serviceable pumpkins available in the supermarket. If you are a single parent trying to fit work, childcare and the usual household jobs around all this, it can feel as though you have been given another job without anyone asking whether you have time to do it.

The pressure is more than a social media invention. In its 2026 Big Summer Survey of 2,000 parents, Save the Children found that 88% felt the summer holidays put financial and emotional pressure on families. Although that research concerned the longer summer break, the combination of additional costs, disrupted routines and childcare arrangements will be familiar to plenty of parents approaching half-term too. A shorter holiday does not necessarily mean a simpler one, especially when your working week carries on as usual. Loving your children and wondering how you are going to manage a week without school can comfortably exist in the same person.

It can help to decide what is actually possible before looking at what everybody else is doing. Perhaps you have one day off, a small amount of spending money and a child who would happily spend most of Tuesday in their pyjamas. That is useful information to build a week around. You might choose one outing you are both looking forward to and leave the rest fairly ordinary, rather than committing to a succession of things that require packed lunches, advance tickets and you being cheerful in a car park at nine in the morning. You can also repeat something that already works. The same playground, the same film or another visit to a favourite person can still be enjoyable, even if it would make a rather repetitive holiday highlights reel.

There is value in leaving children some room to decide what to do, too. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ guidance on play highlights the importance of unstructured play alongside opportunities to play with parents and other children. That does not mean every unplanned afternoon will turn into an inspiring display of independent creativity. There may be complaints. You may need to help somebody get started, find the missing sellotape or explain why the dog cannot be part of the obstacle course. But an afternoon at home with familiar toys, some space to play and an adult nearby is a perfectly reasonable part of a school holiday. It does not need an educational theme or a finished product to photograph.

Of course, telling a working parent to embrace a slower week is not much use if they are trying to answer emails while two children argue beside them. Some families need more structure, and some children find a change to their usual routine particularly difficult. A simple explanation of what will happen each day may be more useful than keeping everything open: who is looking after them, when you will be working, when you will have time together. Where it is possible, a modest plan with another parent can give the day some shape without turning into a major undertaking. “We’re going to the park after lunch if you fancy joining us” is enough. You do not have to organise an official group activity, host everybody for dinner or clean your entire house first.

It is also all right if parts of the week feel disappointing. You might wish you could afford a trip away, or feel sad that there is nobody to share the planning and packing with. Giving yourself permission to keep things simple does not require you to pretend you would never like anything more. It just means making a fair assessment of what you can offer this week, with the money, time and energy you have. There can still be a good conversation over lunch, a ridiculous game or a walk that turns out better than expected. And there can be an afternoon when everybody gets on each other’s nerves and you are pleased when it is bedtime.

If you would like some company, half-term can be a good reason to suggest a small meetup with another single parent through Frolo. Keep the invitation manageable and choose something you would be happy doing anyway. Your family does not need a packed itinerary to deserve a break from the school routine, and you do not need to produce a magical week to have done a good job. By the time school starts again, having kept everybody fed, cared for and reasonably occupied is quite enough to have been getting on with.

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