Help! It’s February half term!

What is your family hungry for this half-term? I’ve put together a menu for you to peruse. It’s not a to-do list; there’s no pressure to tick things off, you don’t have to cram in as many things as possible to make half term a great time for your family (or at least bearable!). 

Part of planning is about listening to what God might be saying to you right now. Does your family need rest or fun? Spiritual nourishment or emotional connectedness?  Once you’ve identified your family’s biggest need this half term you can choose what fits from this list or use it as a starting point to make up your own ideas.  

Practical (Appetisers) 

Is there something new, like a new skill, routine or habit, that you’ve been meaning to start or restart and during half term you will have the space to do it? I have learned to appreciate the value of routines because in seasons of chaos, stress or overwhelm, routines can become lifelines.  

Ideas:

• Eating meals at the table together more often.
• Develop a pocket-money system (we do 10% give, 20% save, 70% spend).
• Regular movie nights, games night or screens-off curfews.
• Teach your kids a life skill like peeling spuds, frying an egg, pulling weeds, defragmenting a computer or putting together flat-pack furniture.
• A games tournament to sort out the ‘keep’ games from the ‘charity shop’ items (include snacks and prizes!).
• Try a new skill. Dance, fitness, sport or craft: is there a club or class nearby? I once told my kids if they were going to watch YouTube during the school holidays, they had to learn a skill. One of them chose crochet and watched several ‘How To’ videos, before then joining the crochet club at school. The other one chose archery! 

Spiritual (Mains) 

Sometimes we view spiritual things as a side-dish, an add-on to our main family life, how about making them the main meal that other things make way for? 

My kids are 7, 14 and 16 and it’s always been important to me to have regular ‘family devo times’ to read the Bible and pray together. We’ve tried and failed many times but eventually, we created habits that I feel keep our family’s spiritual life healthy. It usually revolves around either breakfast, bedtime or dinner and almost always involves some kind of resource: there are so many Christian storybooks, Bibles, devotionals, conversation starters and apps out there. 

Ideas:

• Take a drive to your nearest Christian bookshop. There aren’t many left so you may have a way to drive. Give each kid a spending limit. Use the time in the car to discuss their choices or read aloud to each other. Talking in the car can sometimes be easier than other, more pressured places.
• Books: this is my niche so obviously, any book written by me is a great choice! If I have to pick one, Next Steps to Following Jesus is a great place to start for families with 6-12 year olds. It’s spiritually insightful with fun, thoughtful, practical and heart-felt ways to start a family devo routine. If there’s no bookshop nearby then try an online bookstore like 10ofThose.
• Our kids love dinner-time conversation cards like the Table Talk from The Ugly Duckling Charity.
• Apps like God for Kids (for 4-8s), SunScool (6-14s), UCB Spark (9+ years) or any of the 30 other Christian apps I’ve reviewed here, can help kids overcome the ‘feels like homework’ barrier to family devo time.  

Playful (Desserts) 

I once listened to a message by Charlotte Scanlon-Gambill titled ‘Punctuation’; she emphasised the need for us to take short regular rests (commas), sometimes stop things completely (full stops) and don’t forget to insert an exclamation mark! So, I decided to jump out of a plane at 15,000 feet! Sometimes we need to deliberately and purposefully insert a radical bit of fun into family life. 

Ideas:

• I love a castle or a museum (Eureka! anyone?) and there’s a museum for every kind of interest: trains, tanks, post boxes, craft, art, animals, plants - even video games! (Yes, friends, a museum of video games. Feeling old?) Many of these places run half term events for kids - even your local Ikea, which is great if you’re on a budget. You can discover new places on Hoop, or ask your regular parent WhatsApp group for recommendations.  
• Zoos are great in the colder months, like Feb half term. The animals are more active and it’s less busy. There’s usually a decent playground and coffee shop on site too!  
• Give the kids £5 each to spend at the supermarket on food items they have never tried. Go home and serve it all up, buffet style for tea. Hubby and I once did this for date night and it was a lot of fun - insightful, actually. It’s amazing how many foods are overlooked when you only buy your regulars. 
• A pre-lent, practice-run Easter egg hunt (because why not?!?) 

Meaningful (Specials) 

Do you need some quality time together to reconnect? The older our children become, the more effort this takes; but good news - the rewards last a lifetime. 

I recently returned from a ‘Mum’s and Daughters’ Oakes camp with my eldest. It was an emotional rollercoaster for both of us but included some unforgettable moments. She learned as much about me as I did about her, and we became a lot closer. 

Ideas:

• Plan an act of kindness together like visiting a distant family member or baking for a lonely neighbour.
• Arrange a playdate with that friend you’ve been meaning to catch up with for ages. Post-pandemic, hospitality seems to have become harder and even our kids find it harder to actually leave the house and to connect face-to-face, so set the example. Sometimes you have to ask more than once and not take it personally if it falls through but try again. Meet on neutral ground at a soft play, park or place of interest (see above) if you find that more comfortable than inviting someone into your home.
• Things like pottery painting, finding a new cafe or charity shop shopping leave lots of time for meaningful conversation.

Restful (Beverages) 

What things genuinely replenish you and your children? Not just ‘press-pause on the stress’ but actually refresh you? Screen time is a classic ‘press-pause’ kind of rest. Instead of feeling better at the end, we feel exactly the same as before we started. So what else can we do? 

Ideas:

• Forest/beach/countryside walk, hill climb or any part of nature you know and love best. It may not be restful for you to find a ‘new and exciting adventure’ so instead, return to your favourite places where you feel like you belong.
• A tech-free challenge- from 2 hours to a whole day. Give the gift of becoming a little bit bored. It’s tough at first so you have to persevere through the boredom long enough for their dormant imaginations to whir into action. In our family, this once led to a ‘Cover is not the book’ challenge: our kids chose to read a selection of books with boring covers for a prize. Surprise, surprise, my eldest daughter discovered her new favourite book which is still, 5 years later, her favourite book of all time!
• Create a ‘family playlist’ on Spotify full of songs you ALL enjoy (to some extent!). This can be insightful and useful for long drives - or short drives, depending on how many songs you agree.