I love going on holidays with my kids. Yes it’s a change from home and more shared responsibility with my husband, but it’s also the opportunity to spend more time with my kids and family in a relaxed setting as my mind isn’t thinking about a million things, like what to pack in the lunch boxes what time we need to be out of the house the next day.
But more than that I love to see how much my children grow, mature and learn on holidays. For us it’s an opportunity for them to order their own meal, ask for an ice cream or wander from our accommodation to the playground and back. Last year my 5 year old loved being responsible for going back to our “house” to grab the water bottles and bring them back to the playground- which was about a 50 metre round trip inside the confines of our holiday park.
After 7 days of less screen time, play, outdoor time and developing confidence trying new things like climbing or snorkeling the growth in their confidence is huge. And the slowed pace does wonders for everyone.
On our most recent holiday we visited and old goal. It was a great opportunity to see what an old goal might look like, as well as the opportunity to move about the grounds and explore. The whole ruins were very low key and the environment allowed for our boys to explore and run around a little without disrupting other visitors. There’s nothing like a nice low key excursion for parents either because it’s never fun chasing after kids or trying to keep them from being in the way of other paying visitors.
One thing struck me though, you see our eldest started school this year, so at the time i was having lots of moments thinking about how much he had grown and changed over the past five years, how much i had changed, and how much our family had grown in five years.
This goal was a little different to others of the same era. The number of deaths due to disease outbreaks was very small and overall the number of deaths at the gaol during the time it was opened was considered small. Why? Three simple things:
- Fresh food – The rations were also minimal but supplemented by the onsite prison run vegetable garden.
- Community – there were a number of different organised groups within the goal- the orchestra, a theatre group ect.
- Time outdoors in nature- Prisoners also go outside every single day. And due to the remote location of this goal prisoners were also allowed to leave the goal and go for a swim in the ocean most days.
And it got me thinking…about holidays, our selves, our kids and all the illness and sickness we experience. Sometimes i think we need to remember the basics: fresh air, playing outdoors (with or with out the ocean swims) and fresh produce. It sounds too simple, and yet this was the perfect example. Something to think about perhaps when we feel like everything is too much…take it back to the basics.