School holidays challenging for families

Australia Broadcast Center

12-07-2025

Samantha Donovan: School holidays can be a chance for parents, kids and teachers to enjoy a break from the daily term time routine. But financial pressures often mean parents need to work through the holidays and their children simply move into a different kind of care. As our business correspondent David Taylor has found that's creating a lot of stressed out mums and dads and exhausted kids.
David Taylor: Psychologist and mum Jane Kohloff is juggling work with entertaining her kids these school holidays.
Jane Kohlhoff: I think it can be really hard on the little ones. Why? For the reasons that you've talked about I think they get exhausted after a full term of school and all the activities that go along with, you know, after school activities and all of that. And so they're really tired and they think they do need a break.
David Taylor: But pre-teen kids often don't get a break from formal care during school holidays. With both parents working to make ends meet, children are often ushered into some kind of care during work hours. Jane Kohloff has three kids, five, nine and eleven years old.
Jane Kohlhoff: And I myself try to mix it up and I have got one at home with me here, I've got a couple of others with grandparents and they've had a mix of holiday programs. But the reality is they can't stay home for two, four weeks because I've got to keep working and my husband's got to keep working and yeah we do have to sort of find activities for them.
David Taylor: It turns out school holidays have turned into a bit of a slog for many Australians. At home, for example, Professor Jane Kohloff says parents and other guardians are working hard to entertain the kids when in the past they were largely left to entertain themselves.
Jane Kohlhoff: There's elements of what you said earlier about kids used to have a bit more free reign to roam the neighbourhood and play with kids in the street and it felt more safe. So parents feel nervous about that. I think it's also a change in society that parents are wanting to be more involved with their kids and they know that that's really important and they want what's best but maybe at the expense of giving kids freedom and helping kids learn to be able to, you know, feel bored sometimes, find their own fun, be creative, entertain themselves.
David Taylor: And this isn't a minor problem. In a 2023 study, researchers from the University of South Australia found that when primary school children are on holidays and not in formal care, they're less active, more likely to be on screens and tend to have a worse diet than during the school term. And for those kids in formal care during the holidays, there's no break from the daily routine.
Jane Kohlhoff: I think it would be fantastic if kids got two full weeks off every 10 weeks. They got to relax, rejuvenate, spend time with their parents and with other friends. But the reality is that times have changed from when we were young and parents have got to keep working because of the economy, you know, economic pressures and the pace of society.
David Taylor: ANU demographer Liz Allen knows the challenges of school holidays all too well.
Liz Allen: The juggle of work, caring for kids and general self-care is overwhelming and hits like a brick wall.
David Taylor: Dr Allen says the challenge for families is magnified by big businesses that know that there's money to be made on kids.
Liz Allen: So more and more families are relying on more formalised out of school holiday programs. This industry is a booming business. And sadly, there tends to be very few places, particularly beyond the city limits, for kids in subsidised arrangements.
Samantha Donovan: ANU demographer Dr Liz Allen. That report from David Taylor.