Surviving the Summer Holidays Through a Coaching Lens

By Julie Keyes

Every year, somewhere around the second week of the summer holidays, I have the same thought,

“Whose idea was eight weeks?”

As a parent of two children, I enter the summer with the very best of intentions. I imagine meaningful family time, spontaneous adventures, children happily rediscovering forgotten hobbies and long conversations over breakfast. The reality is usually a little different. One child is bored before I’ve finished my first coffee. The other is asking for a screen before we’ve even opened the curtains. I’m trying to balance work commitments, family time, the guilt that comes with both, and a growing sense that I should probably be creating magical childhood memories at every available opportunity.

If you’re a parent reading this, chances are you’ve experienced some version of the same thing.

“Summer isn’t simply a break from learning. For many children, it is a chance to recover from a year they haven’t yet had time to process.”

SUMMER IN THE UAE, A UNIQUE CONTEXT

Longer days, hotter weather and indoor time can test patience and routines.

Family travel, time with grandparents and cultural connections bring opportunities for growth.

Children may need time to process a year of change, uncertainty and information overload.

Connection, curiosity and conversation create the most meaningful memories.

This year, however, summer feels particularly significant.

For many families across the UAE, the academic year has been punctuated by uncertainty, disruption and periods of heightened anxiety. Children have experienced interruptions to routines, changing travel plans, global events discussed in homes and on social media, and, in some cases, concerns about family and friends living in regions affected by conflict. Even when we think children aren’t paying attention, they often absorb far more than we realise.

At the same time, schools have worked incredibly hard to maintain continuity and support learning. Children have navigated assessments, transitions and the everyday demands of school life while many parents have balanced increasingly busy professional and personal commitments. By the time the summer holidays arrive, many children aren’t simply ready for a break from school; they are ready for a chance to breathe.

As a coach, one of the most important lessons I have learnt is that the quality of our conversations shapes the quality of our relationships. Coaching isn’t about having clever answers or giving perfect advice. It is about creating space for reflection, understanding and growth through curiosity.

Summer Gives Parents Something That Can be Hard to Find During the School Year, Time

Time to move beyond the daily logistics of family life and reconnect with the people our children are becoming. Time to replace management with curiosity. Time to ask better questions.

SO AS WE HEAD INTO THE HOLIDAYS, HERE ARE FOUR COACHING QUESTIONS THAT MAY HELP SHAPE A MORE INTENTIONAL SUMMER.

1. What Does My Child Need to Recover From?

As adults, we often think about recovery in terms of physical rest. Coaching has taught me that recovery is also emotional. It is the process of making sense of experiences, rebuilding energy and creating space for confidence, curiosity and joy to return.

For some children, this summer may be about recovering from academic pressure. For others, it may be about recovering from social challenges, uncertainty, change or simply the pace of modern life.

The temptation, particularly amongst ambitious and high-achieving families, is to view summer as an opportunity to optimise. We fill calendars, book camps, organise tutoring and worry about whether our children are making the most of every available moment.

Of course, this doesn’t mean learning should stop. Many children thrive during the summer when they are exploring interests they don’t always have time for during the school year. A coding camp, swimming programme, drama workshop, sports academy or language course can be a source of genuine joy and growth.

The distinction is intention.

Are we choosing opportunities because they align with our child’s interests and strengths, or because we are worried they might fall behind?

One tends to create energy. The other often creates pressure.

2. What Helps my Child Come Alive?

Some of the most valuable conversations I have with parents begin when we stop focusing on achievement and start paying attention to energy.

Every child has moments when they seem completely absorbed in what they are doing. Time disappears. Their curiosity takes over. They ask questions, solve problems and lose themselves in the experience.

Those moments tell us something important.

Instead of asking, “How do I keep my child busy?” we might ask
What captures their attention when nobody is telling them what to do?
What do they naturally gravitate towards?
What do they talk about endlessly?
What gives them energy rather than drains it?

These questions don’t just help us plan a summer. They help us understand the young person in front of us.

And that understanding becomes increasingly important as children grow older.

3. Who is my Child Becoming?

There is another word that many parents find uncomfortable during the holidays, boredom.

Particularly in the UAE, where temperatures often mean children spend long periods indoors and where the lure of screens can feel almost impossible to compete with.

Yet boredom is often the birthplace of creativity.

Some of the most valuable skills children develop are not taught through structured programmes. They emerge when children have enough space to create, invent, imagine, negotiate, experiment and solve problems for themselves.

Not every moment needs to be filled. Not every hour needs to be productive.

In fact, one of the greatest gifts summer offers is something many of us struggle to create during term time, space.

Space for conversations. Space for family. Space for connection.

During the school year, family life can become highly transactional. We spend much of our time discussing homework, schedules, transport arrangements and extracurricular activities. Summer creates opportunities for different kinds of conversations, longer breakfasts, late-night chats, road trips, travel back to home countries and precious time with grandparents, cousins and extended family.

These are often the moments where children reveal the things that matter most to them.

Perhaps the greatest gift summer offers is the chance to stop managing our children long enough to get curious about them again.

“The question isn’t how do I keep my child busy. The question is, what helps my child come alive?”

Summer creates opportunities for different kinds of conversations

4. What Do I Need This Summer?

Every parenting conversation eventually arrives at screen time.

How much is too much?
Should I take it away?
How do I get them off it?

Yet underneath those questions is usually a deeper concern.

Parents aren’t simply worried about screens. They’re worried about connection.

Technology is not the enemy. For many young people it is where they socialise, create, learn and relax. The more useful question is often not, “How do I remove the screen?” but “What need is the screen meeting?”

When we understand the need, the conversation shifts from control to curiosity. And curiosity almost always leads to better conversations.

The same principle applies to us as parents. Children borrow our emotional state far more readily than they follow our instructions. If we are exhausted, overstretched and constantly trying to do more, they feel it. If we are present, regulated and able to enjoy small moments of connection, they feel that too.

So before you worry about your child’s summer, consider your own.

What helps you recharge?
What brings you joy?
What would make this summer feel restorative for you as well?

Summer doesn’t need to be perfect.

If your child reaches the end of August feeling rested, connected, loved and known, then you may have achieved something far more important than filling every hour wisely.

About the Author

Julie Keyes is an educational coach with over 20 years of experience supporting students and families across the UAE. If you want to contact Julie and her team, you can at ju***@*****************ch.co

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