Kids Are Back In School. How Did Amarillo Parents Survive The Break?

Being a parent is tough. It's no secret to anyone living the life of one. Especially when it comes to figuring out what to do when it comes to long holiday breaks.

How is a parent in Amarillo supposed to survive?

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Should Holiday Breaks Be So Long? Answer Our Poll.

Should kids be out for three weeks straight in the middle of the school year? It's tough to manage if both parents work full time jobs, and you don't want to pay drop-in fees at a daycare for several children.

Here's how my family survived holiday break.

Someone Has To Sacrifice The Paid Time Off

Four kids under the age of 10. That's what I found myself handling on my own over the holiday break. My wife also works, but she didn't have PTO saved up yet from her new job.

I save my PTO for emergencies. Our youngest son went to the hospital last year. We had to quarantine. Kids get sick. Somehow, I was able to save up the PTO I would need for Christmas and New Year.

We didn't take any "real vacations" last year. We just dealt with sickness, hospital visits, and quarantines.

The Bathroom Becomes Your Favorite Safe Space

If you do it right, you can usually get a few minutes alone in the bathroom. This is what I found through trial and error.

The toddler may try to break in, but if you've made sure to shut the door tight you should be good. They'll just try and peek under the door.

Got to find a way to break him of that.

Playing Video Games With Your Kids Is Great

Eventually, around halfway through week two, I decided that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. The kids convinced me to spend an entire day going through all 1,000 rooms of Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion.

It's a "jumpscare" game, and all of the kids loved hearing me scream for hours on end as cute little cutouts of toast jumped out and scared me to death.

Trust me, it's scarier than it sounds.