Schools Out Friday And Then Waht To Do!

[piebaps]

What's your suggestion then MDO? G4 has given a number of practical and mostly free ideas for summer activities but all you've done is try and pour scorn on them.

 

The stuff G4 mentions is largely what I did myself and I see no problems. Both my parents were working as soon as I was old enough to be left alone and the likes of White City/Aquadrome etc were all ruled out on cost grounds. I certainly didn't expect to be drip fed entertainment during the holidays.

 

Hang on, what about

 

http://www.gov.im/lib/news/education/fridayfunasyouth.xml

 

http://www.gov.im/lib/news/education/schoolsoutbutgro1.xml

 

http://www.visitisleofman.com/Activities/Seasport/Diving/ViewNews.gov?page=lib/news/education/applynowforaplac.xml&menuid=11570

 

Looks like someone has been giving it some thought after all.

 

Come on then MDO, what's your idea?

[Slim]

Good free (ish) days for kids:

 

Bike Ride to peel on railway lines, butties in a backpack

 

Buggering about on the beach, bring spades, ball, and money for ice cream, swim in the sea, if its hot a cossie, if it's cold ish, a wetsuit.

 

Dicking about in a glen, even better if it has a river. Try to build a dam, climb a tree, bring jam jars and catch bugs

 

Go camping down the claddaghs. Bring beans.

 

Cooking/baking is good for rainy days

 

Teach em a skill, I got one of mine going on programming last summer, kept her going for days, but it could be anything, craft, an instrument etc.

 

Often its good to not provide them with anything, and see what they come up with.

[GD4ELI]

Two words: Ramsey Tip

 

Sadly long gone, there was an excellent tip in Ramsey when I was young. Made a bike out of old bits, fell in the swamp / pond a few times. Made a working radio out of parts salvaged from old TV's. Blew myself up a few times as well

[MilitantDogOwner]

Maybe you challengin the wrong person, as to the options for entertaining children during the holidays.

 

Maybe if there was some sort of entertainment park/facility on the Island, something Tower Park in Dorset.

 

You know the deal, bowling alleys, cinema, arcades, water parks, wet/dry ski slopes, indoor climbing walls, laser quest etc.

 

Something that can be used all year round and by all ages.

 

or maybe an outdoor adventure site. Archery, high ropes, assualt courses, riding etc.

 

Something a bit more intersting than plonking the kids on a beach and tell the to sort them selves out, or the tedium of walking over the same hills again and again.

[GD4ELI]

Maybe if there was some sort of entertainment park/facility on the Island, something Tower Park in Dorset.

 

You know the deal, bowling alleys, cinema, arcades, water parks, wet/dry ski slopes, indoor climbing walls, laser quest etc.

 

Boat in the morning (you may have to help with the rowing though)

[MilitantDogOwner]

Maybe if there was some sort of entertainment park/facility on the Island, something Tower Park in Dorset.

 

You know the deal, bowling alleys, cinema, arcades, water parks, wet/dry ski slopes, indoor climbing walls, laser quest etc.

 

Boat in the morning (you may have to help with the rowing though)

 

What an imaginative response. /sarcasm. You have proven my point admirably.

[Tempus Fugit]

Are there any junior sailing courses going ?, maybe PsM yacht club ?

I spent many summers on the boating lake at Silverdale and helping an old chap out in his sailboat in the bay (no engine but a good pair of oars if the wind dropped), learned a lot about sails, tides, the wind and weather (and self preservation), fishing, and lots of time spent in the winter repainting it in his boathouse, scraping and varnishing the mast, sewing new sails and splicing ropes. Brother was always out fishing somewhere.

 

You could get them to redecorate their bedrooms, sort out all the old toys and games which they never use any more and maybe have a garage sale.

 

Get them a good pair of walking boots, map, gps, waterproofs and survival rations in a rucksack and see where they get to, they can ring you to collect them when they are worn out (or a rover bus ticket).

 

if they are near a golf course they could earn a bit of cash as a caddy.

 

wet days, learn how to cook

 

(all depending on age of course)

[GD4ELI]

Maybe if there was some sort of entertainment park/facility on the Island, something Tower Park in Dorset.

 

You know the deal, bowling alleys, cinema, arcades, water parks, wet/dry ski slopes, indoor climbing walls, laser quest etc.

 

Boat in the morning (you may have to help with the rowing though)

 

What an imaginative response. /sarcasm. You have proven my point admirably.

 

Not really - you want what the Island doesn't have - so bugger head off to England for a week? Kids do not need 6 or 8 weeks of adrenelin-fueled excitement, enjoy what the Island has to offer, don't spend your time moaning about what it doesn't.

[manxman8180]

or maybe an outdoor adventure site. Archery, high ropes, assualt courses, riding etc.

Like the Venture Centre maybe?

 

Personally, I'm making a great deal of use out of the sports programme being run by MSR for mine. Loads of options to choose from and we've got a couple of options each week.

 

Then there is swimmming, camping / picnicing, spending as long as possible out in the garden amusing ourselves. I wish I was off for the full 6 weeks with them. I'll even get him with a paintbrush helping me finsih the outside of the house!

 

Kids are a blessing, not a chore.

[MilitantDogOwner]

Maybe if there was some sort of entertainment park/facility on the Island, something Tower Park in Dorset.

 

You know the deal, bowling alleys, cinema, arcades, water parks, wet/dry ski slopes, indoor climbing walls, laser quest etc.

 

Boat in the morning (you may have to help with the rowing though)

 

What an imaginative response. /sarcasm. You have proven my point admirably.

 

Not really - you want what the Island doesn't have - so bugger head off to England for a week? Kids do not need 6 or 8 weeks of adrenelin-fueled excitement, enjoy what the Island has to offer, don't spend your time moaning about what it doesn't.

 

I know change is scary and almost forbidden here. Its okay. Change doesnt hurt that much.

[lexy]

I love these "there’s a boat in the morning" responses lets get a few things straight:

 

1. There is rarely a boat in the morning and if there is its usually going at half speed or the front is dropping off or its crashing in Liverpool harbour or something.

 

2. You’re a great example of the Manx educational system with the best response you can muster to a thread like this is "there’s a boat in the morning"

 

3. If every non Manx person left on this island got "the boat in the morning" This island would be left in the state it was before us "foreigners" got here, no infrastructure, populated by farmers and corrupt politicians and living of hand outs from England.

 

I suggest you pray that this island never gets to the day that all the non Manx get "the boat in the morning"

[VinnieK]

I know change is scary and almost forbidden here.

 

Change in general, or change for the sake of appeasing a handful of grumpy and unimaginative parents who, if granted 99% of their wishes, would still whine on ad infinitum about the remaining 1%?

 

Also, isn't there already a laser quest kinda deal on the Island, just outside Onchan?

 

 

 

 

 

[GD4ELI]

This island would be left in the state it was before us "foreigners" got here, no infrastructure, populated by farmers and corrupt politicians and living of hand outs from England.

 

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be

[Tempus Fugit]

This island would be left in the state it was before us "foreigners" got here

 

I sometimes wonder how the IoM survived without our saviours

some people think this place was an uninhabited rock before they 'discovered' it

 

should we bow or curtsy and pledge our undying gratitude ?

[Slim]

Maybe if there was some sort of entertainment park/facility on the Island, something Tower Park in Dorset.

You know the deal, bowling alleys, cinema, arcades, water parks, wet/dry ski slopes, indoor climbing walls, laser quest etc.

Something that can be used all year round and by all ages.

or maybe an outdoor adventure site. Archery, high ropes, assualt courses, riding etc.

 

 

 

There's two cinemas, a couple of arcades, some good swimming pools, a couple of indoor climbing walls, laserblast and a venture centre on the island, and a whole load of stuff for kids that isn't available for much of the UK that isn't on your list.