Should school holidays be shorter?

As parents all around the country gear up for having the kids at home for six weeks, we ask...

- TRACIE COUPER

YES

Every year I dread it!

Lucy Baker, 47, lives in Woodhall Spa with her husband, Dan, 39, and three kids, aged 13, 10 and four.

I've tried everything to be a super summer holidays mum.

I've even drawn up a plan on a sheet of A3 paper and made spreadsheets. Nothing works and every year I dread it.

I'm self-employed as confidence coach and a potentially lose thousands of pounds worth of work from clients over the holidays.

It's hard to give your time and attention to a client when the kids are beating each other up in the background! So, I lose out financially and, at the same time, there's more to pay out for.

We live half an hour from the beach, which means a cheap day out is heading there with packed lunches, but you can't do that every day.