as a childless person, have you simply considered leaving your 5 year old alone in the house à la Matilda?
but yeah, I always wonder this - if parents are working 5 days a week, don’t have extended family, don’t have the money for holiday camps and struggle to get days off, wtf are they supposed to do during a 6 or 9 week holiday? Even if you have two parents working different shifts, there will be crossover and it’s not like everyone can just get a childcare friendly job. My parents worked in schools so it was fine, and often had other people’s kids come to our house for the day if they were stuck, but it must have been so stressful to organise!?
I see a lot of Instagram mums who have the time to spend with their kids seem really afraid of letting them getting bored - as if that’s the worst possible thing that could happen? Or they make play really structured and just want to keep them constantly busy - but they don’t actually let them choose what they want to do or give them the opportunity to be bored.