How my son went back to nature on holiday

Harry, my seven-year-old, has square eyes.

He loves TV and has been mad about computers since he worked out what they were. It doesn't bother me… most of the time. The only thing that did concern me is the same thing that I wonder about myself: could he manage without them or was he addicted? 

When we were given the opportunity of four nights' "glamping" at Featherdown Farm in  Dolphinholme, Lancashire, I figured it was the perfect opportunity - how would Harry manage with no electricity? With no TV, no computer, no iPod Touch, no Wii?

No electricity, no fun?

I'd told Harry in advance that there was no electricity in the tent, but since he's obviously never experienced such a thing I don't think he really understood it until we got there. But within minutes of arriving we met a very chatty nine-year-old boy who told Harry: "It's impossible to be bored here! It's just not possible! And that's without a DS or anything!"

Later, I overheard his mum enthusiastically describing a game the children could play in the hay bales. Once they'd run off to get started, she told me, "It's exhausting trying to think up stuff to keep them entertained." 

We didn't actually have to think up stuff to keep Harry entertained - over the five days we were there he fed the goats and helped with the milking; played "cricket" and "football" in the field with his two--year-old brother; chatted (and bounced) on the trampoline with lots of children of different ages; skipped stones in the stream; spotted birds; fed our leftovers to pigs and chickens; and took care of a rabbit he named "Happy Bunny".

He also did all his homework with very little argument and a lot quicker than he ever has at home. 

Ever needed a holiday from your holiday?

The thing we found exhausting was that we had to be a lot more involved in the entertainment than we are at home. For example, Harry slept in a bit later on the farm, but once he was up he wanted us to be out collecting the eggs "from under the chickens' butts" whereas at home he wakes at 5.30 and goes downstairs by himself to watch TV until I get up at a marginally more civilised 6.30 (not that I considered 6.30 civilised before I had children). At home he can entertain himself until his allotted screen time runs out, but on the farm, we had twelve hours of "Can you come with me?" 

When people disparagingly refer to TV as "the electronic babysitter" they're not wrong, but a babysitter is a useful thing to have now and again. Harry absolutely loved his technology-free holiday, but his dad and I didn't get a break until we got back home and Harry turned the TV on.