HOLIDAY FUN WITH MARBLE RUN.

This morning my eldest son’s first words when he woke up were, ‘Do you want to play marble run NOW Dad?!’

It was 5:30am.

My answer was a gentle attempt at a ‘no’ that came out something like ‘…maybe later….zzzzz’

This summer is my first experience of being the Dad of a school going son. Right now, we’re a Dad/Son team navigating our first summer school holiday ‘break’ and we’re one week in.

Going into these holidays, I’ve been reflecting on a belief I’ve held for a while - that the next 6 weeks are going to be tricky! This belief has been fed by all the stories shared from other parents, friends and even handed down as memories from my own childhood.

One of the most common reasons people find holidays hard is the lack of routine as the regular school structure is replaced by grandparents, holiday clubs, playdates and more. This lack of routine also adds to the stress and cost of balancing work commitments and childcare which can be exhausting at times.

Sometimes I can spot this exhaustion coming. Sometimes I can’t.

When I feel exhausted one of the first things that I become aware of in myself is the impact it has on my patience – at home and at work I can feel my bandwidth for play, creative thinking, and empathy for others deteriorate. In short, I’m not a very fun colleague or Dad to be around.

As I’ve got older, I’ve learnt that one of the most effective ways that I can avoid and recover from mental or physical exhaustion is to exercise regularly – however, over the holidays, the lack of routine and daily juggle can make this harder to fit in.

Finding time to do the things that we know are important is a challenge we all face.

This is where habit stacking can help. It’s a powerful technique for building new habits by linking them to existing ones as described by James Clear in his wildly successful book Atomic Habits.

Habit stacking involves pairing a new habit with an existing one. For example, I already read to my son every night before he goes to sleep, so I’ve started a routine of putting the clothes I’m going to exercise in outside his door, so after I’ve read to him I have now ‘stacked’ a new habit, of getting ready to exercise right after. This way, my existing habit acts as a trigger for the new one.

James Clear describes the impact on routine that habit stacking can have -increased consistency, improved well-being, enhanced productivity.

The one that makes the biggest difference to me is ‘reduced decision fatigue’ - cutting the number of decisions I need to make daily. Since the new habit is tied to an existing one, I don’t have to think about when or how to fit it into my schedule.

What could this mean for you? You could start by listing your daily habits - then think about what you might be able to stack onto them to create a chain of positive behaviours. After making your morning coffee, what could you stack?

I’m hoping that by making exercising easier to remember, I can build momentum over the holidays and stay topped up and ready to be playful and creative.

If I succeed, then maybe next time my son wakes up earlier than expected and asks, ‘do you want to play marble run NOW dad?!’ he might get a different answer.

Maybe…..