It can help to take stock at the end of a school holiday period and think about what went well, what didn’t work so well, and what was an unmitigated disaster.

Holiday care isn’t always an affordable or feasible option. So, many parents end up cobbling together a Frankenstein’s monster of working from home, ad hoc leave days, friend and family help and a whole lot of juggling to keep kids both occupied and cared for during these periods.

It’s easy for the holiday period to result in family disharmony and crankiness, rather than relaxation and connection.

So what can parents do to reset? If like many Australians you spent your two weeks band-aiding multiple issues, you can try an approach psychologists call “rupture and repair”.