With vacations of up to 14 weeks on the continent, education can suffer – although on the plus side childcare and holidays are much more affordableRemember the summer holidays of your childhood – the seemingly endless, sunny days many of us look back on fondly? Those six “precious” weeks look very different when you’re a parent. Having to feed, entertain, look after and fund your offspring during the extended break can sometimes make the summer seem endless for all the wrong reasons.Parents in England where, as in Scotland and Wales, the school summer break is six weeks, have complained that this is too long, and are backing a reduction to four weeks. Pity then the parents in mainland Europe: French school holidays last for eight weeks. In some regions of Italy, summer is a whopping 14-weeks long. Having birthed and brought up my five children in France, only moving back to England in April last year when my eldest was 14 and my youngest nine, I’ve experienced summers on both sides ...