“I just have an all-round more positive outlook now, motivation and drive back."
Kevin's Story
Single dad, Kevin, has been striving hard in raising his six daughters. They had a much-needed and stress-free holiday together in Mablethorpe.
For the past three years, single parent Kevin has been raising his six daughters – aged between 4 and 11 – pretty much on his own.
I worked nights and then when I got the kids full-time, I worked as much as I could but it got to a stage where I was doing 12-hour shifts on two to three hours’ sleep in between. That did impact on me quite a lot, both physically and mentally.
When the girls came to live with him, Kevin had to equip their bedrooms and buy clothes for them. With the added financial pressure of not working, a holiday of any kind was out of the question.
His Early Help support worker recognised how much a break would do the family good and nominated them for a few days away. Kevin decided to take his daughters to Mablethorpe, a resort that he had often been to as a child with his mum and dad and still remembers fondly.
It was nice to be able to share that with the girls, the caravan was less than a five-minute walk to the beach from where we stayed. It was good to just be away because with everything that’s been going on, it has been stressful. It affected me massively coming out of work in terms of anxiety and depression.
One particularly memorable moment came when a couple that Kevin had got talking to during a walk along the seafront secretly paid for ice creams for all the girls.
I think that really stuck with the older girls, I’ve heard them go on about it quite a bit since. It was nice for
them to see that, even with everything crazy that’s going on in the world, there are times like that where
kindness goes a long way.
The holiday was a rare chance for the six girls to play together as at home the older two tend to do their own thing after school. Kevin says:
It was nice to see them all just being sisters. They really enjoyed going away, it was a new experience for them because they’d not stayed in a caravan before. Overall, everyone just seems a lot less stressed.
That’s particularly true of Kevin himself who has got his mojo back since returning home. “
Before the holiday, I had kind of lost all that get up and go in life. If something needed doing like the decorating, it was a case of I’ll do it tomorrow but then tomorrow never came.
“Since being back though, it was literally the same week, I’d been saying to the girls that their bedrooms need redoing so I redid them!" Kevin continues,
I just have an all-round more positive outlook now and that motivation and drive back.