Why Do Summer Holidays Feel Shorter As We Get Older? Summer Special 1 2026

Why did the six-week summer holiday feel endless when we were children, yet now seems to disappear almost as soon as it begins?

In the first of the 2026 Aftermaths Summer Specials, Jon and Becky explore the strange relationship between time, age and memory. They consider the popular proportional theory of time, the role of novelty in creating richer memories and the “return-trip effect”, which can make the journey home feel shorter even when the distance is the same.

The conversation also takes in unusually long post-GCSE summers, children’s television, World Cup statistics and the role of the railways in creating standardised time across Britain.

Before that, Jon and Becky discuss Andy Burnham’s arrival in Downing Street and Lucy Powell’s appointment as education secretary. What might the change mean for schools—and can the sector retain some much-needed continuity around SEND, curriculum reform, funding, recruitment and retention?

Why Teaching Time Is So Hard and What We Can Do About It:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/l/1abmzu

Explore PlanIt Maths Year 2 time resources:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/l/t9r41

Listen to our earlier Summer Special, Making Sense of Time:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/l/1n860n

Read the return-trip effect research:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21861201/

Subscribe to The Primary Maths Podcast Substack:

https://theprimarymathspodcast.substack.com/

Get in touch with Jon and Becky at primarymathspodcast@twinkl.co.uk.

Subscribe to The Primary Maths Podcast so you don’t miss the next Summer Special: What Are the Chances of That?

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