Opinion: Let's consider moving summer holidays to when the weather's better

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In my childhood memories of Christmas holidays the sun is always shining, it's never raining and cardigans aren't required.

It's a bit different these days. This month the country has experienced "bomb lows", wild winds and flooding. And the cardies have had plenty of use.

A suggestion this week that New Zealand should "move summer" prompted much discussion in our newsroom.

United Future leader Peter Dunne has suggested we move to a shorter break at Christmas followed by the main holidays in mid-February to mid-March, which over the past few years has apparently seen far better weather.

WeatherWatch's Philip Duncan says mid-January and February is when the driest, hottest, weather of the year is. He too reckons it's "bizarre" for the country to shut down at Christmas.

There is some merit to this argument - surely a week is enough to celebrate Christmas, finish the ham and get sick of the relatives - before we head back to work and school until the real summer arrives?

But would moving the holiday periods be too hard and not worth the effort?

Of course there would be logistical challenges. School terms would need to be reworked, including the question of when exams were held. Then there are some businesses that shut down for an extended period at Christmas - would they all be told they couldn't?

Some I spoke to who don't have children said keep it as it is. They like being able to take their main holiday in February or March when not only is the weather better, but the kids are back at school. And with the weather there are never guarantees - Murphy's Law would dictate that if we did go to the effort of making the change, the first Christmas would be a scorcher and storms would hit in February!

In saying that, the weather undoubtedly has an impact on people's happiness. So it's worth giving the matter some serious thought and debate.

After all, while humans don't have the power to change the weather, we do have the power to change how we live with it.