SUMMER FUN
(WHEN YOU’RE A WORKING MUM OR DAD)

I love how everyone around me looks forward to the summer holidays, and so they should. Life turns down a notch or two in the summer, everything feel less stressful, schools close and work winds down just a bit as more and more people take time off and go away. I want to say the heat forces us to slow down, but I live in England and it’s more like the rain keeps us inside and bored out of our minds and there is only so much you can do trapped inside with two children for six weeks!
The Juggle Is Real!
When you have a job to do that doesn’t stop for the school holidays it can feel really overwhelming trying to meet the needs of both your children and your clients or boss. My two are chalk and cheese, my autistic son doesn’t like attending clubs and would much rather stay home, making banging on the walls and shouting at his computer game whilst I quietly go mad. My neuro typical daughter, however, would much rather be at the cheer holiday club where she can make new friends, practice her tumbling and do arts and crafts rather than stay home and be limited to indoor activities whilst I work. When I do get them both to clubs, they (of course 🥴) go to two different ones with different start and finish times, so I have the logistical nightmare of that too! I sometimes feel like more of my day is spent driving the 45 minute round trip twice a day then is spent at my desk! It has been hit and miss over the years and I now use a variety of tools to help me through the school holidays which I will share with you here. The biggest one which is missing I will save until the end, let me know if you notice it!
Tools For Managing The School Holiday Parent/Work Balance
1. Make a plan
Set aside time to work and time with the children. When are you naturally most productive? For me it’s the mornings, after lunch I’m sluggish so it’s a great time for me to switch tasks and in the summer I can kickstart my afternoon with fresh air and a dog walk or indoor activities with the children.
2. Prepare
There is nothing worse than needing your children to keep themselves occupied for a while, then hearing the dreaded “I’m bored” or “I’m hungry” in the middle of your Zoom meeting 🤦🏽♀️. When I need to not be disturbed, I let my children know and explain why, tell them how long I will be and the signal so they will know I have finished my task. I set them up with activities to keep them occupied, ensure their water bottles are filled and that they have plenty of snacks before shutting my office door and getting things done. What are your children into, what are their favourite things to do? Having any kits or tools you might need ready in advance can help with unplanned disturbances.
3. Reduce your hours
Can you reduce your working hours to only mornings or afternoons? Or maybe sandwich child time with an early morning and evening work session? Is your boss, or your clients understanding of your circumstances so you can be flexible around your children’s needs?
4. Reduce your workload
This is more difficult and also requires understanding from your clients or boss. What are the urgent things that must be accomplished each week and what can be put aside until school starts? Keep on top of everything that needs to be done and schedule in the non-urgent tasks that can wait to be done.
5. Get support
Are there work colleagues who can pick up any slack for you? Do you have someone you can outsource tasks to? This is a great time to adopt the philosophy that if it doesn’t need you to get done, then get someone else to do it!
6. Friends & Family
We don’t all have a retired or available parent or other family members who can help with the children, but if you do utilise them! Reciprocal play dates are another great idea. If you really need to get your head down without distraction can a friend have the children for a play date for a few hours? You can return the favour or book in regular days you swap children to give yourselves a breather!
7. Eat together
This is my top tip if you really need to keep working a full day! Sit down with your children for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You need the time away from your screen/job and they will appreciate (even if they don’t show it!) the time with you too. Food is always helpful for growing children, even on days when they are at home, we still make a packed lunch every morning and they can eat from it at leisure without asking and it helps to keep track of all of their snacks for the day too.
8. Find a childcare provider you all like
If this was free, we’d all be doing it, but this one can be really expensive depending on where you live, the setting and any extras needed to attend, such as kit items for sports etc. If your children go to any clubs already, they often have holiday clubs they run that will be easy to sign up to. Some schools, gymnastics, dance and cheerleading clubs often run full or half day session in the holidays. Check in with other parents on what days their children are attending so they can meet up there.
9. Church
This would not have been my first thought, but after speaking to other parents I have found that churches often put on classes and clubs for children, and you don’t always have to be a member of their congregation to access them.
10. Make time for you!
The holidays can often feel like an additional burden when you have to work on top of managing children all day, so be kind to yourself, you can only do your best, it may not always go to plan and it you need a bubble bath at the end of the day, a glass of wine/beer or a share size bar of chocolate and a box of tissues, it’s okay you are doing a great job!
Here Are My Top Tips!
Children eat twice as much when they are at home then when they are at school, you know it’s true! Make up a ‘packed lunch’ with their snacks for the day taking this into account and manage the cupboard raiding and reduce the “I’m hungry” whining! 😫
Subscribe to Disney+ or another child friendly streaming service and find their favourite films. If you’re brave ask them to write about what they watch so they can share with their teachers when they return to school – that worked for me once, like, one time ever! 🤣
Speak to other parents and see if you can help each other over the holidays with reciprocal play dates. 🙌🏽 Everyone too busy? Maybe you can get the children into the same clubs on the same days, so they have a friend there already.
The other option of course is to book annual leave, take a holiday yourself and get away with the children, do it all somewhere else without the hassle of work! Whatever you do the summer, enjoy and drop me a line, let me know what works for you!
Sheryne xx