The school holidays can be a headache for mums in business. Some accept that they aren’t going to be doing much work and reduce their workload down to a minimum.
Other options to help when you do have to work during school holidays include:
- The childcare options used by other working parents. Look into local holiday clubs and ask grandparents or uncles and aunties if they could help for a day each week or for an overnight stay. This is fun for kids and can allow you to focus on work and enjoy days off.
- Arrange child swaps and playdates with other families: if your children have friends over they may all disappear off and play, and if not you’ll always know that they will be out all day the following week.
- If it’s appropriate and your children are willing, you could involve them in your business. Perhaps they could help you run a stand at a craft fair or pack some orders ready for posting. This could be a good lesson in entrepreneurship!
- Create rotas for making lunch if your children are old enough as this can save you time and give them the chance to get creative in the kitchen and learn important life skills. A little light supervision can stop the kitchen looking like a disaster zone when they have finished.
- If you do work during the school holidays, try to take regular time off (maybe a day a week) to do some activities with your children.
A mix of these methods works well for most mums: schedule in some work days when you have someone to help with the kids or when you simply let them follow their natural inclination to sleep in and watch TV in their pyjamas all morning. Have some days out where you are 100% on holiday yourself: if you take a picnic to the park switch off your phone and let the business look after itself for a few hours. Finally, lower your standards. Accept that you can’t do everything over the holidays. Prioritise time with the kids, do what you need to keep the business going, and accept that the house is going to be more messy than usual.
