Hacks for working parents looking to survive the summer holidays.
(Especially if you work from home!)
Photo Credit Unsplash: Xavier Mouton Photographie
Schools are out for Summer! Quality family time versus work time.
Do you remember the summer holidays of yesteryear? It likely included sleeping in, lazy breakfasts, meeting with friends, endless adventures, and mojitos at sunset. If you are a parent or carer, your summers might look slightly different now, especially if you are working—full of stress, expense and potentially full of screen battles.
Yes, it won’t be long till the school summer holidays begin, and the pressure to be #makingmemories with your small people whilst balancing your working commitments can be daunting and exhausting. There is a real possibility that during the summer holidays, you will feel torn in all directions and not #winningatlife in any way.
But hold your laptops; you can make it through the long holidays with (most) of your sanity and a smile intact! As a working parent (and one who works from home), I often ‘single wheel’ with childcare. I know several parents bracing themselves for the summer slog, and I have put together a few seasoned work hacks to help those who need them to navigate the parenting life/work puzzle.
Of course, these tips aren’t one-size-fits-all, we all have a whirlwind of different-sized plates to spin, but I’m optimistic that it will offer some tangible ways to reduce the juggle and add practical strategies to strike a harmonious work-life balance.
Get all your ducks in a row: prioritise, plan, and embrace flexibility.
Think about what you can or need to achieve during this holiday and your necessary work hours. Can you be more flexible – maybe start earlier in the day, or work fewer days? Perhaps do half days to slot in activities with your family for part of the day so you can work in the afternoons?
If you can lock down holiday childcare, organise it in advance, and get that diary out now!
Should you be lucky enough to have family support, arrange times when your partner takes the reigns so you can work uninterrupted and vice versa.
If family or friends can help you on selected dates, book them in, too, you can always return the favour, especially with childcare swaps - it takes a village, after all. And most kids love spending time with extended family and other children.
There are also various children’s holiday clubs that you can use; your children’s school will often host sports and activities (also check out which ones might offer subsidised fees!). If you have teens, it is worth setting sensible parameters for the school holidays so they can enjoy freedom without it being a huge worry to you and block in quality time together to connect!
Talk to your boss (or yourself if that’s you!), your team and your clients about how you are planning to work during this time; the chances are they will also have family commitments around the holidays, so work together ahead of time to find the best mutual options for meeting, communicating, and hitting any deadlines.
If you are a co-worker or boss who doesn’t have direct childcare issues but has colleagues that do, you might also consider adjusting your ‘house’ working style and patterns during this period to help the whole team with their work/life balance.
Great Expectations: Get planning – work smarter, not harder.
Setting up and managing expectations is one of the most empowering and sanity-saving things you can do. This should include your clients AND your small people! Let people know how available you are, how they can reach you, and when. Make your tech work for you when you are not working!
If you are a freelancer or a sole trader, consider a reciprocal ‘business sitting’ arrangement with a trusted collaborator or colleague who could handle small time-sensitive tasks if you are on holiday.
Can your meetings be done online or on the phone? You should consider this an effective use of your time and resources. Post-Pandemic, the expectation to be physically present in meetings has been reduced heavily – your value is just as much about what you put into your work rather than simply being in your place of work.
Plan and write the content for projects you must complete across the summer and schedule them in advance. I cannot stress enough how utilising any scheduling apps and platforms ahead of time will save you valuable headspace and energy. And if you use social media, refresh those pesky scheduling platform social media links before heading to a far-flung, Wi-Fi-limited campsite!
Forewarned is forearmed, as they say, so check that you have all the tech, apps, and comms you might need on your phone or portable device so that IF you get that crisis call from a client or customer, you can choose to respond to the best of your ability without abandoning all your plans for the day. Ensure you can check on automated apps remotely to fix any hick-ups quickly – trust me, it happens, usually at the most inopportune moments!
Here are a few examples of free(ish) App recommendations to make working smarter and easier:
Linkedin – network.
RocketChat – team collaborations.
hubstaff – time tracking.
buffer loomly meta business suite and many, (many) others for social media
Chatgpt – creative inspiration
canva image editing.
evernote– note-taking.
grammarly – writing assistance for grammar and spelling.
Notion - project management.
A timely self-care reminder: You are not superhuman and are allowed time away from your screen and for yourself - if you succeed on the latter, please feel free to email me details 😉
Finally: The kids are all right!
There is enormous pressure, often self-induced, to constantly fill every day of the holidays with a fun activity or experience for your children, especially if you have some ‘parent guilt’ about working. Planning day-out treats for your children, even a picnic tea at the beach after work, is brilliant, but manage their expectations about what is possible for you as a family.
Embrace the bored! When my small people were told they were having a ‘chill day’ because I had to complete work for a client, they were utterly delighted to be at home, just playing in the garden and watching their devices (not all day, obviously – you don’t need to call anyone 😉!).
We shouldn’t underestimate our children’s ability to use their imaginations to fill their time. It also costs you much less than cramming in expensive daily activities.
I suspect some of these work/life balance holiday hacks will feel like ‘teaching Grandma to suck eggs’, but I hope some of these tips will be helpful, practical, and reassuring. Ultimately, we are all doing our best.
Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, buy LOTS of holiday snacks because, let’s be honest, this keeps everyone happy.
Blog: Jane Pierce Founder at Harissa PR: Doer of PR, Copywriting, All Things Social, TV, and The Splits (but not since 1986)
Why not say: hello@harissapr.com
