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Are You Ready For The School Holidays?

Posted By: / July 15, 2019

Are You Ready For The School Holidays?

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Next week marks the start of the school holidays for most children, and for the self employed parents among us, 6-8 weeks of juggling starts here.  Most of us can’t just take the summer holidays off work, and in this day and age, grandparents are less likely to live close enough to help out every day - that’s if they are retired, or even willing to help.

The cost of full time childcare can be too high for a self employed parent to bear, so that leaves us with juggling childcare and work at the same time as trying to maintain our sanity!

There are plenty of organised activities for kids around during the holidays, but many are expensive, and involve the parents too, which whilst enjoyable, doesn’t really help with getting some work done!

It might be a bit late to sign up for play clubs - most get booked up early, but it’s still worth checking.  Even one or two days here and here will help. Check out NetMums or MK Council’s Childcare website.

If you can work from home, and we’re blessed with some good weather, a little bit of up-front planning and investment could pay big dividends.  Set yourself up with a gazebo in the garden for some shade, a paddling pool, water pistols or other outdoor games and a freezer drawer full of ice lollies and you’re set for at least a couple of days a week!  

Add in some new DVD’s for the rainy days (you can rent these from the library to save some pennies) and you’re set.  Stock up on popcorn and snacks for the movies and you’ve got a good couple of hours work time.

If you’ve got little artists at home, a trip to The Works can buy you another few hours - I recommend hiding your purchases up front and bringing them out little by little, so the kids don’t get time to get bored and you’ve always got a secret up your sleeve.

Once you’re at home watching the darlings play, adding a couple more isn’t much extra effort, in fact, if the kids get on well, they will keep each other entertained.  Can you buddy-up with another working parent near you and take turns to look after the combined children? If you don’t know anyone - try asking around nearby offices. An advance playdate for all kids and parents, to get to know each other and make sure you get along, and you’re all set.

You don’t want to work your way through every day though - make sure you’ve got some fun family stuff planned too.  For most of us, a big part of the reason to become self employed was to spend more time with our loved ones - try not to forget this.  

Have a look at the work you need to get done over the next 6 weeks and ask yourself what you can delegate, or reasonably get done in the evenings.  Arrange the rest so that you have a day or so a week that you can actually spend with your kids, guilt-free. Then on those days, do fun things. Forget about the housework - that can wait until September!  

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