Most parents these days are working and when the school holidays hit us, it’s juggle time. Well, as most parents know, planning is key when kids are at home. Creating a routine for the kids and yourself can help to ease the mental pressure, but those two months will sure be busy!
Start early if you can
As a parent I usually wake up early before my son, and get in a couple of hours of work in the morning calm. If you don’t have the commute to work like I do, then this one is easy to do. Just go to bed a bit early. This allows me to finish early and get the evenings free with my son.
Figure out summer camps
Most parents with kids are quite familiar with child care and summer camps for the older ones. Just ensure that the camps include activities that your kids love. This way, you’ll have happy kids coming home in the evening instead of grumpy ones. Also make sure that they feed them a good meal, so kids aren’t tired when they get home. Now, this lets you work for at least half a day.
Grandparents and friends
Now, this is what happens when the camps are over and there is still few more days to go before school. Speak to grandparents and get them to schedule time with your kids early on, so you have an easy summer. Now, when grandparents are not available, playdates and sleepovers come in handy. I usually agree with a non-working friend to take her son for sleepovers and she in turn takes my son for the day. So, I get to work during the day and she gets the evenings off to relax!
Plan a bunch of activities
Now, despite the day-cares, camps, family and friends, there may still be days when you need to work and your child is home. Well, pull out that supercool colouring book. Or a really nice craft kit. Visit a toy store and hoard of on activities that kids can do by themselves when you’re busy. If you’re running low on activities, ask them to write a story or better still, a letter to a friend. Kids can take an awful long time to think and write, and in case your child is quick to finish, ask her to draw some illustrations for the story or a nice picture to go with the letter. Don’t forget to post it the next day! And yes, kids can learn a lot with snail mail too.