Helpful Considerations On Juggling Work And Family Over School Holidays

Whenever the school holidays approach, working mums and working parents in general start going through a nightmare, as they start to fulfil their organisational roles. You will have six weeks or more of time to fill for your children, well aware that this is quality family time, irreplaceable for family bonding purposes. Doesn't it seem that the months and years just fly by and you are all too aware how, before you turn around, the kids will be adults and on their way into the future. This makes you feel as if you want to spend the whole of the summer holidays with your children, as you soak in those summer rays. In this respect, wouldn't it be great if you could take a six-week vacation as well?

But reality bites! You could be self-employed, knowing that holidays are almost unheard of for you, as you put everything into the development of your business.

If you are within the ranks of the employed, you know only too well how your boss relies on you and cannot afford to be without you for that entire period, although you hope that he or she is flexible and at least a little accommodating, as this can make it all a lot easier.

You have important decisions ahead and professional coaching can help you to unravel the answers.

This will be the time to explore just how flexible your respective employers are, as mum and dad do their best to rearrange their time to accommodate all the demands. In certain circumstances, dad will take his two week holiday first and then when he gets back, mum will take her two week period. This could take care of four weeks, but it's not really a palatable position to be in. Younger kids will find this very confusing and, as online coaching will remind you, you really need to try and maintain that family fabric as much as possible.

Maybe this is time to investigate the concept of telecommuting, which is becoming much more popular and might be a solution for you? Talk with your supervisor and see if it might be possible for you to operate from home over the summer holidays, or at least during part of this vacation, so that you can be much more flexible and allocate some of those precious hours to the children. If you are thinking along these lines, you should try and introduce this concept slowly before the holidays arrive, to show just how well it could work.

As the kids get a little older, you will find that there are many holiday clubs on offer - a whole range from football to dance and drama. You need to make sure that they are in the better clubs, though, which means that you have to plan early to account for the demand.

Summer holidays might mean that you have to get really creative about how you fit in your work responsibilities, so you will have to plan carefully if you are going to make them as easy as possible. Seek professional coaching to help you with this planning, as there's no reason for you to be floundering around in the dark these days, with so many online coaching resources to help!

Amanda Alexander is the Director of Coaching Mums and a widely renowned ICF-accredited coach who delivers professional coaching programmes to working mums across the globe who long for more time, balance and fulfilment in their busy lives. Download our free eBook especially for working mums with 5 easy ways to achieve balance.