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. You can’t help but think how the months and years are flying by and how, before you know it, the children will be all grown up and on their way. 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?
Then reality strikes home. 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 employed, you understand that your boss cannot afford to be without you for the entire period of time either, but hopefully he or she is understanding and at least a little bit flexible, as this will make all the difference.
Thankfully, professional coaching may well be able to help you to unravel all of your problems and make those critical decisions.
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. For the younger children, this could be simply confusing and if you learn anything from online coaching advice, you know that you need to try and bring together that all important 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? If the boss will allow it, try and operate from home during the summer, at least part of the time, allowing you to be more flexible with your hours and more attentive to the kids. Plan in advance to show your supervisor how effective and efficient you can be, by trying this concept before the summer holidays come along.
If your children are a little older, why not consider enrolling them in holiday clubs, maybe a dance club, drama club or to play football? 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.
The summer holidays call for a great deal of creativity on your part, when you have to fit in all your work duties and demands and make sure that you plan accordingly to make this time as smooth as possible. Now, more than ever, you need to look for professional coaching help to ensure that you are not out of your depth and remember that there are many online coaching resources available these days.
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.
