Do you love the summer holidays, or are you itching for the return to school by the middle of week 1?
The summer holidays can bring a welcome relief from the pressures of school and all that it brings with it both for the kids and the parents, however 8 or 9 weeks can feel like a long stretch! So here are some tips to make it a bit more bearable, or perhaps even a pleasure.
Balance
There's a lot to be said for bringing a bit of yin and yang to your days and your weeks. Bring about a sense of balance when creating your daily and weekly rhythms.
This might look something like
Alternating indoor and outdoor activities
Blasting a bit of housework either side of being present and fun with the kids
Taking turns between away days and at home days
Chill out time sandwiched between higher energy activities or tasks
Something that really helps us achieve this is getting a National Trust membership from family as a Christmas present, which means we always have free outdoor space options available to us.
This constant back and forth in activities is great for the kids, but also for yourself. Changing up the energy and activities in this way will keep everyone occupied, and the boredom at bay without burnout.
Another thing that falls firmly into this category is the perpetual tough call we parents have to make every evening between staying up late to get some time for yourself, or going to be early for the rest you desperately need. Why not alternate, get the best of both worlds by ensuring you aren't only doing one or the other for a whole week at a time. Pencil in some early nights, or add in one where you stay up late and schedule in a movie you've been wanting to watch!
If you are lucky enough to have help - use it. If you don't have childcare, or aren't in a position to get a baby siter why not ty to factor in a bit of down time by alternating solo date nights/lunchtimes with your partner (or another parent friend) so that one of you looks after all of the kids while the other heads out for an hour or two so that you all get a chance to recharge and get a break. Even taking a walk alone for 15 or 20 minutes can help restore your energies.
Visuals
As the mum of SEN children, we use a lot of visuals in our home, and it really does help the whole family, parents included!
Having an readily available visual for what is going to be happening for the week ahead or during the day can be really useful for reducing anxiety in the children, but it can also help reduce battles and also reduce the mental load for parents.
We use these visual planners from Rainbow Robs, but you could easily make you own or even draw or write on a whiteboard depending on the age of your children.
One thing that massively reduces the mental load is meal planning, and it doesn't need to be anything fancy, even just writing five or six meals on a scrap of paper, or a list of the type of snacks you have to offer and putting it in your eye line means you don't have to think about what to feed the kids (or yourself!).
Prepping
Most often we find we have more support and/or energy at the weekends, so this is a great time to plan ahead and set yourself up for success.
What can you plan, and what can you prep ahead of time?
Meal planning - now this can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be.
Perhaps you want to cook your whole week's meals and pop them in the fridge or freezer then you need only reheat for the rest of the week, or maybe you just check what's in the cupboard and scribble a few meals on a scrap of paper. Either way it's the planning that is really important. Do you have enough food for 5 days or do you need to head to the supermarket - if so can you do this more easily at the weekend, would that be less stress than midweek with 3 kids in tow and slotted in between playdates?
Plan your activities - you don't need to be strict with this, just get a few ideas down.
When you have the mental capacity and perhaps a bit of adult company/help over the weekends have a think of the activities you'd like to do the following week. Perhaps a trip out you'd like to make, or plan a few crafts or games you can do at home. Is there any set up you need to do for these - even throwing the wellie boots in the car can save a struggle during the week. Having a list of activities or games you know you have the resources for can save the mental gymnastics involved in entertaining young children when you are tired after a busy week.
Lighten your load - get caught up on household chores as much as you can.
Often household chores are lumped in alongside childcare, and the default parent thing can become quite apparent during the long summer months when there seems like there is no break to be had. The parent doing the childcare is no less working than the one who is employed full time, infact you could argue that this is a much harder, less well paid role! So it's only fair that the household chores be shared, and weekends are a great opportunity to get caught up on that, and do as much as you can to free up some time during the week, so that you can take a coffee break instead of hanging up the laundry at some point!
Just think about what you can do to take the stress out of your week, and pull in any help you might have over the weekends to do this. You know the old saying, "A Sunday well spent brings a week of content"? Well, there really is something in that.
I hope you've found these tips helpful - let me know, and connect with other parents to exchange tips and support each other in The Real Life Hack Community.
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