Managing working from home, a small business and childcare during the school holidays.
It's that time in the year once again when I ask my self "Why did I think I could manage this?"
Please tell me that I'm not the only parent out there where the school holidays creep up on them and then panic when childcare is not available or affordable?!
Working from home has its benefits with being around for school drop off and pick up, something that I always felt guilty about when I commuted to the office. I always felt that I missed out on so much by not being there when the majority of other parents are.
We broke up for October half term on Tuesday. Great, 9 whole working days to get 1 million and 1 things ticked off my never ending to do list with a little helper that needs constant attention and food. She's great company but very needy when I have a to do list!
Anyway, Back to the half term holidays - I underestimated how much I think I can take on. I tell myself its fine, "every thing is fine, you can do this, its only 9 days, we survived longer in lock down!" And then the day starts and by 10am I'm asking myself if I have gone mad. Holiday clubs are great but at this time in the year they are not always affordable. How are people managing? especially single parents or one income households with more than 1 child? Please send me tips if you have any!
Day 1 worked well with my lovely neighbour entertaining Evers for most of the day with a park trip and McDonalds for lunch. I managed a full day of office work and logged off without feeling guilty. I even managed a couple of hours cutting in the evening to prep for my sewing marathon of Trapper Hats this weekend.
I returned the favour for Day 2 - sleepovers, baking and skate parks where new tricks were tried which was great to see Evers pushing herself out of her comfort zone. I managed to get lots of work done up until 2pm. I find having more than one child in the house makes it easier to manage and i seem to get a lot more done!
Day 3 is nearly ending and we are still friends, YAY! We have plans for the weekend and once the rain stops we will hopefully be adding some more steps in or maybe puddle suits should be added to my design list for next season? The rain has not stopped today.
I've not been very small business focused this week but I have reached the small goals that I set myself to ease back into the real work after trekking the Himalayas last week.
The tips I have learnt from the last 3 days that I will take with me into next week and hopefully make it stress free?
1. List 3 things that I need to complete by the end of each day - setting my self a time frame for each one.
2. Make time for 10 minutes of focused conversation with Evers every hour.
3. Read 10 pages of my book before bed instead of scrolling.
4. Ask for help!
Fingers crossed for the next working week!