The school summer holidays are almost here, and to be honest they’re a bit of an inconvenience when you have to work aren’t they?! I wrote this post last year about why the summer holidays are stressful and it’s all still true.
I’m very jealous of the mums who are all excited about not having to rush around every day and get ready early. Imagine having 6 weeks of being able to take your time in the mornings. That part of my day doesn’t change at all just because the kids are off school. I still have to get up at 06:30 every day to get ready for work, drop Little H wherever she needs to go, and get to the office by 08:30. Sometimes when I leave the house I have to stop and think where I’m going. Depending on the day of the week it could be one of two sets of grandparents, holiday club, or a friend’s house. I actually have a colour coded calendar of who’s looking after her on what days.
Our summer holiday schedule has to be planned way in advance to make sure every day is sorted and Little H has somewhere to go. This causes problems when the school mums start inviting her to play dates because we will already have plans sorted. I do have several days off but I don’t really want to spend them all with Little H’s school friends and their mums! I find that the SAHM’s don’t get this though and keep asking me “When are you free?” err…. not very often!
The mum guilt is a regular occurrence in the summer holidays. I feel guilty for having to rush Little H to get out of the house early every day when I’m sure she wants to laze about for a change. I feel guilty for palming her off on people most days of the week when it’s the perfect opportunity to spend some quality time together. It also makes me feel guilty that lots of her school friends are getting together and she can’t join them because I’m not around to take her. As she’s getting older she realises now that her friends are meeting up and she can’t because I have to work.
The school holidays are expensive for everyone, but even more so when you have holiday clubs to pay for. At least school is free! Last year we spent £250 on childcare over the summer. It means that when you do get time off together you don’t have as much money to spend on days out.
There are some things I am looking forward to though. Not having to sort school uniforms and make packed lunches for 6 weeks is great.
I’m sure we’ll have some kind of school project to do over the summer but thank goodness there’s no stressing about homework on a Sunday evening, or the last minute practising of spellings at the end of the week.
Having a legitimate excuse for some time off is great too – I won’t be working a 5 day week for six whole weeks! Normally Little H & I only have weekends and a few afternoons after school so it’s lovely to have an extra day each week to spend together. I know the husband is looking forward to his day off each week as well, working Dads never get much time alone with their kids do they?
On the whole, I guess I am looking forward to the summer holidays. It just annoys me that everyone assumes that mums get 6 weeks “off” because there’s no school runs.
Do you look forward to the school holidays or are they just another pain in the arse?
I don’t think it’s easy whether you’re a working Mum or a SAHM really. My son will still have me up at the same time every morning and expect to be entertained every minute of the day until bedtime. It’s all a balancing act isn’t it, and we all do the best we can. As much as I love having more time with him when he’s not grumpy after school, I know I’ll be exhausted come September, the house will look like a bombsite and I’ll be looking forward to having five minutes to myself again. #SchoolDays
I remember this so well! I only ever worked three days a week when the kids were at school, so we juggled childcare between myself, my husband and my parents, but I always felt nobody was getting a proper break.
I’ve worked from home for the last three years now and as my kids are late risers, I get up at 5.30’and get at least half of my work for the day done before they get up.
Popping over from Schooldays linky.
I’m with you on this, as a full time working mum. This year i’ve taken an extra week off as unpaid leave, so have 3 weeks off. The OH is a farmer so works 7 days a week and doesn’t help take N anywhere. Although he’s refused to let N go to holiday camp (I thought it would be good, even for just a week and had miraculously found one that wasn’t 10-3 as most are, but covered 8.30-5.30). N will therefore be working with his dad for 3 weeks on the farm. But he’ll get bored especially when it’s harvest, so then the OH will dump him on my BIL to take him out or with my MIL if the men need to do dangerous jobs.
I’d love to have 6 weeks off but then I’d have to cook every night (when he’s with the OH, he’ll probably eat at the farm – result) and I’d probably never see him because he’d want to be on the farm all the time.
It is annoying the way it’s always assumed that all mums are off for the holidays.
Thanks for linking up #schooldays
I am only office based two days a week and that is hard enough – we have a spreadsheet of who is where on those days and it involves up to three drop offs before I even get to work depending on which children are were. It’s just exhausting and takes days of planning and budgeting beforehand, not to mention the fact that half the holiday clubs get booked up months in advance and of course any friend related childcare needs reciprocating! I am tired just thinking about it!
Once we get into the swing of it I will enjoy having more time with them all and letting them stay up a bit later some nights. I always find the first few days difficult because they are so tired and bicker but once they are over that they actually get on alright. Love not having to worry about book-bags, spellings, lunchboxes and homework though and they love the fact that reading is purely for fun. Good luck- I hope you managed to enjoy a bit of a break at some point! #schooldays
Summer holidays is a special sort of hell that was clearly decided by teachers, not working mums.