Managing Work, Kids & Summer Break

Whether you work from home or commute to an office, summer is a challenging time for working moms with school-age children. For three months you must figure out what your children will do and how you’ll manage it alongside your work and other life priorities.

Figuring out what to do is far easier than you think and involves a three-step process that I’ll cover this week:

1. Mental planning;
2. Resource planning; and
3. Scheduling.

Mental planning is all about determining your needs, wants, and priorities, and then making a decision.

• How much do I want to work?
  Some working moms have the flexibility to scale back or adjust their work schedule during the summer months. This may mean reduced work hours for reduced pay, but the tradeoff could make sense. Even if you currently work full-time and don’t want to sacrifice your earnings, there are other options you might consider like telecommuting, flexible scheduling, and 40/10 work weeks. For more ideas and proposal templates to help you build the “business case” for your request, visit WorkOptions.com. By the way, don’t immediately write off your wants (or priorities) as unrealistic. Capture the idea, keep your eyes open for opportunities to make them happen and be willing to try something new.
• What can I afford?
  A follow up to the first question is based on your needs. Is it possible for you to reduce your work hours for a few months without going broke? Or must your income increase to manage the potential rise in child care expenses during the summer? Carefully consider the costs – both hard and soft – of working more or less during the summer. An example of a “hard” cost is the increase in child care expenses if you choose to work full-time through the entire summer. A “soft” cost may be the increased stress you feel trying to squeeze a full-time job in a reduced work week. For this step, you’ll need a budget to outline “hard” costs. If you don’t already have one, visit PearBudget for a simple way to forecast and manage your money. Only you can determine your “soft” costs and those are usually tied to your values and priorities.
• What is the end I have in mind?
  It’s always helpful to “begin with the end in mind” (Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People). Do you want to create a special family memory? Do you have a family tradition to uphold? Are you or your children interested in learning something new? Invite your entire family to think of how they want to spend the summer, as well as what they want to do and learn. This summer, my oldest wants to learn how to play volleyball, my middle child wants to perfect her reading skills, my youngest want to play basketball, and I want to finish a writing project that’s been sitting on my desk for months. We all want to spend time at the beach! Beginning with a goal or “end in mind” helps determine what you’ll do and how it will fit into your schedule.

Decide
Undoubtedly, the toughest part of the Mental Planning step is making a decision on the direction you want to take. But, take heart. No decision is set into stone and a plan that looked good at the onset, may end up disintegrating when you try to implement it. The key is to make the initial decision and move into action. You can make adjustments to the plan later.

Your Action Plan
In the next two days, conduct your Mental Planning. Envision different scenarios and don’t be afraid to approach work and family in a new, unique way. Jot down your thoughts and make a decision. If you’re ambitious, come up with one to two additional plans that might work if the first one doesn’t. Then return here for more on the next step, Resource Planning.

Related posts:

1. Get ready for summer – now

Tagged as: summer break, summer planning, work and family