Yes big holiday! The school bell rings, children run outside and the wonderfully relaxing holiday period has begun. That's how it was a few weeks ago, right? For some, school has started again, but I'm still puzzling with my time as a mom and my time as an entrepreneur. Who ever made this up, those 6 weeks straight? It remains a challenge every time.
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I don't know about you, but for me as an enterprising, working mom, the big holiday is always a huge challenge. Yes, the 2 weeks in France at the pool, they are somewhat relaxed. But what about the other 4 weeks? Those other 4 weeks are a matter of survival. From plan A, on to B, C and D to try to divide my time as best as I can. And that without my children and my business suffering. And myself of course, also not unimportant!
As soon as we get home from Camping Chez Gendron (by the way a fantastic small-scale but super cozy family campsite 60 km above Bordeaux) the misery starts. Doing endless laundry and cleaning up a mountain of stuff. Maybe it's secretly time for some consumption reduction 😉 . Sweat is slowly trickling down my back as my youngest daughter Lynn asks “Mom, what are we doing tomorrow”? Uh baby, mommy doesn't know that yet!
The reality is that I have to keep my webshop TrendySpeelgoed.nl running without my right hand Ingrid, who is now on vacation. At the same time, I still have to completely furnish a shop because we want to open our physical store in Oss on September 7 and Lynn does NOT want to go to the holiday shelter. So that will be quite a challenge.
As an entrepreneur and a mother who often works from home, you have your advantages. You are (or can be) there when it is really necessary. If something is wrong, you don't have to hear from the childcare, but your child can come to you right away, which is nice. But on a big vacation like this, my kids don't go to daycare. Which is logical, because otherwise they won't go to daycare either, because I'll be there when they get home from school. Actually, they are sort of weaned from the reception, but that does have consequences.
Despite a well-developed reception schedule, everything immediately goes awry. Grandma has to have surgery on her shoulder and unfortunately we can't stay overnight. Eldest daughter Lisa receives very bad news about her horse. Instead of a week's camp with her horse, she is told that her horse is so sick that we have to put it to sleep. Not only very sad, but also the end of plan C that was in the closet.
Fortunately, working mothers always have a plan D in the closet. At least I do 😉 .
That's the good advice I once got, my survival mode.
Well, this is probably not your average scenario from the life of a family with children on vacation. I know, but I'm still curious how others are doing, because this is a cross-section of our average long holiday here at home.
Would that be a solution? A big holiday that doesn't last 6 weeks, but 4 for example? And then spread those 2 other weeks over the year. Stick one at the autumn holidays and at the carnival and you've come a long way, I think 😉 . Are there more working mothers who find this difficult, or does it not matter much to you? Perhaps it is precisely the mothers who work from home a lot where this is a recurring challenge. I'd love to hear it!
Do you want to know more about me or my webshop? Then read the interview I recently gave for Mamsatwork.
tip:Are you not going on holiday yourself or are you already back and looking for some tips for the last few weeks? Check this blog:not on holiday, 7 tips
