Being a freelancer in an industry of your choosing is a tremendous privilege, but it brings a huge amount of responsibility and pressure. Being a parent is another tremendous privilege (particularly if you’ve ever stared down the barrel of infertility), but it also brings a huge amount of responsibility and pressure.
We can quantify the effects of combining these two disparate elements in an equation. If we know freelancing = stress and parenting = stress, then we can extrapolate to say freelancing x parenting = stress2. And it gets worse, because freelancing x parenting x summer holidays = stress3. That’s not conjecture, by the way – it’s pure maths.
Of course, many readers won’t need an equation to appreciate the challenges, because they’re already living it. Parenting a child when the schools are off for (in some regions) six and a half weeks is like scaling the north face of the Eiger in carpet slippers, particularly if you’re also freelancing to pay the bills. Those bills become vertiginous if you add in the meteoric costs of summer childcare, which is why many freelancers will be scrabbling around trying to do two full-time jobs simultaneously between the schools breaking up and returning in August or September (depending where in the UK you live).
How to cope with freelancing and parenting over the summer holidays
Based on many years of trial and error – often both at the same time – these are my recommendations about how to juggle freelancing and parenting without failing at both, or going completely mad…
Warn your clients in advance
Although we all want to appear professional at all times, we shouldn’t airbrush children out of our working lives. Providing you’ve got a decent relationship with clients, warn them you’ll be wearing two hats during the holidays. They’re probably parents too, and they’ll understand why you might be working odd hours/yawning during calls/needing longer deadlines/unable to attend meetings.
Schedule family activities at specific points in the week
Social media and digital devices have convinced us children need every minute of every day filling. Yet small amounts of boredom can be useful and beneficial. Tell children you need to work at certain times of the week, but you can do something fun with them at other times. Scheduling these events in advance gives each week some structure, which kids often lack (and miss) outside term time.
Leave the TV on in the background
Children are easily distracted, and the twelve-hour programming cycles of CBeebies and CBBC provide ideal background material for infant and junior school children respectively. They can dip in and out of programmes as they wish, but the sheer breadth of programming on both channels means they’ll be entertained and educated by turns, without adverts or American accents.
Plan to work irregular hours
If kids are able to spend chunks of the day by themselves, split the working day into segments. Tell them you need to work in the morning, but you can go out somewhere after lunch and then work at night once they’re in bed. There’s nothing wrong with working a few weekends or responding to emails in the evenings during July; summer holidays don’t last forever, even if it feels like they do.
Investigate school holiday clubs
Childminders can be very expensive, yet the holidays drag on if kids aren’t able to go to the park on their own or see friends and extended family. Many schools run summer holiday clubs for at least part of the season, and you may be able to register on a waiting list even if it’s not your normal school. Clubs are costly, but organised activities and peer engagement are very beneficial.
Set up activities without announcing it
Most children love imaginative play, but they can be instinctively resistant to organised fun. Before you go to bed at night, set up an activity – a teddy bears picnic, a pretend shop, a racetrack for Matchbox cars – but don’t draw attention to it. Let the kids discover it by themselves, and they’ll be more likely to engage with it, hopefully giving you an opportunity to do some work in relative peace.