So school holidays are enough of a headache, always have been really, especially when I was working office based, and the hubby was employed.  We struggled every time to juggle childcare and always used to dread the holiday’s approaching, feeling guilty about the fact that they were suppose to be fun!   I’m sure I wasn’t the only Mum or Dad in the school that dreaded the kids being home for the week, wondering what we were going to do for 5 days, and more importantly, how we were going to afford it! Read more…

Being a workaholic doesn’t help.  I used to hate being away from work, hate not being in control of what was going on in my department day to day, and just used to dread being out of the loop!  But now, home working brings a different problem.  I no longer have to book time off when the kids are home from school, I can wangle my office days around them, which is a great advantage, but now I have to work 8 hours with them running wild, making a mess and then there’s the constant nagging!  ‘Where are we going today?’ ‘What time?’ ‘When are you finishing work?’ ‘What’s for food?’ ‘Will you play with me?’, and of course the sibling arguments over anything from the TV remote, to playroom floor space, to the choice of swing colour in the garden, all of which require my referee hat!

This half term, the first one of the year, I had a plan.  I would work 6am – 2pm everyday, being able to spend the afternoon and evening with the little ones and had it all mapped out in my head, but didn’t take into account the fact that I hadn’t been paid this month yet, and was kinda broke, which during school holidays, isn’t great.

So I decided to set myself a challenge.  Could I do something everyday with the kids, that we’d all enjoy, for the minimum cost possible!  I told the kids about this challenge, which they were quite excited about, and we got our heads together over breakfast on day 1 and wrote a list of all the things we could do that were free, and we had some great ideas!

The week prevailed and the children seem to have enjoyed themselves every day, and to be fair, so did I.  We did free family swimming a few times, a couple of park visits (although the ridiculous Welsh weather soon put a stop to that, thanks Doris!), a trip to Game to spend birthday money, Pokemon catching, cake making, cuddly toy naming, scrapbook making, doll’s garden party, retro style roller skating and loads more… we really did have a lovely week, and proved that it can be done on a budget!  Holidays, theme parks, days trips are all great, don’t get me wrong, but fun can certainly be had on a budget, and for us, more than anything, it was purely the spending time with them that they loved, which I did to.  I work so hard, maybe 10-12hours most days and having time off just to have fun was great, and was needed… and being free made it that little bit sweeter.

But children aside, working from home during school holidays is tough!   I was very tired starting work at 6am, and typically we had a full on busy week which included lots of design work, website updates, skype meetings, plus I had to miss my morning runs, which definitely had an impact on my metabolism and daily regime, and by 7pm, I was shattered!   Having had the week at home missing a scheduled visit to the office, I now have to go to HQ in Essex this week for a few days, which means more planning for whilst I’m off.  Gymnastics and dance lifts, PE kits, St David’s day dress-up, uniform laid out for the week, money for after school clubs… and the list goes on.  Never mind, pay day soon!

Rhian x
#workkidssleep