The school holidays are a great opportunity to spend time with your kids and make some important memories. Whilst this quality time is wonderful, the holidays can feel overwhelming which results in frazzled parents.
Finding time for yourself is essential to preserve your mental health and enable you to be the best parent you can be. Here are some tips to help you get precious time to yourself.
Self-care
Self-care looks different for everybody, but it is equally as important. Establish a simple routine either first thing or before bed that will help you feel grounded.
Your routine doesn’t have to be long and elaborate. Being a parent often means you don’t have time to yourself for long, so maximise that time! Skincare is a common choice for a grounding routine as it looks after both your physical and mental health.
Create a schedule with flexibility
Any parent will agree that having some sort of structure over the holidays is incredibly helpful. Take an evening to plan a rough itinerary for your time off. This could include trips away, family visits, holiday clubs or fun family days.
Once the activities are planned out, see where the gaps are for your time. You could liaise with your partner and give each other one night off per week to go out and work out or have a nice meal alone.
Boundaries are key, especially with younger kids who need more adult input to play. One way to help reinforce your personal time is to create a colour-coded visual aid for the day ahead. You can then refer to this throughout the day when your littles need reminding.
Engage in activities that recharge you
When you do get that precious time for yourself, make sure you actually relax. It can be easy to just do one more dishwasher load or tidy that messy area, but this is not the best use of your time.
Finding what rejuvenates you can be tricky. Reading can help to whisk you away to an alternate reality or you can sweat it out in an exercise session.
Recharging can sometimes be as simple as sitting alone in the garden with a nice cup of black tea and listening to the birds sing.
Seek support from your network
It truly does take a village to raise children so make sure you utilise them throughout the school break. Ask your friends and family to help in different ways. It could be taking them out for an afternoon or having a special sleepover.
Playdates are also an important time for both adults and kids. Not only will your children have loads of fun and build social skills, but you can enjoy some grown-up conversations and a break. You could always arrange with another family to alternate hosting to free up more time.