This month’s Empower touched upon the topic of having a stress free summer. Continuing on from that theme I thought I’d delve a little deeper into once element that can have the biggest impact on keeping stress at bay. Planning.

Managing the summer holidays with a family in many ways is no different to managing a project at work. We have all sorts of important things to consider: Timescales - roughly 6-8 weeks, budget - to be determined by how many outings or ice creams the children want, milestones - each weekend signifies one week survived and one less to find a multitude of things to occupy the little ones, an end goal - get to the end of the holidays with sanity still in tact and children in one piece. Ok, so that may be a slight exaggeration but planning, can certainly help make the time spent as a family even more enjoyable.

You may be the type of mum who hates the idea of running everything with military precision with fixed times and schedules for meals, activities and days out. That’s probably isn’t the ideal scenario for many mums but a little planning can go a long way.

Some things that could help you plan for the best holiday yet are:

• Getting clear on what you’d like to happen during the holidays

Whether you are going away or staying in the country taking the time to loosely plan how you’d like the holidays to be can make the planning process so much easier. How much time will you take off work? Will you still need to make time for work priorities? Do you want to have some time to yourself over the holidays to recharge your batteries? Would you like to spend some one on one time with your partner or the children individually? Perhaps you’d like to use the time to visit distant relatives or get up to date with home improvements. Whatever it is, making a loose plan of some of the things you’d like to include over the summer can help you prioritise things that you may not have had the chance to focus on before now.

• Involving the family

Get the children and your partner involved in making decisions around what to do during the holidays. It doesn’t all have to fall to you. If you have work commitments, having a conversation with the family about the time you will need to do so can help them understand what you need and prepare them for helping out more or occupying themselves.

By involving the family in the decision making process, they get to feel included in family decisions and you don’t have to think of six weeks of activities on your own. You may even find that on some days they will be happy enough being able to spend they day with you doing something that inexpensive and requires little planning like baking or going to the park. Win-win.

In addition to asking the children, why not reach out to extended family to see if they would like to do something with the children or as a group. Sometimes weeks and months can go without seeing loved ones. The summer holidays can be a great time to reconnect and you may even get a day to yourself.

• Budgeting

The children have given you a holiday wish list as long your arm of activities they’d like to do. You may be in a position to do most things but you needn’t feel guilty if you can’t. By including them in the decision making you can ask them which activities are most important to them and budget accordingly. Even if you have taken time off work you may have to consider childcare options for the rest of the time. Travel, food, spending money and day to day expenses will also need to be accounted for. Planning in advance can ensure that you are aware of your budget and aren’t left counting the pennies by the end of the first couple of weeks.

• Including time for self-care

While it will be amazing to spend quality time with the children over the holidays, you needn’t neglect your needs. Be sure to make time to do things that bring you joy. It could be a manicure, taking yourself for a walk alone, spending time with friends or even curling up with a book. You are and will be doing an amazing job looking after everyone else needs. Be sure to take care of yours. After all its your holiday too.

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Empowering Mums is on a mission to empower a million mums and mumpreneurs just like you with greater confidence, balance and clarity to activate your infinite capabilities within! Enabling you to enjoy an easier, happier life alongside running a highly successful business. Aligned with enjoying time out for an essential self-care routine that fulfils your own needs and delight in quality time spent with your children being the mum you really want to be!

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