Work Wednesday
The family summer schedule is already looking scary, with June a veritable swiss cheese of field days, graduation ceremonies, field trips, concerts and celebrations. CurrentMom took the opportunity to ask Laura Vanderkam, author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Thank You Think, how to manage the summer schedules when you're also working.
Summertime strikes fear into some parents' hearts, as schedules get totally disrupted. What do you suggest to keep summer from derailing your family's schedule?
Hey, it’s summer! Try to change your mindset: it’s not a schedule disruption, it’s an opportunity for adventure! I’m only half kidding. If kids don’t have to be at school early, that may be an opportunity to stretch out your evenings with trips to an ice cream parlor or an outdoor movie. If you can leave work early on occasion, you have an opportunity to visit a nearby state park or the beach when it's not as crowded as the weekends. Sit down with your family and brainstorm activities that you'd like to try together this summer. While summer seems endless in early June, it's harder to savor than we picture, and it will be September again before we know it.
Of course, you can take the concept of flexibility too far. Self-employed parents of school-aged kids have a particular tendency to hire less childcare than they need during the summer. Yes, you may be able to crank something out while the kids are watching a movie or playing in the back yard, but it's best not to count on it. That's not fair to your career or your kids. If you really need to focus on a work project, find or hire someone else who can focus on your kids during that time.
How can you work with other parents to get kids to summer activities?
If you have a carpooling schedule in mind that would work for you, seize the initiative. Call around to neighbors and say what you can offer and ask what they can do. If possible, look for activities in your neighborhood that kids can bike or walk to. It will help them get more physical activity in their lives.
Why does vacation seem to merely displace work to the week before and week afterwards? Is there a way to truly unplug on vacation?
Part of this is just the nature of work these days. Most of us aren't being paid to make widgets. We have areas we are responsible for, and these responsibilities don't go away just because we do. That said, you can try to manage your pipeline so nothing is scaling up just as you’re leaving. Trade off with co-workers on covering their vacations so they'll do so for you. If you're working solo, it may be worth asking a friend or someone else you trust completely to check your email while you're gone and phone you if there's anything truly important in there. That way, you won’t be wondering.
And a big part of truly unplugging is, frankly, getting over ourselves. Earth will not crash into the sun if we take a vacation. I didn't check email for 5 days on vacation recently, and yes, I missed an opportunity or two. But almost everything was still on the table when I got back.
Any other advice on time management for parents?
Summer is a good opportunity for asking what we want to do more of with our time. At any given moment, it may be easier to stay home and watch TV. But that’s probably not what your memories of summer from childhood involve, and hopefully it won't be your children's memories either. We gain energy from doing things that are fun. You'll always be tired. So if something sounds fun, and you're tired, maybe you should do it anyway.
Laura Vanderkam is the author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think (Portfolio, 2010) and Grindhopping: Build a Rewarding Career without Paying Your Dues (McGraw-Hill, 2007). She is a member of USA Today's Board of Contributors, and her work has appeared in Reader's Digest, Scientific American, Wired, The American, Portfolio and other publications.
Photo by goingslo via Flickr
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