I work full-time as a children’s book author and I teach during the summer and online during the school year. I not only survive Spring Break, but also mostly thrive because of the following three principles.
1) Setting up babysitting swaps.
When I set up swaps, it’s win-win because my three kids (kinder, fifth grader and eighth grader) ages 6, 11 and 14 have built-in friends to pal around, which allows me to get work done even when I’m the “on” parent.
2) Arrange in advance to take a day off.
I do this so I can enjoy one day of play with my children. A month before vacation arrives I make sure that I have set-up this up a month before vacation arrives. Taking one day off allows me to also look forward to getting a real day off when my kids are off. But it’s key to plan this well in advance. I do this at the beginning of the semester.
3) Arrange an activity that they usually have never before.
The last activity that I did that REALLY worked is –I gave my kids a video camera and encouraged them to write and star in their own funny video. This allowed everyone to have a roll and then they downloaded their video to Youtube and became stars to all of their friends. Since I write funny books, I was able to shout out encouragement and to veto some ideas as well. I loved that we were able to get to work at the same time!
p.s the photo at the top is my son Ari messing around with special effects. Love this super sized teeth! He was having fun.
What do yo do to thrive during Spring Break when you’re working at home?