School has been out for three weeks now, and here’s a snapshot of what we’ve done so far.
3 camps
1 family trip to visit the grandparents
4th of July fireworks in Tahoe
2 weeks of Veggie Bootcamp
Some of these things overlap, and I’m happy to spend that time with my little guy. But when it comes to work, I’m not making much progress.
Every summer I set ambitious goals and every summer I barely make a dent in my mom-to-do list.
I’m not saying I do nothing—last summer I built a website to help a cause in Uganda—so it’s not like I’m lounging with chocolate and old movies. Still, balancing home maintenance, childcare, paid work and volunteer commitments is hard.
I turned to Google for solutions, and after repeating the search a few times I noticed the same standard advice over and over:
- Be organized
- Keep a schedule
- Ask for help (easier said than done for single parents)
- Work when the kids are sleeping (this one always cracks me up—who really gets uninterrupted hours?)
- Hire a sitter (not feasible for many work-at-home parents, especially with tight budgets)
So I’m asking other parents—whether you work outside the home, stay at home, work from home, or juggle a mix like I do—how do you find time to get work done during summer break?
How do you manage phone calls with clients when interruptions are constant? How do you focus on a project when the household demands attention every few minutes?
I’ve concluded there’s no single permanent fix—more a collection of temporary strategies and compromises. Trying to work from home with kids out of school can feel like trying to thread a needle in a hurricane: possible if you really push for it, but unlikely to hold forever.
That said, I’d love to hear real, practical techniques that actually work—things not recycled from the usual SEO articles. What helps you get work done when the kids are home?
I have a few tricks I’ll share on my next office day, but I’d like to gather several proven tips from other parents so we can all be more productive this summer. If everyone shares one or two strategies, we might end up accomplishing more than we think.
Please leave your tips and tricks in the comments below or email them to me at [email protected]. Overwhelmed parents everywhere would appreciate fresh, realistic ideas that actually work.