Coping with the kids

I once read an article about how to deal with all those things we have on our 'to do' list at any one time. It's main message was that we are much better able to deal with the many things on our plate if we deal with them one at a time. As in juggling, unless we are very skilled we can easily drop the balls if there are too many. Whereas with bowling we pick one ball up at a time, roll that one and then move on to the next. (You can read the article by clicking here and scrolling to the heading 'Being a dad is affecting my focus on my job'.)

This may ring bells for you if you regularly find you have lots of things to deal with - especially, I guess, if you are a parent and want to find time for the children as well as look after your home, perhaps your work, and hopefully even have a bit of time for rest. This is often a particular challenge at this time of the year when the children are off school for their summer break.

I came across two very helpful articles about coping with the long school holidays from two trusted sources - The Guardian and Netmums. The Guardian article entitled 'What Are You Going To Do With The Children This Summer?' had me laughing out loud, yet it also contained some very practical, common-sense ideas for keeping things happy and relatively stress-free. The Netmums article called 'Keeping The Peace: Tips For Stress-Free School Holidays' also contained some helpful ideas and down-to-earth practical advice. Both articles felt to have been written by parents who really know what it's like and want to pass on tips and wrinkles rather than spout platitudes.

So. grab yourself a coffee or tea, take 10 minutes out, and get some handy hints for how to enjoy the summer with the children!