My first half-term as a working mother in London

Holidays in the British school system are organized differently from mainland Europe; instead of having a very long summer holiday, here in Britain we have a ‘medium size’ summer and many shorter breaks throughout the year.  It took me some time to adjust to this new rhythm when my young daughter joined the local nursery. I remember constantly crying out “What again!” every time I found out there was another half term on the horizon. However, now that I have a job and the ‘little one’ is going to school, it is a different matter; we need to keep working / studying and to carry on.

I would like to share briefly what has really helped me in this new phase of my life: 

1. Plan ahead - It is never too early to plan ahead in London. My sister in Italy just laughs when I tell her that we start planning for Christmas in August, but planning what to do during half terms, Christmas and Easter holidays is vital because airplane tickets, play centres and organized days out get booked very early.

2. Variety - In my opinion, the main aim of half term is to recharge, both for parents and children, and you can achieve that by both resting and by doing fun things. They say that change is as good as a rest. Although I still had to work through part of the holiday it was good for me to have a different daily routine, instead of taking my daughter to early breakfast club, it was refreshing to take her to a new play centre and meet new people.  Ideally I split the break in half; one half we go abroad or do exciting or demanding activities, the other half we do things like reading, watching some TV, or taking out old toys. Or we just play at being tourists in London.

3. London calling - There are so many things to see, to do and explore in London. As expats, when we arrive in London it is easy to fall in love with everything there is on offer. As the daily routine takes over we take for granted what a fantastic place London is.  We know there is a fantastic museum somewhere in the east, or a unique exhibition we ought to visit,  but when half term is approaching we just want to escape to the sun somewhere exotic and we postpone that visit.  This half term the little one and I visited the Museum of London – it was fantastic! We usually go to the Science Museum and it took some persuasion to convince her to visit something new. I just told her we were going to see a show at lunch time, and we arrived a bit earlier to visit the surroundings. Many museums in London are very active in organizing children’s or educational programmes throughout the year and especially during school holidays they compete with each other in delivering outstanding shows and workshops. As most museums in London are free, making a donation at the end of the visit is part of theroutine of our trip. The little one was born here, so she takes all of this for granted.

 

4. Play dates and sleepovers - Aargh!!! You can’t avoid them, so you better face them as early as possible. Like anything else, book in advance and plan ahead. If your child wants to have a play date with a special friend you need to check with the parents in advance to see if they are going to be around. And absolutely do not do not plan a party during school holidays as many children won’t be in town and your child is going to be very disappointed!

5. The future - Only four weeks to go until the next half term. There is no better time than this to plan. I also like to save some extra money just for school holidays because it seems I have to produce more ‘treats’ and ‘rewards’, and because we have more opportunities for shopping.

I am sure my life as a working mum would be easier with the support of close family here in the UK; however, now that I have established a trusted network around me, school holidays are not so daunting anymore and I look forward to next one.

By Ivette Laviola

For ideas and suggestions of activities for children, please refer to the FOCUS website:  www.focus-info.org