While your children are at home on vacation there are some inexpensive babysitters out there looking for work.
Enlist the help of your partner or spouse. Perhaps while the children are home on vacation your partner can start work earlier in the day and leave earlier in the afternoon: now you have someone to care for the children whilst you gain some valuable work time.
Try to locate other freelance parents in your vicinity. You’re not the only one who finds it difficult to work whilst the children are at home on vacation, so perhaps you could create a child care co-op with other freelancing parents. Do you have a family member or friend who is a stay-at-home parent – someone who would agree to watch your children for one or two hours a day? This might be as a paid position or as a trade favor.
Remember that while your children are at home on vacation there are some inexpensive babysitters out there looking for work. Many high school students would be happy to babysit or child-mind for between $3 and $5 per hour whilst the parent is in the home. Your children are safe because you’re still in the home, and you’ll be free to work uninterrupted for a couple of hours.
Time to call for help! When your translation business is going crazy and you’re working to tight deadlines, sometimes you simply have to ask for help. Do you have extended family members who may be able to help out during this busy period? Some families trade babysitting hours with each other, while others put together a timetable with several families whereby each family assumes the responsibility for taking care of all the children one day per week. Some after-school child care employees, high school, and college students are more than willing to work on holidays, and most are happy to come to your home and take care of the children from more than one family. Of course, there are always special holiday camps and programs planned by local girls’ and boys’ clubs and other community organizations. If there are no facilities such as these for children in your area, then perhaps it’s time that parents united as a group and urged city leaders or local organizations to provide holiday activities for children.
Above all, remember that the school vacation period will pass very quickly and your children will be back in school, so don’t forget to enjoy your children during these very special years.
