Full-time translators and school holidays Thread poster: Sandra Kirley
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Sandra Kirley
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:36
Member (2005)
Danish to English
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Hello
I would love to hear from any other professional full-time translators who are also parents of school age children and have the challenge of juggling the school holidays with their translation workload. With the long summer holidays coming up I would be interested to know how other working mums manage, particularly given that as a freelancer you are self-employed, which makes it that much harder to just skip off for 6 weeks of the summer!
I know in some language combina... See more Hello
I would love to hear from any other professional full-time translators who are also parents of school age children and have the challenge of juggling the school holidays with their translation workload. With the long summer holidays coming up I would be interested to know how other working mums manage, particularly given that as a freelancer you are self-employed, which makes it that much harder to just skip off for 6 weeks of the summer!
I know in some language combinations there is a definite slow down or even a stop in the workload during the summer months anyway, but for many of us work continues throughout the year, even if it does lessen slightly. My clients certainly do not expect me to take more than 2 weeks off - yet they cannot always guarantee the usual full-time workload during the summer season. So how do others in this situation manage it? -do you cut your losses and take the time off, but stay on "standby" (always tricky when you're down the beach with the kids and you get an urgent phone call) or do you pay for childcare for part of the holidays and be prepared to lose out a little financially in case there isn't the usual amount of work flow?
Like I say, I would just be interested to know how other working mums or dads manage - and this is really targeted at those for whom this is a full-time career I guess as part-timers probably don't have this issue as much, given that they can take the time off. As busy and independent workers we don't often get the chance to meet up and discuss such logistical issues!
Thanks ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:36
Member (2008)
Italian to English
This is quite a tough one.
The nature of the work, and having self-employed status, requires a change in mental attitude. There's never a time when you're totally not working, but there are many times when you find you suddenly have a bit of free time - although you never know how long the free time may last! As far as I've been able to work out, you have to improvise.
It may depend on the language combination (mine is Italian - English) , but I find Monday mornings are... See more This is quite a tough one.
The nature of the work, and having self-employed status, requires a change in mental attitude. There's never a time when you're totally not working, but there are many times when you find you suddenly have a bit of free time - although you never know how long the free time may last! As far as I've been able to work out, you have to improvise.
It may depend on the language combination (mine is Italian - English) , but I find Monday mornings are usually (though not always) quiet - presumably because nobody's written anything yet that needs to be translated.
July can get intense as people try to get everything out of the way before August, when everything tends to shut down (although last August I spent much of the time doing an immensely long technical translation that was required for September, when everybody starts back at work in Italy).
I find it's also useful to mark Italian feast days (bank holidays) in my diary. Those days are usually quiet.
Weekends are always quiet although it very often happens that there's a translation to be delivered by Monday morning.
So I find that my free time consists of more or less brief periods and that there's never really a time when it's safe to be out of contact.
My own suggestion would be to at least ensure you can always be contacted (by Blackberry, for instance) no matter where you are, and then juggle your workload by negotiating delivery times and not taking on absolutely every job you're offered.
But the fact remains: once you become self-employed you have to say goodbye to a clear division of your time between working/not working. It all becomes blurry and you just have to deal with it.
[Edited at 2010-06-16 09:45 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | RobinB 
United States
Local time: 08:36
German to English
| Mary Worby
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:36
German to English
+ ...
| I feel your pain | Jun 16, 2010 |
I've come up against the same quandary recently as well. I'm lucky inasmuch as my husband is in a similar position, so we both have a certain amount of in-built flexibility. ("I'm busy today, can you look after the children!").
My solution this year is to hire a mother's help! She's a student who'll come in four days a week for a couple of weeks over the holidays to entertain the children. A couple of weeks we'll be on holiday, and the other week or so they will probably stay at the... See more I've come up against the same quandary recently as well. I'm lucky inasmuch as my husband is in a similar position, so we both have a certain amount of in-built flexibility. ("I'm busy today, can you look after the children!").
My solution this year is to hire a mother's help! She's a student who'll come in four days a week for a couple of weeks over the holidays to entertain the children. A couple of weeks we'll be on holiday, and the other week or so they will probably stay at the Hotel Grandma!
The other alternative I looked into was a holiday club. But as my daughter has not yet started school she was too young, and I wanted to do something where both children (currently 6 & 4 and therefore slightly in need of moral support) could be together. I think I may go for the holiday club option, on a part-time basis, in years to come.
And there I was thinking that when they went to school all my childcare problems would be over. ▲ Collapse
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Emma Goldsmith
Spain
Local time: 15:36
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
| holiday camp | Jun 16, 2010 |
My children are 14 and 12 so I have many years of the feeling of summer holidays looming up on us! Here in Spain there are almost 3 months of holiday (they break up next week and go back mid-Sept).
One possibility is to find a friend in a similar position, so that some days your children go to your friend's house and other days the other children spend the day with you. It's a bit of a nothing or all approach.
Another excellent resource are holiday camps. When the children were small... See more My children are 14 and 12 so I have many years of the feeling of summer holidays looming up on us! Here in Spain there are almost 3 months of holiday (they break up next week and go back mid-Sept).
One possibility is to find a friend in a similar position, so that some days your children go to your friend's house and other days the other children spend the day with you. It's a bit of a nothing or all approach.
Another excellent resource are holiday camps. When the children were smaller they went on day camps, or holiday clubs as Mary mentions, but for several years now they have been going on residential camps, both here in Spain and in England. I can really recommend PGL holidays.
A week without children means you can really catch up and get a lot of extra hours in, as long as work comes in at that particular week of course. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sonia Hill
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:36
Italian to English
| Work in the evenings | Jun 16, 2010 |
My children are still very young (1 and 2.5), so my situation is slightly different from yours at present. I work practically full-time hours, but only have them in part-time childcare as I like to spend as much time with them as possible. We also have problems when the childminder is on holiday. My solution at the moment is to work in the evenings when necessary. This isn't ideal really, but is useful as a temporary measure.
I have already been thinking about what to do when they s... See more My children are still very young (1 and 2.5), so my situation is slightly different from yours at present. I work practically full-time hours, but only have them in part-time childcare as I like to spend as much time with them as possible. We also have problems when the childminder is on holiday. My solution at the moment is to work in the evenings when necessary. This isn't ideal really, but is useful as a temporary measure.
I have already been thinking about what to do when they start school. I know that the local nursery does a holiday club for school age children, so I may well send them to that some of the time during school holidays, have them at home some of the time and catch up with work in the evenings like I am doing now.
It is really difficult to find time to do everything. I will be reading this thread with interest.
[Edited at 2010-06-16 12:12 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sandra Kirley
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:36
Member (2005)
Danish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks for your comments! It's good to know I'm not alone in this - and in this profession where the importance of availability, being able to do fast turnarounds and meeting deadlines it all poses a particular challenge!
That blog is a really good one - so thanks for that.
I can see from people's comments that different age groups of children present different challenges. Mine are 6 and 9 - and whereas being able to work in the evenings used to be something I really relied on... See more Thanks for your comments! It's good to know I'm not alone in this - and in this profession where the importance of availability, being able to do fast turnarounds and meeting deadlines it all poses a particular challenge!
That blog is a really good one - so thanks for that.
I can see from people's comments that different age groups of children present different challenges. Mine are 6 and 9 - and whereas being able to work in the evenings used to be something I really relied on - it is becoming more tricky, as the older they get the later they go to bed - or the more friends they want to come over for a sleepover in the holidays, etc etc - so my evening time gets shorter and shorter or, shall I say, more and more interrupted! My added challenge is having a husband who works away during the week - and grandparents that live abroad or the other end of the country, which immediately cuts out 2 help options. I tried the holiday camp last year - it cost a small fortune for the weeks that we did it - which were of course the weeks that work slowed down a bit, making it an expensive option, but it may be worth a try again this year, that and swapping with friends - and investing in a blackberry! I also like the idea in the blog about "enlisting your children" to help draw up a work schedule - so that they know that from x and x time mummy is working and if they are good and respect that, you can then go and do something fun afterwards. It seems it's about mixing and matching all of these!
Isn't it always the way though that the day you have no childcare booked is the day a huge project lands on your desk - the drawback of an otherwise wonderfully flexible and independent profession! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | AuPair and family | Jun 16, 2010 |
I have 3 kids (5 and twins almost 4). Since, I am the breadwinner of my family, I have to work all year round, so I just have an Au-Pair take care of the kids and have the au-pair take them with my family when he needs some time off. Then, I take care of them in the evenings (after 7:00).
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| Marry a teacher ;-) | Jun 16, 2010 |
My husband is a teacher, so he takes over childcare during the summer. He teaches in a different district than our kids', so vacations don't always overlap, and we have to patch together childcare at those times. Otherwise, I am responsible for dropping off/picking up the kids during the school year, so I use a combination of a BlackBerry for accessibility and a babysitting trade with a friend who has a financial planning business to extend the work day a bit after school, at least a few days a ... See more My husband is a teacher, so he takes over childcare during the summer. He teaches in a different district than our kids', so vacations don't always overlap, and we have to patch together childcare at those times. Otherwise, I am responsible for dropping off/picking up the kids during the school year, so I use a combination of a BlackBerry for accessibility and a babysitting trade with a friend who has a financial planning business to extend the work day a bit after school, at least a few days a week.
[Edited at 2010-06-16 15:05 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Laura Gentili
Italy
Local time: 15:36
Member (2003)
English to Italian
+ ...
| My experience | Jun 16, 2010 |
I have triplets aged 11. Up to now I have always taken only 2 weeks off for "official" vacation. We live in Italy where summer break is 3 months, more or less 13 weeks.
Now that they are 11, they can play at home while I work. However, in the previous years I had to spend a fortune in daycamps etc. in order to be able to work. Usually for me summer months are very busy and I am not in the condition of refusing work (I am a single mother).
Good luck, it's not easy, but... See more I have triplets aged 11. Up to now I have always taken only 2 weeks off for "official" vacation. We live in Italy where summer break is 3 months, more or less 13 weeks.
Now that they are 11, they can play at home while I work. However, in the previous years I had to spend a fortune in daycamps etc. in order to be able to work. Usually for me summer months are very busy and I am not in the condition of refusing work (I am a single mother).
Good luck, it's not easy, but you will manage.
Laura ▲ Collapse
| | | | NancyLynn
Canada
Local time: 09:36
Member (2002)
French to English
+ ...
MODERATOR | Flexibility is Key | Jun 16, 2010 |
My three snug-bugs are 10, 8 and 4. In years past I tried having a teen come in (too many interruptions still,) a mature babysitter down the road (time lost driving them, plus I had the feeling someone else was raising them, plus I missed them, plus it cost money,) day-camps (they liked this best, but the drive was even longer and the cost even higher, plus the little one was too little.) For the past three years I've just kept them at home. In 2007, I was translating, interpreting - and organiz... See more My three snug-bugs are 10, 8 and 4. In years past I tried having a teen come in (too many interruptions still,) a mature babysitter down the road (time lost driving them, plus I had the feeling someone else was raising them, plus I missed them, plus it cost money,) day-camps (they liked this best, but the drive was even longer and the cost even higher, plus the little one was too little.) For the past three years I've just kept them at home. In 2007, I was translating, interpreting - and organizing a ProZ.com conference! I learned then that that was a little too much. Fortunately my husband has a home-based business, so he helped out a lot that summer. But no Hotel Grandma for us. I have sort of a swap with two local mothers -- one works in a retail store and appreciates my flexibility in the evenings, the other is a stay-at-home -- but the difficulty there is that the little one is always left behind, so I'm still distracted from my work.
I, too, work in the evenings, make deals with my husband and neighbours, and cut back on my workload. And pull out the chequebook for a week or two of day-camp... Reminding myself that this is just another phase that will end before I know it.
I used to worry about losing clients, but have since found that the best ones do come back, and that every day brings new opportunities.
Good luck! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | My solution too... | Jun 16, 2010 |
Daina Jauntirans wrote:
My husband is a teacher, so he takes over childcare during the summer.
Indeed this is also my situation and I'd say I am pretty lucky. My wife is a teacher, and not only is she lovely, kind, and intelligent, but also a great mom.
Nevertheless, as my wife also has to attend official courses during the summer, we usually take our kids to morning activities, this year a farm school for two weeks, and after that a local activity school for some hours.
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achisholm
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:36
Italian to English
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| Teachers.. definitely have their uses | Jun 16, 2010 |
I agree with Daina. My wife is a teacher so aside from the occasional exam committee meeting etc. she has almost the same time off the children do.
Aside from this, summer clubs and scout camp also take up some of the slack.
| | | | Claire Cox
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:36
French to English
+ ...
| My two'pennorth | Jun 16, 2010 |
My children are much older now at 21 and 18 - entirely different problems! But I do remember the problems of trying to maintain a steady workflow through the long school holidays. I suppose I was fortunate in that until my youngest was 11 I didn't have to work full-time, so I could afford to turn work down, but you still don't want to alienate regular clients, so I did a fair bit of juggling. My husband walked out when my youngest was 11 so I was thrown straight into the world of needing to work... See more My children are much older now at 21 and 18 - entirely different problems! But I do remember the problems of trying to maintain a steady workflow through the long school holidays. I suppose I was fortunate in that until my youngest was 11 I didn't have to work full-time, so I could afford to turn work down, but you still don't want to alienate regular clients, so I did a fair bit of juggling. My husband walked out when my youngest was 11 so I was thrown straight into the world of needing to work all year round and juggle the boys' activities, chauffeuring them here and there and keeping the ship afloat in general. My boys are both very sporty so I found the local tennis club a godsend - they needed no persuasion to go down every day to the tennis camps that were organised during the holidays when they were at primary school! That was actually very inexpensive compared with holiday camps proper, but I suppose it depends what's on offer where you live and your children's ages and interests. Swapping with friends is always a good idea too - I find they need less amusing when there are other children around. We were lucky too to have big gardens and live in an area where they could play outside with the four or five other families of similar-aged children, so all the mums could keep an eye when it was their turn for the hordes to descend.
Other than that, I found I tended to work in the evenings or at weekends if they were elsewhere. My parents helped a lot too (ex-husband not at all...). I invested in a laptop so I could take my work with me to the tennis and cricket matches I was dragged off to on a regular basis and of course I made sure I was always accessible by mobile, even if I wasn't in the office. On the whole, I found my clients to be very understanding - they often have school-age children themselves and I'm sure I didn't lose any clients because I had to turn work down or not be as immediately available during the holidays. As long as you go the extra mile in other respects, I'm sure they'll be able to accommodate you.
All the best with your juggling. I know I wouldn't have missed the opportunity to spend as much time with my children whilst they were growing up for the world - even if you do sometimes feel as though you're pulled in umpteen different directions at once.
Claire ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Great discussion! | Jun 17, 2010 |
Thanks for the link to my blog, I'm glad that the article was helpful. I agree that the ideal solution depends on a lot of subjective factors. My daughter is 7 and this is the first summer that I have tried working while she is at home with me; even now I restrict it to no more than 1-2 hours at a time while she is reading or listening to audio books. I think it's fair to enlist my kid's help in planning the summer schedule (and it's not in my budget to send her to full-day camp for 10 weeks, ev... See more Thanks for the link to my blog, I'm glad that the article was helpful. I agree that the ideal solution depends on a lot of subjective factors. My daughter is 7 and this is the first summer that I have tried working while she is at home with me; even now I restrict it to no more than 1-2 hours at a time while she is reading or listening to audio books. I think it's fair to enlist my kid's help in planning the summer schedule (and it's not in my budget to send her to full-day camp for 10 weeks, even if she wanted to go!) but I do also remind myself that my daughter didn't pick to have a freelancing mom, I'm the one who picked this job in order to have more time to devote to my family. So, I really try not to put too much of the burden on her. As another freelancer said to me, "When your kid thinks that her name is "Shhh! Mommy's on the phone!" it's time to re-examine your priorities!
Best wishes for a great summer to all the freelancing moms and dads! ▲ Collapse
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