Surviving (and Softening) the School Holiday Juggle.

Lola Olajide, founder of mindful colouring book brand Ruthy Michaels, smiling and holding two colouring markers against an orange background — self-care and mindfulness colouring for busy mums and caregivers.

The school gates close, the routine disappears, and suddenly the six-week countdown becomes a daily puzzle: who's watching the kids on Tuesday, how do you still show up for work, and where does your wellbeing fit into any of it?

If you're a working mum, a solo parent, or a career woman juggling caring responsibilities, you already know: the holidays aren't a break. They're a logistics operation wrapped in guilt about not doing "enough" — enough activities, enough presence, enough patience.

Here's the truth we want you to sit with this week: you don't need to fill every day. You need pockets of calm you can actually reach.

The childcare patchwork is real

Camps, grandparents, swapped shifts, screen time you didn't plan for, a kid underfoot on a work call — most parents are stitching together a patchwork, not following a plan. That patchwork is exhausting precisely because it changes daily. There's no autopilot.

What helps isn't a perfectly organised summer. It's small, repeatable anchors that don't depend on childcare falling into place.

Three anchors that fit inside the chaos, not around it

1. Five minutes, not fifty. A colouring page at the kitchen table while dinner's cooking. A page of prompted journaling while the kids watch one episode. You're not carving out a spa afternoon — you're claiming five minutes your nervous system will actually feel.

2. Shared calm, not separate childcare. One quiet win of coloring together is that it isn't "another activity to supervise." You can colour alongside your child, both regulating in parallel, no entertaining required. It's connection and a breather, at the same time.

3. Let it be imperfect. The goal this week isn't a magazine-worthy summer. It's getting through Tuesday with your patience intact. A messy page, a half-finished journal entry, a day that was 70% survival — that still counts.

A gentle reframe

You're not failing at the holidays. You're parenting through a genuinely under-resourced stretch of the year, often without enough childcare, without enough hours, and without enough acknowledgement that it's hard. Reaching for a five-minute colouring break isn't indulgent — it's how you stay steady enough to keep showing up.

Next week: as the "back to school" countdown creeps in, we'll talk about prepping without the panic — including how a little mindful routine now can make the transition gentler for both of you.