Sam Fryer asks how working mums cope with summer hols

SUMMER holidays have started and, for thousands of working mothers across the country, it means the start of a huge juggling act.

More and more women are choosing to work while they have children, either for financial reasons or because they want to continue in their chosen career. Having a career, looking after the children and the house can be trial in term time alone, but with young teenagers or younger children at home in the holidays, many working mums need the organisational skills of a battle tactician to make sure that everyone is happy.

Three working mothers spoke to Midweek Woman about how they coped when holiday time comes around.

Heather Brodie, 38, lives in Shepherds Lane, Hazlemere, with her partner Richard and her children Lauren, 13, and Iain, ten. She works part-time as a shop assistant in John Lewis, High Wycombe.

She says: "Because of the hours I have chosen to work, it does work out quite well. I don't have to do too much juggling.

"I had to juggle a lot when I was looking for a job. I was offered several things which I had to turn down because of the hours and the school holidays."

Heather has been going out to work for the last couple of years.

"I need to go out to work for the money. I was married for 14 years and my husband did not want me to work. I did lots of volunteer and charity work instead. Now it is a necessity and I do need to go to work," she explains.

During the term time and in holidays, Heather and her partner have to organise their time off so there is always someone around to look after the children.

Heather is asked to work during the daytime on occasions. She says: "When this happens I have to arrange for my partner to take a day off work so he can look after the children.

"Many people have their mums who can look after the children while they work. I don't have this. My mother died a few years ago."

Although Heather gets to spend days with the children in the holidays, she said it is still difficult to organise days out for them.

"I always have to be back to go to work, so we can never go too far away," she says.

"I know there are lots of organised activities, run by churches and other groups, but they are usually for younger children and not teenagers."

Debra Aspinall, of Furlong Road, Bourne End, works full time as a production editor on a glossy magazine. During school holidays her two children, David, ten, and Adam, six, spend a lot of time with Debra's mother, who lives nearby.

She says: "If I didn't have my mother, I don't know what I would do, I would probably have to work part-time. Childcare is so expensive and it is very difficult to get someone full-time during the holidays.

"I arrange some activities for David, but unfortunately Adam is not quite old enough for them."

She says that, although there are quite a lot of children's clubs and courses around the area, you still need someone to pick the children up and drop them off as most of them seem to run from 10am until 3pm and not 8am until 6pm.

She adds: "It is totally exhausting. I go to pick them up, make them dinner, do the cleaning, get their things ready for the next day, if it is cricket or judo or tennis.

"Sometimes I just feel like a taxi driver-come-waitress."

Sarah Saunders, 31, is a director of Duco Personnel recruitment agency in Amersham. She lives in Frances Street, Chesham with her three-and-a-half year old son Harry who attends a playgroup in Chesham.

She says: "I'm lucky in so far as I have got a superb childminder who has Harry for four days a week. She has got school age children herself and does a lot of activities with them."

Sarah's childminder takes Harry to playgroup during term time and looks after him all day during the school holidays and is worth every penny according to Sarah.

"I am very fortunate that I am in the position where I can afford to have a child minder," Sarah says, "I can understand how some people can say it's not worth their while going back to work.

"Child care is enormously expensive, £125 a week plus play school fees. That is a huge chunk of some people's salary."

Sarah believes the key to combining a career and being a mother is organisation and being there to spend time with your children at weekends and in the evenings.

She adds: "The time that Harry and I spend together is very, very special and I enjoy every moment I spend with him.

"I can honestly say that it would drive me demented to stay at home. I consider that I have got the best of both worlds."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.