[00:00:00] And my business doesn't fall apart because I take afternoons off or because I'm not posting on Instagram every day. It's still there in September. But these summer days, I don't get those back with my kids.

Hey friend, welcome back to In the EllaMents. I'm Alishia Egenhoff, digital ad strategist, mentor, and the heart behind Social EllaMents Marketing. Around here, we talk about marketing, motherhood, and what it really looks like to build a business while also being a human with limited time, energy, and capacity.

Okay. So school's either out or it's about to be, depending on where you live. And if you're a work from home mom, you're probably already feeling that low level panic of, "How am I going to get anything done with my kids home all summer?" Or maybe that's just me. But here's the thing, your kids are home, but your [00:01:00] clients, they still need you.

Your business does not stop just because it's summertime. So what do you do? I am not going to sugarcoat it. Working from home with kids around is messy. It's loud. Some days you're going to feel like you got absolutely nothing done, but it's also totally doable. You just need to figure out what actually works for your life, not what works for that, like, super Instagram mom with that perfectly curated feed. What works for you.

So today, I'm just going to share what I do, my actual routines, the boundaries that I set, what I prep ahead of time, and h- honestly, the stuff I tried last year that absolutely bombed. It's not a perfect system, but it's real, it's messy, and hopefully you can steal some of it.

All right. Before I get [00:02:00] into the actual systems and routines, let's just be honest about what summer with kids home actually looks like. It's different, like really different from the school year if your kids go to public school or any school. My kids are 11 and 13, so they're at this age where they can mostly take care of themselves, but I know a lot of you have younger kids, toddlers, elementary age, kids who need way more supervision than mine do at this point, and I... look, I've been there. So if that's you, some of this might need some tweaking for your situation, but the basics, they're the same no matter what age your kids are. You're trying to work. Your kids need you. Your clients don't care that it's summer. So whether your kids sleep in until 10:00 AM, like mine do, or wake you up at 6:00 AM, whether they can make their own lunch or they need you for absolutely everything, the struggle is still the same.

You likely want to be present. [00:03:00] You also need to pay your bills, and that's just hard sometimes. I can't make it easy, but I can tell you what's working for me, what has worked for me, and you can take what fits and leave the rest.

Let me just walk you through what a normal summer day looks like in my house. I'm usually up before my kids, not because I'm some 5:00 AM get after it type person. I'm generally an early riser and especially in the summer when the sun comes up. And my kids are teens who would rather sleep until noon if I let them.

So I get up, I do my workout, I get ready for the day, I get my coffee, I check my emails and my ad accounts before diving into whatever client work that I have on my agenda for that day. And honestly, my workday doesn't look that different in summer than it does during the school year. The biggest difference [00:04:00] is that I'm not spending an hour every morning driving kids to and from school because we don't live anywhere near where they can just walk or whatever, and I'm totally against the bus.

So I actually have more uninterrupted work time in my mornings during summer than I do during the school year, which is great. I do most of my real work in the morning. Once it gets hot in the afternoon... And look, we're in Oregon, so hot is like not hot like Arizona, but still, I don't want to be sitting at my computer anymore. I want to go do something. I wanna go to the pool. I wanna go on a hike. I wanna run errands, get outside, have some ice cream, whatever. So afternoons are usually lighter. Sometimes I'll do some admin work. Sometimes I'll just take the afternoon off completely, and I love that for us.

My kids are old enough now that I don't have to worry about them being home alone. They can make themselves food. They can entertain themselves, but they still want me around. You know? They still interrupt me. They still want to do stuff that needs me [00:05:00] involved. So I have to be really clear about when I'm available and when I'm not available.

Okay, so I have a dedicated office in my home, which is I know a privilege, not everyone has that for themselves, but here's a reality. It's not just my office. My workout equipment is in there, my son's computer is in there. So it is a shared space as well, which means I can't just lock the door and pretend the rest of the house doesn't exist. And honestly, I don't really want to anyway, but I do have to set some boundaries around that.

If my kids are going to be in my office while I'm working, they need to be quiet. They can be on the computer, they can read, whatever, but no loud conversations, no YouTube videos at full volume that are super distracting. And I know that's maybe mean. I don't know. I'm just trying to create space, but I'm going to say it. I need quiet to think, and my work requires actual focus sometimes. So [00:06:00] I'm managing ad accounts for multiple clients. I'm looking at data. I'm making decisions that affect their businesses, and I can't do that super well if there's chaos unfolding around me.

So my rule is pretty simple. If I'm working and you need me, it better be important. If I'm in a client meeting, it better be an emergency. My kids get this now. They're used to it, but it did take some multiple summers to get there. And honestly, my clients, they don't care if my kids show up in the background of our meetings. But I still try to keep things somewhat professional as much as I can.

And the big thing is just being clear around what you need and not apologizing for needing it. And I've even been in conversations with clients where my kids have shown up, and it's always been, not a big deal, but I like to set some boundaries around that.

All right. Let's talk about the actual systems that make summer more manageable [00:07:00] for me. Um, one of the things is morning and evening resets. These absolutely do not happen every day. Uh, but when they do, they make a huge difference for my mental health. Morning reset is just making sure the main spaces are cleaned up before we start the day. There's not a bunch of dishes in the sink. The counters are clear. The living room's kind of reorganized. I usually light a candle 'cause I like to set the mood. And then we have evening reset is the same thing before we go to bed, just kind of clearing the spaces. Everything's reset so that when I wake up in the morning, it's fresh, and then we do breakfast and things like that.

And I know that sounds super simple, but when your house... For me, when my house is clean, my brain has space to actually think. And as someone who is a neat freak, I absolutely need this to be able to do and bring my best not only to my clients, but [00:08:00] for my kids as well and my family.

Uh My kids have to help around the house. Last summer, I started making my kids do actual chores. They have always done chores, but they were more responsible because they were home more during the summer. So they're responsible for dishes. They help me with the meal prep and cleanup. They do their own laundry. This isn't a drill sergeant type of situation. It's just they're old enough to help out now. And if I'm doing everything for them, working full-time and running the house, I will absolutely burn out and probably lose my mind on somebody. So they help. It's simple as that.

And then I also batch my own content or try to as much as I can before summer hits. This is huge. I cannot control when my clients need stuff, but I can control my own marketing. So before summer starts, I try to get as much of my own content done as [00:09:00] possible. So social media posts, newsletters, podcast stuff if I can. That way, when summer comes and I want to be, you know, taking the afternoon off, I don't feel guilty about falling behind on my own business.

And I generally try to keep afternoons flexible. Um, I've learned just to accept that summer afternoons are not good work time for me as much as I try to make it work over the last few summers. It just doesn't. It's hot. I don't wanna be inside anymore. My kids are bored. They wanna go do stuff. So I do most of my important work in the mornings, client stuff, focus work, meetings, all of that. And then afternoons, I try to keep them open as much as I can. Sometimes I'll do a little bit of light admin work. Sometimes I'm just done for the day, and I'm going to stop feeling guilty about that this year. That's one of my goals for [00:10:00] myself.

So here's a question I get a lot. How do you handle your clients during summer? Honestly, I don't make it a big thing. Most of my clients have kids too, or they've worked with me long enough that they know my schedule might look a little different in summer. But my work doesn't change. My deadlines don't change. I'm just maybe a little less available for random last-minute meetings or things like that.

And obviously if we're traveling, I'll give them a heads up that I might not be around that week. But usually, you know, they're doing summer travel stuff and things like that too, so they don't mind or it just, you know, works out itself out.

The only thing I'm really trying to do differently this summer is to not take on any new projects. In past summers, I've said yes to everything, and then I end up working when I really want to be hanging out with my kids, and I regret it. So this summer and this year, I'm trying to protect that time up front. We'll [00:11:00] see if I actually stick to it. I'll report back. But the goal is pretty simple, keep my current clients happy, get the work done, but don't overload myself with new stuff because someone asks. It's literally just three months out of the year.

Okay, let's talk about the stuff that sounds good, but it's not actually working for me or, or maybe even for you.

Work while they're sleeping. If you have littles who nap, maybe this works. But my kids are teens and tweens now. They might sleep until 10:00 AM, and that's when I work. So this is a- this advice is, it's helpful because I can work in the mornings, but there's no nap time, work time either. And sometimes it just doesn't work out. I know in previous conversations that I've had with other moms, they're like, "I want that time to have peace and quiet for myself." So use that [00:12:00] time however you need to use it.

Keep them busy with activities all day. My kids don't want me planning every minute of their summer. Crazy, I know. They want to be bored sometimes. They want freedom, and I don't have the energy to be their entertainment director all summer long. So they have a few camps, but most days we're just hanging around home, and that's fine. Like, that's okay. That's what summer looked like for us when we were kids, right? Like it doesn't have to be this super planned out project for the year.

But another thing is, is taking the whole summer off. I wish. Sounds amazing. But I have clients, and I have bills to pay, and I can't just dif- disappear for three months. So instead, I work smarter. I try and batch as much as I can. I do set boundaries. I do build in flexibility where I can, but I don't [00:13:00] stop working. It's just not realistic for me at this stage in life and in business. So unfortunately, I would love to take the whole summer off, but we're not there yet

And here's the big one I learned last summer: don't try to control everything. Last year, I actually made all these rules about screen time. I had schedules for when they could be on devices, how long, what they had to do first, and it was exhausting for me. I was constantly policing it all day, and my daughter was trying to find any loophole she could possibly find. They were pushing back. It just felt like a constant fight. So scrapping that.

This summer, I am going to loosen up a bit. We're still going to have boundaries. I'm not just letting them zone out on screens 24/7. That's not what we do in my house. But I'm not going to [00:14:00] be rigid about it either. They are getting older. They are getting to a stage where they need to learn to manage themselves a little more, and I need to let them. So what worked last year might not work this year, and that's okay. That's just my reminder to you.

Let me just tell you what I have planned for this summer because I think it helps to hear the reality. We actually don't have a ton going on. Um, a few camps for the kids, but that's pretty much it. And honestly, that's okay with me. It's okay with my kids. They're actually happier with that. They're at that age where they don't want to go to a bunch of traditional summer camps anymore.

They want to... They wanna sleep in. They wanna hang out with their friends, so we're just going to let them. They're gonna have more of a '90s summer, I guess. Um, we're, we're gonna do stuff. We're gonna do fun stuff together still. We're gonna go have pool days, maybe take a trip here and there if we can, do some camping.

But mostly, we're [00:15:00] just gonna be hanging at home, and I'm okay with that. My kids are totally chill with that. I'm not spending a fortune on camps they don't want to go to. I'm not stressing about filling every second of their day. We're going to keep it simple, and that feels right for where we are right now.

Here's the thing I had to figure out for summer to feel manageable, though, is that I can't do everything, as much as I want to be Superwoman, and I'm not supposed to. I can't be the perfect business owner who's always available and crushing it and perfect mom who's always present and planning amazing activities.

Something has to give. And for me, what gives is my own business stuff. My content slows down. My marketing takes a backseat. I'm not as active on social media. You know what? It's fine. My client work doesn't suffer. My relationships with my clients are still solid, but the work I [00:16:00] do for my own business, that can wait if it needs to.

Summer is short. It's a few months. My kids are going to be this age only once, and I want to actually be here for it. So I'm validating you on taking a break if you need to. But do what you have to do to get things done. I'm gonna protect my client work, uh, and I'm gonna let the rest go.

And my business doesn't fall apart because I take afternoons off or because I'm not posting on Instagram every day. It's still there in September. But these summer days, I don't get those back with my kids.

All right. And if you're heading into summer with kids at home, here's what I want you to do. Here's my advice to you. Batch what you can now. Look at your own content, your own marketing. What can you get done before summer actually starts?

Talk to your kids about [00:17:00] boundaries. Have an actual conversation about what you need, what mom needs. Quiet during work time, not interrupting meetings, whatever that is for you. They can handle a lot more than you think, especially if your kids are older.

Give yourself permission to do less. You do not have to plan the perfect summer. You don't have to keep up with everyone else. Just work, be present when you can, rest when you need to. That's enough.

Look, summer with kids home is hard. I'm not going to tell you it's not. But it's also kind of the whole reason a lot of us started working from home in the first place, right? We wanted flexibility. We wanted to be there for our kids. We wanted to build something that fit our lives. Summer is when you actually get to live that out. They're home. They're available. So yeah, set up your systems, protect your work time, keep your clients happy, but also let yourself actually [00:18:00] enjoy it. Because they'll be back in school before you know it, and you'll have all the quiet time that you want to work.

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You can join through the link in the show notes. Thank you for spending time with me in the EllaMents. Until next time, keep building with intention and give yourself grace as you grow.