Column: summer holiday is parents' three-month nightmare

Heidi Ruul writes about how children associate summer holiday with freedom and relaxation, while many parents face nearly three months of juggling childcare and work commitments. The column raises the question of how to balance childcare needs and work obligations during the summer.

Summer holiday arrives each year for children as an eagerly awaited escape, schoolbags are cast aside, alarm clocks lose their importance, and the days fill with bicycle rides, ice cream, and time spent with friends. But for the parents living under the same roof, a very different period begins.

Many parents face the same challenge every summer: how to fill the nearly three-month gap between their children's free time and their own work schedules. This often means planning camps, calling in grandparents for help, rearranging work days, and solving an endless logistical puzzle.

The issue extends beyond practical arrangements. For many parents, summer holiday brings guilt, should they be a good employee or a present parent? It seems impossible to be fully both. Columnist Heidi Ruul writes about this tension, asking directly: should summer holiday really work this way?

The problem particularly affects those without flexible working hours or remote work options. If the office demands attendance and the child is at home, someone always loses out. The usual solution offered is paid camps, but these represent a significant additional expense for families.

How summer holidays are organised is a matter of social policy, not merely a private family concern. The column invites readers to consider whether the current school holiday model matches the reality of today's working parents, and whether the state and employers could do more to help.