By now, I imagine the school summer holiday will have started for most of you. In my last blog I shared some of my top tips for staying sane during the summer holidays. Planning and preparation are key. You may have a plan for every day, a  budget and the children’s requests on a list on the fridge but have you thought about what to do if things don’t go according to plan?

As with most things in life, some of your best laid plans for your summer holidays may not work out. Illness, childcare even the weather could pose potential challenges. So, what to do?

Spending a few minutes thinking up ‘what if’ scenarios and a couple of alternative solutions may prove valuable if for any reason, things don’t go exactly according to plan. Rather than having to deal with unnecessary stress in the moment, you can make sure you’re prepared for every eventuality.

Here are some potential disruptions you may want to consider a plan B and maybe even C for over the next few weeks:

• Childcare

Your mum, best friend or even your partner may have committed to helping during the holidays but what is something comes up? You can never have too many people on standby to help out if needed. If you still have to work over the holidays, having firm childcare in place is a must. It may also be an idea to obtain details of a local childcare facility and costs, just in case.

• Budget

You already know how much you have to spend over the holidays and how much each activity will cost but what if an unexpected expense comes up? Do you have a rainy day fund you can dip into if required? Perhaps it’s worth having one or two options for each day at different price points.

• Illness

Illness of anyone is not something that can be predicted but there’s no harm in having a back up plan for what takes place if you, one of the children or childcare falls ill. Do you have someone to step in look after the children if you fall ill? Or are the children old enough to occupy themselves in that eventuality? If one of the children falls ill will you all stay home or will your other children have activities to attend? If an activity is cancelled is there something else the children can do and will there be availability?

• Weather

Even in what should be the peak of summer, the Great British weather remains as unpredictable as ever. Do your summer holiday activities depend on having good weather? Have you thought of some non-weather dependent alternatives to what you may have planned?

I’ve chosen four of the most common issues that may crop up over the summer. Can you think of any more?

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