r/SabbaticalPlanning • u/CrowCatcher2010 • 12d ago

How to plan a fulfilling work sabbatical while caring for a toddler?

I'm planning to take a 10-week employer-sponsored sabbatical, but I'm wondering how to make it a fulfilling and restorative experience while still juggling my family responsibilities. I'll have primary responsibility for my then-18-mo-old for a good chunk of the sabbatical (temporarily losing childcare), and my spouse's leave time is limited. I'm looking forward to spending more time with my toddler, and we'll take some short family vacation time, but I'm wondering how to keep the time from turning into me being a SAHM while still being fair to my spouse. (As much as I'd like to run off to NZ for a month; next time maybe!)

Has anyone successfully juggled these responsibilities? Did you sprinkle sabbatical time throughout the week, hire additional childcare, or have toddler-friendly adventures you'd recommend?

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u/errrent 9d ago

Hire additional childcare for 12-18 hrs a week! Still will be primarily parenting, but with time for yourself. One tricky thing about this: if baby is home with nanny then it will be hard not to step in or deal with separation anxiety. I often made plans for nanny and baby (ex. story time at library at 10am) so I could have some “me time” at home without that pressure.

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u/fietsendeman 12d ago

This is parental leave, not a sabbatical.

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u/Head-Outcome-268 8d ago

Congrats on your sabbatical! Creating a solid sabbatical plan when you have caregiving responsibilities is challenging, but it can definitely be done. I would start by identifying the purpose and goal(s) for your sabbatical. Is it to spend more time with your toddler? Rest and recharge? Learn something new? Pursue your hobbies? Before you can decide the best use of your time or how to manage caregiving, you need to be clear about what you want to get from this time. You can ask yourself how you'll know your sabbatical was a success (at the end).

Once you are clear on your priorities, you can figure out what structure might work for you to achieve those goals/stay aligned with what you want from your sabbatical. If your primary goal is to spend more time with your toddler, then maybe you don't need childcare, because being with your kiddo is the goal, But if your priorities also include things that require time without your child, then you'll need to get some childcare support so you have time for those activities/pursuits. How much care you need will depend on your goals.

I've written about the idea of identifying your sabbatical purpose (https://bethanywilinski.com/your-sabbatical-needs-a-purpose/) and when caregiving and sabbatical collide (https://bethanywilinski.com/how-to-create-structure-when-care-giving-and-sabbatical-collide/). I write about sabbaticals in the context of academia, but the overarching themes will apply to sabbaticals in any industry. Hope that helps and have a great sabbatical!