5 Tips to Help Moms Blend a Career with Family Time is a guest post. If you are interested in writing for A Modern Mom’s Life, please visit my Guest Posting page.
A lot of mothers are in the workforce today. Reasons might be the desire to build a career or the need to survive. Trying to blend a career with family time can be daunting. If the proper balance is not achieved, it can lead to a feeling of guilt, frustration and you will experience a life full of stress.
To achieve a work life balance, you need to have a strong support system that can help you balance your career with your family. According to the Center for American Progress, in United States, half of workers are women with 4 out of every 10 homes having a mother who is working. Lisa Pierson ESQ, the founder of the Law Practice Mom stated that “The most successful career mothers have discovered ways to be productive in both career and family. That requires being able to focus on the necessary thing at the moment. Also come to terms with choices you make”.
No one likes to be stuck between endless cycle of housekeeping and a daily job. Here are tips to have a work-life balance you always craved for.
5 Tips to Help Moms Blend a Career with Family Time
Be Focused and Let Go of Guilt
In both worlds, work is inevitable and the time duration to get the work done may not be enough even if you leave the building. Focus on your task at your workplace and be 100 percent at work in order not to be less productive. Once at home, put ‘work to rest’ in your head, resist the temptation of checking your emails and be 100 percent at home too. The point is, established limits and boundaries between family and work. This prevents you from feeling guilty at work for not making it home in time to cook dinner or feeling guilty at home for being less productive at work.
Discuss with your Employer or Ask for A Possible Change
If you find it difficult to achieve a work life balance due to your job, you might consider discussing with your employer maybe to switch your department. First you need to carry a research and find out whether your coworkers have flexible working arrangements. It will be an advantage while discussing with your employer. You might propose alternative solutions and efficient ways to have everyone working on same page.
Have Some Time for Yourself
You don’t have to do everything. Have moments for yourself. A ‘me time’ break can help you recharge for the next task at work. At home, you can focus on your hobby, treat yourself to spa and shove off extracurricular activities. Like not being able to kiss and tuck your kids in bed does not make you a terrible mom.
Imbalance is Something Unavoidable
There are always times when you have to let work or family take priority.For example, your daughter is sick; you have to leave work to take care of her or close a late night deal with client, you might need to skip dinner to get it done. It is impossible not to have some imbalance between work and family. Once such situation arises, you need to accept because there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
Adapt your working hours to your child’s schedule
If you have a baby, you should take advantage of her nap times and work while she is asleep. You can also schedule phone calls while you are in a car or outside, walking with a stroller. With toddlers and young children, make an effort to wake up at least half an hour before your kids do in order to check your emails and define work-related tasks to be done this day.
Work while children are at the kindergarten or school and try to subscribe them to as many extra-curriculum activities as possible. Your children will benefit from the social experience and develop various useful skills, while you will get some precious extra hours for work. Remember, your children don’t have to be entertained only by their mum – teach them to be sociable and independent. Finally, discuss with your spouse if he/she can spare some hours from work to come earlier and take care of children, while you finish your job-related tasks.
Author Bio:
Marina is a parenting blogger from Croatia. She is the face behind Parental Journey, a simple mom blog that deals with all the ups and downs of parenthood. Marina graduated with a degree in Journalism, but she decided to start her own business. She is now proud work-at- home mom.
Do you have any tips or tricks to help parents blend a career with family time? Share them below and let’s inspire each other!
