Kaboutjie SA Mommy Blogs by Lynne Huysamen
As recently as 2015, research shows that 70 percent of moms with kids under age 18 were in the workforce. This is significantly more than in decades past. In 40 percent of households, mothers are the primary breadwinner.
While it makes sense that she would now be sharing duties at home, the truth is that much of the childcare, cooking, cleaning, and shopping still falls on a mother’s shoulders, especially in households where she is a single parent. That leaves many moms wondering how to balance work and family. Here are some tips for working moms that might work for you.
Get Organized
Balancing work and family is a delicate blend of getting things done and making time for each other. Being organized can help.
Start by sorting your household and showing each member of the family where things go. That way when cleanup-time arrives, everyone can work together without mom having to oversee.
Routines are also a great way to make sure you can carve out family time amidst all that needs to be done. Check this Adobe Spark post to help you get started.
Create a Family Calendar to Keep Track of Everything
Along the lines of staying organized, a family calendar can help you remember who has to be where and when. Designate each family member a certain color of ink and fill in the days with sports games, practices, recitals and work obligations. That way you can see right away where you’ll have to spend as a family.
You’ve Got to Make Boundaries
As a working mom, you can feel torn between your employer and your family, but the truth is there have to be lines that can’t be crossed. Juggling work and family is hard so take some time to speak to your employer about not working late nights or weekends or not being able to come in without a certain amount of notice. Likewise, speak with your family about your work duties so they understand that part of your life.
Build a Support Network
Working and family are your two biggest obligations, but you can’t do it alone. It’s important to build a support network filled with people you trust so that you have someone to fall back on when need be.
Perhaps retired grandparents can pick your children up from school so they are in a loving place where they can do homework and play while they wait for you to get off work. Maybe you and your spouse trade-off early mornings so the kids aren’t alone, but you both get to the office on time.
However it happens, this team around will help make your workdays easier so you can focus on family when you’re home.
How to Balance Work and Family
Learning how to balance work and family can take some doing, but you’ll be so glad you spent the time. Staying connected with your spouse and kids via text during the day can help. So can creating special memories with game nights, overnight weekend vacations, surprise notes in lunchboxes and making sure there’s time to catch up at the end of each day.
Check out the Kaboutjie blog for more info about work/life balance so you can be done on time and home with your kids before you know it.
