Being a mother is one of the hardest yet most rewarding jobs in life and most will admit that trying to balance their family life with their work life is extremely hard. There are now more mothers in the work force than ever before and you will need to focus on planning and organisation to achieve a healthy balance. This is something that you will always continuously be working on but by following our top tips you will be able to get closer to reaching an ideal work and family life balance as a mother.
Let Go of the Guilt
For many mothers, one of the hardest parts about achieving a great work and family life balance is the feeling of guilt about being away from your children. However, instead of focusing on these negatives you should instead focus on the positives that will come from working such as being able to give your children better educational opportunities or putting money away for university. You will need to accept that there will be both good and bad days and that you are ultimately doing what is best for your children.
Find Good Childcare
When you know that the people looking after your kids are great, this makes it much easier to leave them for the day as you head out to work. We would advise you to ask for recommendations from family and friends as this will ensure that you are getting reputable childcare than you can trust which will give you peace of mind when leaving the children.
Organise Your Mornings
We’ve all been there where you are running around the house trying to get both yourself and the kids ready for school and end up starting your day burnt out before it has even really begun. Try to pack the kids lunches and have all their clothes laid out the night before so that they are ready to get dressed and get out the door. The night before, it is also a good idea to look over your following day’s to do list and divide this up so everyone knows exactly what their job role is.
Create a Family Calendar
A key part to a having a great work life balance is to make sure that you are organised so you can spend more time being productive and less time stressing out. On your calendar make sure to include all family priorities such as when you need to pay bills, chore charts, all school and family events, birthdays and other extracurricular activities.
Communicate with Your Employer
One of the main ways that you can ensure you achieve a healthy work and family life balance is to communicate effectively with your employer. Write down a detailed plan of what flexible arrangements you will need and try to be as open and honest as you can with this. You may also need to set a trial period for your flexible working arrangements to show how exactly this would work and to demonstrate that it would not affect productivity. For some mothers, their old job may not have suitable working hours for them anymore and they may want to instead look at taking on another role that is more flexible such as waiting jobs in London. This will give you the flexibility that you need, and you can work these shifts around your schedule. It also means that you won’t be committed to working a set number of hours each week, so if you need more time off one week to be with your children, then you can easily do this.
Check in During the Day
What’s great about the new digital age is that you can easily check in with your children during the day to give you peace of mind that they fine and so you can then concentrate on the work at hand. During your work breaks you can always call home or you could even record your own voice reading along to a children’s story. This will also be settling for your children too if you are not going to be at home as muchHave Special Family Activities
As a working mum, it is important that you make time for your children both during the week and on the weekends. This will keep everyone bonded together and your children will still feel as though they are getting enough attention from you. Set aside planned time for these activities so your children can look forward to them and when you do have these activities, make sure you are completely invested in this time and are not on your work phone being distracted.
K Elizabeth xoxox
*Collaborative Post
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