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In today’s society, everyone is doing more. More homes are
two-working-parent families; people in general are working more hours; children are
encouraged to be involved in more activities and organizations;
everyone is encouraged to help out at this volunteer activity or that church
supper. So how do we find balance when everyone is going zero to one hundred
all day, every day? Especially with school beginning soon, how do you find a
good routine for your family that leaves everyone happy and healthy? Check out our tips for staying sane, balanced, and - most importantly - happy as a working parent.
1. Come together at least once a week. Carve out a specific
time during the week that your family intentionally spends time together. Turn
off the TV, cell phones, emails and other electronics and spend at least an
hour doing something together. This could be dinner every Friday, pancakes
every Sunday morning, or even a game night in the middle of the week. Whatever
it is, make it a point to have and respect this time your family spends
together.
2. Reduce. Take away extra things in your routine that stress
you out, or delegate tasks to others. For instance, if you are constantly
stressing mid-week about extra events that have come up, start taking a few
minutes on Saturday or Sunday to make a calendar for the next week. If you’re
self-employed and know you work better late at night after your kids are
asleep, look at restructuring your work schedule to better fit your needs.
Tip: For chores and to-do’s around the house, get your kids
involved. Not just normal chores, but things that require skill and can be fun
learning experiences. Have older children help plan out, make dinner and set
the table. Everyone will be wondering how you manage to work, play AND teach
etiquette skills!
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3. Prioritize. You may be scoffing, thinking “I am the
queen/king of prioritizing, this is always rule #1!” But hear me out – you don’t
need to only be prioritizing YOUR time; you need to be teaching your children
to prioritize their time as well. With so many opportunities for children to
get involved, it can be easy to feel pressure to take on too much. And as a
parent, it can be stressful trying to prioritize your work when you have three
different places to drive your kids to on any given afternoon. Sit down and decide what is most important, then go from there.
Tip: For kids, start small. Have them choose one sport or extracurricular activity and see how scheduling goes. If they can take on more, great. If they can't, it is much easier to reevaluate when you've got one activity as opposed to three or four.
4. Say goodbye to guilt. Although working parents are becoming
(and have been) the norm, it can still be easy for parents, especially working
mothers, to fall into the trap of feeling guilty about their dual roles. Here’s
the secret – nothing is ever going to be perfect, no matter if you work 40, 20,
or 0 hours outside your home. Embrace things that are going well and stay
optimistic about the things that didn’t go exactly according to plan.
Tip: Feeling guilty that you don’t spend enough time with
your children? In a study done in 2007, most children didn’t wish for their
parents to spend more time with them – in fact, they were happy with the amount
of time their parents spent with them. Instead, they said they wished their
parents were less stressed or tired. See above for our tips on that!
Do you have any tips for how you juggle the work-life balance? Let us hear them in the comments!
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