How to Balance Work and Family as a Mom

As a working mom, I think the most important thing is learning how to balance work and family. It’s mostly about balance, time management, and setting priorities.

Having a career isn’t the simplest thing on the planet, and so is being a mother. I sincerely admire women who seem to have work and family all figured out. Whether you are self-employed or work a 9-5, this is a big shout-out! You’re a wonderful woman!

Many years back, we had more women staying home than working moms. Nowadays, we have more women working than staying at home; even most stay-at-home moms have remote work they engage in from the comfort of their homes. 

Finding the balance between your work and family might be daunting at first, but I’m here to give you some pointers in the right direction. What you decide is entirely up to you, and you can also modify these pointers to suit your schedule and family routines.

Working mom definition

A working mom is a wife and mother who also has a full-time job outside her homely duties that earns her extra cash. It could be a job outside the home, business, or online. 

It could also be a side hustle, but a woman, wife, or mother who does an activity that brings in extra income is a working mom.

Pros and Cons of being a working mom

There are advantages and disadvantages of being a working mom, but I’ll list the most important ones.

PROS

• Financial independence
• Purpose
• Fulfillment
• Self-confidence
• Positive role model for kids
• Reduced rate of depression
• Exposure

CONS

• Less family time
• Stress-related health issues
• Exhaustion
• Work-related pressure
• Marital issues
• Lack of attention to kid’s lifestyle
• Lack of involvement in child’s education

How to balance work and family

Here are some tips that you can use to find a balance between your work and family:

Be open to help

Having to balance work and family as a mom is not an easy task and trust me when I tell you that you can’t do it all. You cannot be at work and home simultaneously, which might make it challenging to keep up with household chores. Be open to receiving help.

You might need help with chores like babysitting, laundry, grocery shopping, and even picking up your kids from work.

You might want to try childcare services near your home or workplace if you have a baby. Aside from this, you can use online apps for grocery shopping and have them delivered to your doorstep. You can also pay for cleaning services in your home or hire help.

There are different ways you can use to find help.

Find time to rest

If you juggle work and family, you most likely have no time for yourself. You need to find the time to be alone and in full resting mode. It is crucial to a working mom because it helps to reduce the chances of anxiety attacks, frustration, and depression. It also reduces stress and the risk of having stress-related diseases. 

Resting doesn’t necessarily have to mean lying on the bed and sleeping. Your relaxation activities could include cooking, shopping, playing games, watching movies, massage therapy, and exercising. Whatever activity rocks your boat!

When you have this alone time for yourself, you need someone to be there for your kids. It could be an aunty, the grandparents, or a babysitter.

Focus

It means to put your heart into what you need to do at the moment. If you are at work or home, focus on what you are doing. 

Lack of focus makes work seem more burdensome and makes you spend more time on something that requires less. It also frees up your mind and helps to reduce stress.

Imagine having to think of the kids when at work or thinking of work when you’re at home. It makes your life seem like an endless cycle of unfinished tasks and can make you lose motivation to do anything.

Prepare ahead

You don’t have to wake up as early as 4 am to prepare breakfast and the kids for school. You can sort this out by preparing for the next day the night before. You can think of breakfast ideas for your kids and prepare your meal at night when the kids have gone to bed. You can even make this a bonding time with your husband and gist about your day while arranging ingredients in the kitchen. 

You can also pack lunches, set out clothes, arrange their school bags, and create a schedule for the day ahead. When you do this, you don’t have to wake up too early or have a hectic morning. When your mornings start with stress, you achieve less.

Check out my healthy breakfast ideas for toddlers post.

Create a chore list

A chore list is a list of chores you want your kids and husband to do. You can create a chore list based on your daily schedule. 

Based on your schedule, if you realize that you can’t be that flexible to take care of some things yourself, create a chore list and place it where everyone or the intended person can see it. It could also be a text message or a sticky note.

With a chore list, you take some responsibilities off yourself and create a sense of responsibility in your kids because you put them in charge of something. Of course, this depends on how old your child is, and a chore list can be as simple as reminding mummy to call the electrical repairer.

Have a family schedule

Schedules are one of the underrated must-haves for a working mom. With a schedule, you know what to do and when to do it. Family schedules are essential to track what happens in everybody’s life. 

You can create a shared calendar or use mobile-friendly family organizer apps. I also like to go a bit old school with a little wall calendar or a to-do list clipped on the fridge where everyone can see it.

Don’t bring your work home

When you are at home, you are at home. You must learn to switch off your career-woman mode and activate your mummy and wife mode. Leave the career woman at work and ensure not to bring home leftover tasks. 

To balance work and family, you should learn to draw a line between work and family. You should not compromise family time and work time as well, except in cases of emergencies.

Don’t be too hard on yourself

One of the things we struggle with as working mothers learning to balance work and family is how to not be hard on ourselves. We are often faced with the uncertainties of being better and doing better.

Don’t be too hard on yourself, and I am pretty sure that for the fact you’re reading this post, you are doing the best you can, and even while it is good to strive to be better, it is necessary not to be too strict with yourself.

Give yourself some pats for your efforts, praise yourself once in a while, spoil yourself, and rest.

Let’s Recap

I believe that setting your priorities is the best way to balance work and family. When you have your priorities sorted out, you know what you should do and when to do them. You also know the things you can substitute and the non-negotiables.

No matter how well you balance your work and family, it’s still a lot of activities and stress. So, always find a way to control your stress levels. Develop your way to de-stress, relax, and have fun. 

I know you are ambitious and have goals set for yourself, which is good, but don’t push yourself beyond your limits at work or home.

I admire you.

How do you balance your work and family? How do you handle the stress of being a working mom?

READ ALSO: Money and Marriage: How to be financially happy with your spouse

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