Top Tips to Juggle Work and Motherhood

As of late, there’s been more controversy around moms that work full time outside of the home, and the impacts that it has on our children. A recent BBC published article states that a recent study has found, “Children whose mothers work are less likely to lead healthy lives than those with "stay at home" mothers, a study says”. Source - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8278742.stm

As I do not necessarily agree with the findings of this report, I also feel that as a working mother, it’s essential to have the proper life/work balance and it would be a great idea for us to share some of our top tips that we use to be effective in juggling being a mom and working full time. I’d like to give a special shout out to fellow “hub-ist” Julie-Ann Amos as she posed the question to me, and has inspired me to share my answers/ideas in this hub post.

Outside of the psychological guilt that we find to be absolutely unbearable, we have to contend with the Mom wars the Stay at home mom versus the Out of home working mom (SAHM versus OOHWM)… There are some that fall in between, you have your WAHMS (Work at Home Moms), but not all of us have that as an option. I have been a OOHWM and WAHM, being a SAHM has not been an option as of yet. However I’m sure that all moms would agree that getting that time in with the kids is an essential part of being a good mother. So these tips are for all mothers, regardless of your status, they should help to make your life less hectic.

Here are my Top Tips to Juggle Motherhood and Working Full time:

Devise a plan and schedule:

• Identify and list tasks that should be done while at the office only and tasks that should be done at home and when/what days of the week. This helps keep home and work life separate.
• Post those tasks on a dry erase or chalk board, for everyone to see in the home, to help keep things on schedule.

Look for opportunities to reduce your weekend workload:

• Doing laundry throughout the week prevents you from having several mountains of laundry to contend with on the weekend that suck up your weekend time.
• Bathroom duty is also another good task to get done during the week
• Dusting and vacuuming throughout the week also shaves time off of your weekend duties

Look for opportunities to reduce your weekly workload and stress:

• Set out outfits for the entire week on Sunday evening
• Pack and prepare lunches the night before
• Plan meals on the weekends for the entire week, cook all of the meats for those dinners and do the prep work (chopping/dicing etc) of all of your produce/vegetables so that the prep time for meals is dramatically reduced during the week. Doing this allows you to cut back on convenience and fast foods and gives you more control over what the family is eating during the week, even if you have a crazy schedule.

Get help:

• Assign tasks to the kids if and whenever possible, whether its dish duty, laundry collection, and give them an incentive or reward for doing this. Whether its extra time to play outside or time on the family computer, use this as a way to get the kids excited about helping out around the home. Be sure to post these on the board so that they’ll have a visual reminder of what needs to be done and when.
• Assign tasks to significant other whenever possible, whether its getting the kids off to bed, grabbing the laundry, or any other odd task, and be sure to reward your significant other for helping out, whether its, extra 1 on 1Adult time, a massage, extra time to golf whatever works.

Keep work at work:

• This cannot always be avoided, but it’s important to decompress from work, find a ritual that works for you, if you drive from work daily, listen to something that soothes you and helps you feel free and uplifted before getting home. If you take the train in or carpool, grab a book or a headset and lose yourself in either listening or reading something that helps you to set the stresses from work free. Find time later in the evening to talk to your significant one about work, if it’s something troubling, exciting, or you just need to vent, just be sure to leave those feelings where they are and try not to project them onto your loved ones.
• Delegate, delegate, and delegate. We aren’t perfect and we cannot be all things to everyone at all times. It’s ok to give someone work, just follow up and make sure its done to your satisfaction (and no, this does not mean your idea of “perfection”) ☺ .

Keep home at home:

• If you have a sick child, make the decision to either stay at home with that child, or entrust the child to Dad or whomever you trust to take full care of your child. Check on them periodically, but stay focused while at work. This can be difficult, but do your best to stay on track.
• Do not confide in co-workers about your “home life” issues, if they aren’t considered a true friend (meaning, if you don’t talk to them or call them during non work hours ever), then keep your home life to yourself

• If there is a deliverable due at work that you are responsible for and it’s not going to be completed on or ahead of schedule, give your peers/boss the professional courtesy of letting them know as soon as you realize that you will not meet the deadline and do not wait until the day of, that’s if you have been dealing with a home situation that did not allow you the timeframe necessary to complete the task. Doing this allows you the opportunity to delegate and enlist the help of coworkers so that the deliverable can be completed on time. This also helps keep you from being stressed out at home and thinking about work.

Use resources that may be available to you through your job/employer:

• Many employers realize the importance of work/life balance and provide resources to help their employees sustain a better quality of life by making these resources available. Employers may offer flex -time, where they allow their employees to work from home. Others may offer other programs to help employees effectively manage their lifestyles.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF! All moms need to take care of themselves so that we can continue to care for our families. Having a plan and schedule in place also helps you and the family to get the sleep that your body requires to continue with the daily activities and living the best life possible.

Have any tips or ideas you’d like to share? Feel free to leave a comment or contact me and I’ll post them for others to see as well. As always, thanks for the “Hub Luv”!