Juggling childcare and work effectively and efficiently is not easy. If you’re a working mum or dad, hats off to you… we’re sure that you are already doing a great job. Navigating the world as a busy parent can often feel like spinning plates. With the constant demands of work, school runs, and everything in between, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. However, with a little guidance, some perseverance and by understanding your boundaries, it’s possible to make things work better across your professional responsibilities and your family life. In this blog post, we’ll explore 5 strategies to help you thrive whilst managing your roles as both a working professional and a dedicated parent.
Meal Plan
We’ll start simple and practical. By planning out meals when you have time at the weekend for the next week, you’re actually going to save time and make things feel less chaotic. After planning, add everything to an online shop so you know that you have all the ingredients that you need. On your average Monday evening following a hard day’s work, don’t put too much pressure on yourself, If you you are a bit of a Nigella in the kitchen, you may want to plan your more inventive dinners for the days when you’re going to have more time. If you only get in from work at 6pm and you have hungry children, keeping things simple will probably work best. Depending on your kids’ tastes stir fries, jacket potatoes, pasta with vegetables, salmon with rice and veg might be some of your quick go-tos to feed hungry mouths whilst trying to keep things on the healthy side. By scheduling meals you can help to limit small stresses, eg realising last minute that you have no chopped tomatoes for your bolognese! After a long working day, these things can actually get to us more than they should.
Get Help With Chores
Allocate time to chores around the house and make sure that everyone pulls their weight. By getting your teenagers involved with hoovering or hanging out the washing, you’re actually better preparing them for adult life – well that’s how we see it anyway! 😊 Don’t beat yourself up if your house doesn’t always look like a show-home. With the difficult combination being a parent and work demands, this is frankly impossible. Also, if you want to get a cleaner, then do so. Granted, not all of us have this luxury but even just a couple of hours every fortnight may take some stress away from the working parent juggle. Believe us, you’ll sleep better if you are not always stressing about the next household task that there is to complete… and you’ll become a nicer person! 🙂
Don’t Beat Yourself Up
On the subject of not beating yourself up about the housework, actually this is an important wider point. Repeat after us… you can’t be everything to everyone all of the time! If your child spends some time in childcare whilst you work, or your teenager has to make their own dinner once in a while because you are late home from work, that’s fine! In fact with the latter, you area actually empowering your child and helping them to grow in resilience and confidence. Sometimes things don’t have to be perfect. Your 5 year old will sometimes watch too much Paw Patrol, you occasionally won’t make it on time to school pick up or from time-to-time, you’ll have takeaway pizza on a Monday teatime because you haven’t had time to think of or prep anything else.
If You’re Happy, They’re Happy
We know that this can be really difficult when you have a lot to juggle already but it’s so important. Some of us are lucky to have childcare on tap whereas for others this is more difficult. If you do have a babysitter then get out by yourself or with your partner for some adult-only time or all-important headspace. If you don’t have any childcare help then even just shutting your bedroom door with a coffee on a Saturday morning whilst the kids watch tv may be beneficial. When you are working and looking after children both physically and emotionally, you have to find some time to take care of yourself so that you don’t burn out. We find that setting the alarm half an hour early before the kids wake up can be useful. A quick yoga session, a cup of tea or even a crossword in the peace and quiet can start your day off on a positive note!
Be Flexible and Communicate
Boundaries are really important as a working mother and it’s important that your boss knows what those boundaries are. You may not wish to work in the evenings or at the weekends at all, or you may prefer to keep some flexibility with the hours that you work in return for being there at those important childhood milestones or unmissable school events. Workplaces in the UK are improving their understanding of work/life balance but ultimately the amount of flexibility that you have around work and childcare will usually be agreed by your line manager. Good communication from you is important as that way your boss can understand your needs and how they can get the best out of you as an employee. Depending on your childcare situation, this is often not 9-5pm Monday to Friday.
