10 Ways Working Moms Can Balance Work and Family

Being a mom is a full-time job in itself and working mothers often feel stressful balancing the home and office. The key to balancing parenthood and professionalism lies in creating a plan, putting a support system in place and getting organized. Here are a few tips that could help you.

1. Share the load: There’s only so much you can do yourself so get your partner to share duties and responsibilities with you. If you drop your kids to school, let him pick them up.
2. Don’t carry work home and home to office: Avoid taking work calls and answering emails at home and when you’re in office, trust your caregiver to look after your child and don’t constantly call to check on them.
3. Involve your children: Give your children duties of their own. This frees up your time and makes them feel independent. When cooking, give them small tasks like washing vegetables. This gives you quality time with your children.
4. Schedule calls while traveling: Make the best use of time by prioritising and scheduling tasks. Phone calls and emails can easily be answered while commuting as long as you’re not driving. Sneak in errands on lunch breaks or when you drop or pick up your children.
5. Outsource: Get someone else to do regular time taking tasks like deep cleaning your home, gardening or maintaining the pool. The key is to outsource tasks that do not require your attention and focus on those that do.
6. Prep for the next day: Putting together your outfit at night for the next day can save you precious time in the morning especially when your little one is fussing about going to school. The weekend is a great time to put together the week's outfits for you and your children.
7. Cook smart: Prepping is important in the kitchen as well. Freezer meals that can be cooked on the weekend are a great help to working mothers. Alternatively, cook meals that do not involve you standing in the kitchen for hours. Try out a few slow cooker meals or baked dishes during the week and save your specialities for the weekend and holidays.
8. Schedule your vacation days strategically: Divide your vacation days by 12 so that you get a few extra days at home each month.
9. Follow a consistent routine: Consistency is important for you and your child. This helps your child know what to expect and makes them less dependent on you.
10. Turn off the TV: It is very tempting to make your child sit in front of the television while you go about getting other things done but this is not healthy and robs you of time to spend with them.
11. Find Quality Daycare: Ask your network of friends and family for references to nannies, babysitters, and daycare centers. Create a list of criteria that are important and then schedule time to interview qualified childcare providers or to tour local daycares. Hiring nannies with a history of long-term commitments to families is always recommended. In case of nannies it is best to schedule play dates where you could easily evaluate how the nanny interacts in formal settings. If you choose a daycare facility, choose one that has employees with a good background, flexible hours, a low teacher-to-student ratio, outdoor space and up-to-date licenses.

Stop feeling guilty! that’s the rough take-home message – or perhaps more precisely, the message many working mothers will choose to take home. Well, rather than dwell on how you're not with your child, think about how your role in the company is benefitting the family. Perhaps you can afford certain classes or educational opportunities for your children or you're able to put away savings for college. 

The solution: Your kids will turn out just fine. No matter how much you angst about missing baseball games, school plays and trips to the pumpkin patch, your children still love you more than you know. Working-moms guilt is inevitable at some time or other, but how you manage the guilt will determine if it smothers you or not.