Work life balance for working moms

While juggling the roles of a mother, a wife and an employee do you feel stressed, sleep deprived and fatigued? Do you feel guilty because of divided attention between work and home? If yes, read on to put your life back together!

Fulfilling the role of a mother and also managing your work in office can be a hard task in hand. However, with a little planning and family support, you can strike a right balance between profession and parenthood. One can achieve work-life balance by viewing life at work and that at home as complementary elements rather than competing priorities.

Here are a few tips for achieving work life balance:

First of all, let go of the guilt

Don’t upset yourself by thinking about how you are not spending enough time with your child. Instead, think of it this way – you are further financially securing your child’s future. You working now will enable you to put your child in the best school and college when time comes. With school tuition fee becoming expensive year by year, many Indian women work just to pay the school fee. You can be a successful career oriented working mom efficient in both worlds – and you can be so by managing your time well.

Manage your time well

Prioritize, prioritize, and prioritize! If you want to run your life at home and at work smoothly you need to make time for them. Time is a valuable resource and while managing work and home it must be utilized all the more wisely. Limit distractions and time wasters! Be disciplined by limiting the time you take to check mails or Facebook, make phone call or casually surf the internet. At work, of course your need to build a rapport with your co-workers. Utilize your lunch time or breaks to interact with your co-workers and focus on constructive work during other times. With such prioritizing, you will surely find extra time on your hands that you can invest in pursuing your hobbies too.

Plan your days well ahead

Prepare a list of things you need to accomplish during the day/week. Write them down so that you don’t forget them. Stock up the kitchen at the start of the month and make only one shopping trip per week for vegetables and other ingredients. Planning your meals ahead will also help you save a lot of time.

Raise responsible kids

Do you find a lot of your time spent in picking up toys, laundry, making beds, stowing shoes? If yes, stop doing so right now! Teach your kids to clean up after they have finished playing. Kids as young as three years must be taught to be responsible for their belongings. Politely ask your children to put away dirty clothes in the clothes bin and encourage such good responsible behavior with positive words of encouragement.

Find quality childcare

It is very important to have the peace of mind, to know that your child is being well cared for while you are at work. Don’t feel guilty in putting your child in a playschool for a few hours. In fact, there's increasing evidence that children benefit a lot from going to preschool. "Children who attend high-quality preschool enter kindergarten with better pre-reading skills, richer vocabularies, and stronger basic math skills than those who do not," says National Institute for Early Education Research director W. Steven Barnett, PhD. Talk to your employer about part time or work from home options. You along with your other parent colleagues can also ask your employer to provide for a work place nursery which is a very popular concept in countries like the US and UK.

Make mornings smooth as butter

Start your day on a peaceful note by getting organized the night before. Pack the lunches, backpacks, purse; lay out clothes; decide the next day’s breakfast; you could teach your kids to get themselves ready. Make sure your keys are in the right place so that you can simply grab them in the morning and set out for work. Planning for such mundane tasks will reward you with some extra time to sit with your family and enjoy the morning breakfast!

Take out ‘Me’ time

It’s a very common among women to put their wellbeing as the last priority. How will you be able to look after your child, husband and extended family members in addition to managing work in office if you are not in top shape? So take care of yourself: go to the gym, do yoga and other breathing exercises. To be energetic the whole day you need to maximize the three pillars of health:

Diet: Eat whole, unprocessed “real” food. Avoid junk food and too much caffeine! It may be easier to grab a burger and coffee for lunch due to paucity of time but the ill effects will show in the lax way you manage your chores.

Exercise: Exercising regularly helps you de-stress and be in shape; keeps you sharp and active throughout the day! Now that’s a no brainer!!

Mental Well – being: If you are mentally healthy and strong everything else falls into place. Invest some time in yourself to unwind. Learn relaxation techniques such as meditation, pranayama etc, read a book, listen to music or take up a hobby. Make sure you get adequate sleep of 6-8 hours on a regular basis. A good night’s sleep will help you handle stress better during the day.

Women in technology need to keep abreast with the latest technological developments. Take out time to hone your skills to scale up your career.

Create quality family time

Strive to have simple family dinners as frequently as possible. Plan for family outings that will allow everyone to bond. When out with family, try to avoid talking about work and checking your phone. Instead, involve yourself in your kid’s interests, talk about their friends and classes. You could maintain a calendar, marking a list of school and family events. This way you can avoid surprises in the middle of the week!

Spend time with your partner

Often is the case that when you get busy your partner is the first to get neglected. Always remember to nurture your relationship with your husband as he will be one person who will always be there by your side. Get support from your family and go out for a quiet dinner; or better, cook an elegant evening meal for the two of you (Don’t talk about work or kids!). Take a short holiday; feel rejuvenated and reconnected to enjoy each other’s company.

Try these out and let us know how these tips have helped you.