The new career woman should really be called SuperWoman. She has a full-time job, has two children and a husband to take care of. She’s on the special events committee at her church and she is taking classes at university. The new career man is just as busy. He also works full-time, helps with the children and is on a mentoring programme at his work. For these new career people, balancing work and family is critical.
This situation becomes even more mind blowing in the cases of single parents. I don’t know how they do it. I have a friend who has three sons, works full-time and studies part-time. She’s up before five on mornings to prepare breakfast and lunch for her sons. She’s out of the house by six-thirty on mornings to get them to school on time so that she can make it to wok for seven-thirty.
On evenings, she collects them from school, prepares supper, helps them with their homework and then puts them to bed. She uses her quiet time wash dishes and study. Weekends usually find her doing laundry, pressing, taking the boys to and from their activities and cleaning. She also tries to spend some quality time with them by watching television, playing board games or any other activity that they choose.
Balancing work and family can be hard, but it requires some basic skills which can simplify tasks. Time management is one skill that can change everything for the better. Keeping track of what you want to accomplish and in a particular time frame, is critical to getting everything done.
One thing that my friend never does is take home work. I agree with this wholeheartedly. It’s hard to spend eight plus hours at work and still take home stuff to do. Seeing that her evenings are all about the children, it would mean that she would have to sacrifice time with the children.
Balancing work and family requires making changes and adjustments wherever necessary. The ultimate goal is to create a situation where both aspects are fulfilled. Do not forget to make time for yourself, because you could easily become overworked which could lead to both work and family suffering.