Mom Life: Fitting Your Career Around Your Family
Fifty years ago, the idea of a woman having a career after having a family was non-existent – there were very few career women who also had families at home. Today, however, there are millions of working moms across the globe, with more than half of all women choosing to go back to work after starting a family. Of course, just because us moms have the opportunity to work after having kids, it doesn’t mean that it’s easy to do. The fact is that being a working mom isn’t always easy, especially when your partner also works long hours or you are a single mom. However, it is possible to have a successful career and a happy family; it’s just a case of finding ways to make the two different parts of your life fit together seamlessly. Here’s how to do that:
Look for a job that is a good fit
To first step to career success when you are a mom is finding a job that is a good fit for your family schedule. For instance, you don’t want a career that means you will be out of the house until late at night each night, as that means that you won’t get to see your little ones before they go to bed. You want to find a role that means working office hours – ideally, this would be nine until five every weekday, so that you don’t need to pay for too much child care. It’s also a good idea to look for a role that allows you to have weekends off to spend with your little ones, or at least every other weekend.
Find child care
When it comes to working and having a family, it’s almost impossible to do without child care. This could mean getting a family member to take care of your little ones before or after school, or it could mean looking into professional child care. One option is to contact your local child care centre to see what care options are on offer there, and what ages they cater for. Often, child care centres can be better than individual childminders as they can cater to a wider range of ages. Remember, whatever child care you opt for, make sure that you feel comfortable with leaving your little ones there, else you won’t be able to focus on your work.
Learn to balance your time
If you are going to have a successful career and raise a family at the same time, it’s crucial that you learn to balance your time. This means finding ways to ensure that you give equal time to both parts of your life – your career and your family. A good way to do this is to save all of your vacation time for during school breaks so that when your kids are off of school, you can be with them most of the time. When they are at school, work as much as possible to make sure that you are giving your career enough time.
Fitting a career around family life isn’t always going to be easy, but it’s important to realize that it is possible. It’s just a case of being smart about how you go about it, that’s all.
