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Writer's pictureSAMUEL CHIBUNNA
Mar 29, 20225 min read

10 Tips to Balance Your Career and Motherhood

Have you recently given birth and hoping to find ways to make your return to your career? If your answer is yes, you may feel conflicted with the roles you now carry because you now have to juggle motherhood and your career.

On the one hand, going back to your job can bring in the income you need to help your family grow and feel accomplished as you inch closer to your career goals. However, you will need to provide for your children, especially your little ones, who need your care 24/7. It can get exhausting if you follow your old work schedule while taking care of your children.

Fortunately, there are ways to help you balance your career with motherhood without burning yourself out.

Down below are 10 great tips to get you started:

1. Give Yourself Some Slack

Before you work out your schedule for both work and family life, you need first to give yourself time to accept your situation and understand that it will indeed be a challenging undertaking. By choosing to work despite having kids, you do your best to provide for your family. If you stay at home and not work, you are putting yourself at high risk for depression and isolation.

2. Be Flexible

As a working parent, you need to reevaluate your schedule and change it to suit your needs and work preferences.

For example, if you are teaching your children a routine, you can ask for a different work shift, like early morning or evening, to accommodate your children’s needs. You can also adapt your work tasks in between personal tasks if needed.

3. Know Your Priorities

If you have a lot of tasks at hand, make sure to prioritise what needs to go first and give the tasks you can’t handle on your own.

For example, if you don’t have time to cook dinner, ask your spouse to cook or get take out.

You can also pick the important tasks first and let the others go.

For example, you can keep the bathrooms clean while allowing the bedrooms untidy until you are free. I always leave the laundry until end of the week to tackle.

4. Make A Schedule Or Plan

Have a schedule or plan ready to help you focus on your work while still keeping up with your personal tasks at home. This will help you have a clear idea of what your day will be like and help you stay focused. A clear schedule also makes it easier for you to determine which parts of the plan need to be adjusted and inform your spouse about the changes.

When you make a schedule, let your boss and colleagues know about it so they can help you manage your tasks and work with the constraints brought by your plan. It will also help them empathise with your position and respect you for being truthful about your work schedule.

5. Have A Workspace At Home

If you want to reduce the stress of having to work at home, you should have a dedicated workspace. This workspace can help you switch your mindset from work to family and lay clear boundaries your family can see, so they know where you will work and not disturb you.

Use noise-cancelling headphones to help you get rid of the audio distractions as you work and an alarm to remind you when you need to check up on your children in between your work.

6. Get Help

Sometimes, it can feel like we don’t have a lot of time with our children, and we want to be there in all their milestones. However, if you do it all yourself, you may end up taking in all the work and burn yourself out.

Don’t be afraid to ask your spouse or family for help and give them the chance to bond with your children. As they handle your children’s needs, you will be able to focus on your work and get the rest you need.

Remember, it takes a village to raise a child!

7. Speak To Your Boss

If you want to juggle your work and motherhood well, you need to have a clear plan on how to do it. Speak to your boss regarding your new circumstances and ask them if you can work with a flexible schedule. Make sure to have some backup plans in case there is a need to shift your work suddenly.

8. Join A Community Of Working Moms

Balancing your career and motherhood can be very stressful, especially if you are a new mom.

If you need tips, don’t hesitate to join communities of working moms on social media, and they can provide you with advice on how you can help your mental health as you try to adapt to being a working parent and organise play dates for your children.

9. Always Look After Yourself

It would help if you also give yourself time to take a break in between your work and parenting life. When you take this break, don’t beat yourself up for the mistakes you make and feel guilty that you are dividing your time between work and parenting.

Instead, take a spa break or spend a whole day with your spouse and children after a busy day at work. This break can help you recharge, eliminate all the stress you have regarding the previous week and prepare you for another hectic work and parenting day.

10. Know That This Is Temporary

It is important to remember that your current setup will be temporary. Your child will grow up, and they will become easier to take care of. You will also learn to adapt to being a working mom and balance it with being a mom. When everything falls into place, it will be easier to handle the tasks before both at home and at work.

Conclusion

Whether you are a new mom or a mother of two or more kids, it will be a challenge to juggle two roles simultaneously. Both roles are equally challenging, and you need to make sure you do not compromise the quality of your work. If you are having trouble, don’t hesitate to try out the tips above and adapt the ones that work for you. Remember, it will take time to see results, but it will be smooth sailing from here when you see results.

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