Fulfilling the role of a mother while still working a full-time job can be quite daunting, and most women find it rough while trying to balance the two. Once you are a mom, you are expected to be a superhuman and perform perfectly at work as well as home.
The number of chores you are supposed to accomplish in a day can even give you chills just thinking about them. You are expected to take care of the kitchen, pay bills, groom your kids, be a top performer at work, etc., the list is endless.
For those desperate working mothers who are trying their best, here are some tips for you;
Plan your time well
A working mom is always racing against time. The desire to do more will always result in poor performance, both at work and at home. You may even end up in a terrible mood when you are around your children, and therefore you need to be extra careful about this.
In order to succeed in this challenging role, you may need to come up with a list of activities and then plan your daily commitments so that you can be able to do more and work less. From the time you wake up in the morning until you sleep at night, you will need to have a timetable of your daily routine and work diligently at it.
Be conscious of priorities:
To become a successful working mother, it is essential to know which tasks are priorities and which ones are not. You must be conscious of what needs your attention the most, then plan your day around these priority tasks.
This helps you take care of what is most pressing and leaving what can be done tomorrow for them. These can include things such as paying bills, taking your children to school, taking them to the doctor for check-ups, etc. These are priorities that cannot be postponed.
Delegate some of the chores:
As a busy mother, you need to learn how to delegate some of the duties to either your spouse or your older kids. Jobs such as cleaning dishes, preparing food, setting the table, monitoring the smaller kids can correctly be delegated.
You must also realize that as a mother you are not a superhuman and that it is okay to trust someone else with the household chores. Learn to stop being a perfectionist, so you can be able to accomplish what needs to be performed in a day.
Schedule some quiet time:
This is excellent advice. You need to learn how to spend time on your own. This means that you should try to put everything on hold and take time for yourself. Go to the spa, visit with your girlfriends, take a night off, spend time doing some activities that will make you happy without thinking about your children or the work that awaits you at home.
You could also invest in a Pack ‘n Play Portable Playard, which allows you to put the baby in the beautiful and safe indoor Playard selected by The Wife Choice and you can then concentrate on other duties, even office work. This also comes in handy for babies that can’t sit still in one location, but wants to keep moving all over.
In addition, unwinding and rejuvenating is very important so you can be much more functional and productive both at work and in the house.
The reason why you probably have headaches every day could be due to stress, and this is why you need to spend some time to recharge during a quiet time.
Make use of technology:
Technology goes a long way in making our work easier. If you happen to be working late, you can use social media platforms such as Skype to be able to communicate with people at home and ensure that they have done their chores.
Some mothers are even able to do homework with their children while in the office. They can be able to read for them some bedtime stories, sing for the little ones some lullabies and even eat dinner with the family while still in the office.
Avoid distractions:
Sometimes we can be so busy with irrelevant activities that we forget what is most important. Spending time after work with colleagues engaging in worthless chitchat can be detrimental to your efforts. Getting in the house and spending most of the time doing chores that can be postponed such as mowing the lawn when you should be preparing dinner is also something that will cause you not to achieve your objectives.
As a working mother, you must always realize that your time is precious, and you need to be extremely careful with how you spend your time. Keep a timetable and calendar of what needs to be done when, and ensure you do it at the right time.
Some chores can be left off until the weekend or when you have an off day, instead of spending your precious evening time performing them and hence messing up. You do not want to look at the clock and its midnight, yet you haven’t accomplished any of the tasks that you needed to perform.
Find someone to help you:
It is not wrong to ask for help, or better still, find someone who can help you. If you are in a position to, then, look for a nanny, or a housekeeper to help you with some household chores.
You could also look for a PA in the office who can handle some of the tasks for you when you need to be home with the children. Remember that your kids need you as well. Spending time with them will go a long way in making them well-rounded individuals.
If you have close relatives as well who can move in and help out here and there, go for it. Do not limit yourself and make it even harder for you to accomplish your goals daily.
Prepare in advance;
We all know that mornings can be quite hectic, and we have all been there, where you need to do a million things before going to work or taking the kids to school, and it can be quite overwhelming. In most cases we either end up messing things up or forgetting one or two things in the process, and this can seriously mess up our days.
So, this is what you can do; Prepare everything the night before. You can ensure the clothes are ironed, the kitchen is spotless, the lunches have been packed, and even breakfast is pre-prepared. Do what you can before going to bed at night, and you may have a very smooth morning.
Worry less:
This may be easier said than done, but, really – don’t sweat the small stuff, and do not make mountains out of molehills. These may be statements you hear every day, but they are quite powerful in helping you maintain your sanity.
When you feel like things are slowly getting out of control, the fact that your kids did not do one thing or the other, or you forgot a specific chore amid the chaos should not make your mind spiral out of control to the point of almost having a panic attack.
Sure, some things may end up messing you up big time if they are not done, but it’s not the end of the world, and there’s always tomorrow for you to be able to work things out.
So, the best advice is; spend less time worrying and more time thinking of ways to do things better, and promise yourself that tomorrow will be a better day. That is how you will be able to always be on top of things.
Take care of your health;
In the midst of all the chores, and tasks that you need to accomplish, most women forget to take care of themselves. They forget to exercise or even eat right. This is wrong because you are a very important person, both at work and in your home and your presence is needed, so do not wear yourself out and end up getting burned out.
Schedule time for working out. Go to the gym and do some exercises so you can be healthy to even do everything that you are supposed to do.
Doing regular exercises will not only raise your energy levels, but it will also help you manage your stress.
If you feel that there is really no time to go to the gym, look for some minor exercises you can do in the house such as squats and stretching, especially in the morning before all the work begins.
Final thoughts:
Being a working mother is not easy, but many people are doing it successfully. This is the kind of job that requires you to be careful with your priorities, because you may end up concentrating on some tasks and forgetting others.
Ensure always to take time for yourself because this is what will help you to unwind and rejuvenate, and be ready to tackle all of the tasks all over again the following day or week.
Above all, remember that you are a human being, and humans are prone to error and mistakes. Do not think you are superman, so, when things don’t work out, take a chill pill and relax, because there is always tomorrow, and things will be better then.