How to Balance Work and Kids (Without Going Completely Insane)
I am a glutton for punishment. I have two adorable little kiddos, work a full-time (sometimes stressful & demanding) job, and I run a blog and consulting practice on the side. Life is beautiful and a bit chaotic most days.
A while back I started to really struggle with balancing all of the demands on my plate. I felt like I was always neglecting something. I felt like I could never fully be present in what I was doing because there was always something else that demands my attention. Sound familiar?
While I still struggle with this regularly, I’ve picked up some strategies along the way that have helped me balance work and kids more effectively.
Be Nice to Yourself
As women, we tend to put an incredible amount of pressure on ourselves. The first step to balance work and kids is to have grace with yourself. You can’t do it all and no one expects you to.
When you find yourself stressing about something, stop and give yourself a quick reality check. Ask yourself what would happen if this doesn’t get done right now? What is this load of laundry doesn’t get folded right this second? Nothing. What if I don’t volunteer to help organize the next bake sale at school? Someone else will.
Get comfortable with the fact that you don’t have to do it all, all the time.
It Takes A Village
It really does take a village to raise children. I always thought that sounded cheesy until I had children of my own. Now, I understand that you need people around to help you.
Sometimes you need some time to work uninterrupted (or time to just recharge). Ask grandma to keep the kids overnight so you can catch up on some work (and sleep!). Set up a babysitting swap with a girlfriend or neighbor. You watch their kids one night and they can watch yours the next night. Hire a local babysitter to watch the kids a couple of hours every week.
You should also try to get some help for your home, if possible. Every successful woman I have ever spoken with has some form of household help. Literally, every single one of them. It could be a housekeeper, someone to run light errands for you, or just a cleaning service that comes a few times a year. Whatever you can afford to do. It will take some pressure off and ultimately allows you to spend more time with your family.
I have a cleaning service that comes every other Friday. I find myself being a much better mom those weekends because I’m not stressing about housework. Try Amazon Home Services
. They have services such as housecleaning, window washing, and handyman services. It is much more affordable than you think.
Whatever it is you are struggling with, try to find how you can enlist other people to support you. Chances are there are friends and family that would love the opportunity to help you.
Empower your Family
I tend to take everything on myself: work, clean, cook, manage finances, plan trips, manage the household, etc. I fail to include my family in these responsibilities and shame on me.
At work, I am a huge advocate of empowering employees by delegating them tasks and responsibilities. Why should my home be any different? Not only will handing off some responsibilities to your kids ease your workload, but it will help develop them into responsible and competent people.
Find age appropriate tasks, teach them how to do the tasks, provide them support as they are learning, and watch them flourish.
You do not need to do everything yourself.
Establish Routines
Routines are essential in helping you balance work and kids (for you and your kids).
I am an advocate for routines because they are liberating and reduce stress in your life. For example, brushing your teeth is a task that you have to do. Do you get stressed out every morning because you have to brush your teeth? Nope, because it is a habit and part of our routine. Brushing your teeth requires no thought. You just do it.
Human beings thrive on routines. Develop a morning routine, a home from school/work routine, a bedtime routine, and a prepping for the week routine on Sundays. In doing so, you can quickly go through the motions, get things done and clear your mind for more important things. Visualize the perfect routine, write it down, communicate the routine to others, and then hold everyone accountable for it. After a few weeks, it will be second nature and will be much less stressful for everyone involved.
Sundays are for Preparing
Every hour that you spend planning or prepping on Sunday can save your hours of execution and tons of additional stress.
Your plan should include some form of meal-planning. On Sunday decide what your meals will be for the week and make sure that you have all of the ingredients that you will need on hand. Another thing that will really help save you time is to plan your and your family’s outfits for the week. Buy a hanging organizer and put everything that you need for the outfit in the organizer down to socks and underwear. That way all you need to do in the morning is grab it and put-on. I do this for myself and include accessories and shoes so I am not scrambling around looking for something that goes with the outfit. Any sporting events or activities? Prep all of the items that you will need and get them ready to go. Your Thursday self will thank you for all the work that you did on Sunday.
If you aren’t sure what to include in your Sunday routine, think about what takes up the most time or causes the most stress throughout the week. Think about how you can try to eliminate some os this work/stress by planning ahead.
Set Goals
Goals are essential in helping you balance work and kids.
Each Sunday, set goals for the upcoming week. Set an overarching goal for the week- what do you really want to accomplish? What woudl make you really excited to get done? Next, break it down into realistic daily tasks that need to be done in order to accomplish that goal.
The key is being realistic. You are just setting yourself up for failure if you try to cram too much into your week or accomplish too much. By picking one realistic goal, it allows you to meet that goal and be done. Then you can relax and spend time with your family. Without goal setting, you will always feel that you have something else to do.
It is possible to balance work and kids, it just requires a bit of planning and patience. You got this!
What tips do you have to balance work and kids? What is your biggest struggle as a working mom? We would love to hear, drop a comment below.
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I definitely respect working parents from home or otherwise. I’m looking forward to starting my own family but I chose to build my business working from home so that I can take care of children. I know it’s more difficult than I could ever imagine so go you! I love these tips for how to get stuff done with them running around.
It is so tough either working from home or working out of the home. In fact, working from home with the kids is way harder than going into work for me, so go you too! 🙂 Thank you so much for reading and keep up the great work Mama!
Great tips. I love this. Also, as much as I love Amazon, I’ve never heard of Amazon Home Services. Thanks!
It’s relatively new (at least in my area). I love Amazon so much that if they come out with it, I use it! Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate it!
I so needed to hear this! As I was reading I looked up and saw the mess my daughter made, took a breath and thought, don’t stress! Clean it when you feel like it lol. It’s also hard to bend down at the moment, being that I’m 8 months pregnant! But I loved this read, great job!
Hang in there Mama. You are doing awesome work. Being pregnant with a toddler is not easy by any means. You definitely need to cut yourself some slack! Best of luck to you and thank you for reading.
Thanks so much!
My advice is that parents should give themselves a break both figuratively and physically. We need some time to ourselves and we also need to not put too much pressure on ourselves.
Absolutely! There is nothing wrong with taking some time to take care of ourselves. It makes us a better parent in the long run. Thank you so much for reading and sharing!
Great tips!! I find that planning & routines are a must. Even as a stay at home mom I jave to remind myself to take a bream, enjoy the time with kids, that nobody’s going to care about the laundry!!
Exactly, these tips really apply to all moms. The struggle is real for everyone! Thank you for reading!
Well, I don’t have kids yet but I can definitely imagine the chaos! All these tips are realistic and doable. Thank you for sharing.
These are fantastic tips to help parents 🙂
Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate it!
This was a great reminder. I completely ignore the first 3 although I know their important. And routines are key, when we get off track, my kids are a nightmare. Who knew something as simple as a schedule could tame your kids. Love your post
Yes! We got off a schedule in the past few weeks because of travel and I want my sweet kids back! They are like little aliens running around. Thank you so much for reading!
It’s a never ending juggle! Not sure it’s all totally possible tbh. Great post though!
You always feel pulled that is for sure. Thank you for reading.
LOved reading this post! When I was still
A working mom, life was stressful and your tips for balancing are very helpful!
It is so stressful! Thank you so much for reading!
Work life balance is so difficult. I have no idea how you blog on top of being a mother and working fulltime. That takes serious organisation! Congrats and keep it up. It’s true delegation is key!
Thanks so much. It certainly isn’t easy. Those days when it is tough, I remind myself of why I am doing it and that seems to keep me on track. Thank you so much for reading. I really appreciate it!
Hi, Chevelle! Thank you for this post! I read it because I imagine myself becoming a mom in the next few years and the question of whether I can continue to work, whether I will become completely overwhelmed with anything OTHER than childcare, etc. occupies a little big of my brain space already. 🙂 Your post really helps me imagine how it might be possible for me to do more than just one thing at a time as a future mom. I’d love to continue blogging or writing in some capacity, for example. So thanks again for the great tips!
My biggest suggestion is to not overthink it. Just take it day by day. Best wishes you to you in your blog and family life! Thanks for reading.
Thanks so much! And solid advice 🙂 Best to you and yours as well!
Love the idea about delegating at home. I don’t really have any 2-yera-old appropriate work tasks, but I can focus more on finding “work” for him to do of his own! He really likes when I set up a little work space for him next to mine. Too bad it doesn’t keep him busy as long as my work does!
This is some great advice! I love the part about empowering your family. It’s important to remember that the day to day runs best when everyone is involved.
Thanks for the lovely post
Those are some great tips. It certainly takes a village to raise kids.
It does. Thanks so much for reading!!
haven’t yet started working full time after the baby. Really scared to take up a full time job. This has given me some confidence. Will try and follow some of these.
Balance is so difficult! I need to start using Sunday as prep-day!
It really is tough. Thanks so much for reading!
Oohhhh I definitely needed this! I went through a tough time with balancing work life and being there for my little boy full time also.. I’ve recently started working on me daily schedule, and your advice made it all so much better! And it’s always nice to feel like you’re not alone!
You are most certainly not alone. I feel more women need to talk about the feelings and struggles they are facing so others can feel better about their own situations. Thank you so much for reading and keep up the great work Mama!
I agree so much with being nice to yourself-I know I tend to take on a lot, so when everything is finally calm, I crash hard. You gotta take breaks!
Absolutely! Thank you so much!
I totally needed to read this today! Thanks for the reminder!
Sunday planning was always SUCH a huge key to success for our family when I was working outside of the home. Meal prep madness definitely went down to the extreme. 🙂 And your first point—give your self a break—is an absolute must!
I am lost without my Sundays! Thank you so much for reading !
Like I always say, it’s all about balance!