Working Moms
Being a working mom is not as easy as you think. One minute you are driving your children to school, the next thing you know, you’re on your way to your big presentation. You might see yourself juggling school calendars with your work schedule and deadlines. Based on research, four in 10 homes in the United States alone have working moms. What more globally?
Full-time working moms can experience difficulty in balancing everything around. Nowadays, working moms are usually perceived as not fully present as a mother or as an employee. But it should not be this way. It is possible to balance motherhood and career.
Life Balance for Working Moms
Life balance means equally prioritizing the demands of both career and personal life. It means having enough time to finish work and enough time to spend with the family.
Actually, life balance is different from one person to another. You have the opportunity to define it yourself. As working moms, it is up to you to decide how you will have the balance for both your family and your responsibilities at work.
A recent study shows four factors that can affect an individual’s life balance.
Feelings
Your feelings regarding your experiences in life matter. For instance, you were able to achieve a lot in your career but do not much enjoy the experience. This can greatly impact your sense of balance.
Involvement
How much time and energy are you investing? It is possible to be physically present at various activities. However, your mental and emotional presence can be exhausted, affecting your balance.
Competence
Your physical presence is not enough. You should also think about how effective you are going to be and what do you want to achieve.
Alignment
The time and effort that you are investing must be aligned to your values and priorities. You should make sure that the end goal meets your long-term plans.
Balancing Work and Motherhood: 6 Tips for Working Moms
Being a full-time working mom can lead you to feeling guilty and stressed because of the divided time and attention between your work and your family. But with planning and getting organized, you will eventually find the right balance between parenthood and your career.
We asked some working moms from SSG to give you some tips on how to balance work and motherhood. Here is some advice from them.
1. Manage your time, prioritize tasks
We know that time management is sometimes easier said than done. With tons of responsibilities, you have at work and at home, it can get challenging and stressful.
As a working mom, Mary Joy, one of our customer service representatives, sometimes finds it difficult to juggle her responsibilities of taking care of her family and accomplishing her work commitments. “I get a lot of pressure as a working mom,” she said. Fortunately, she learned how to manage her time. “I organize and plan my work for the day beforehand, so that U can manage my time efficiently.”
It is always better to have a to-do list with you before starting your day. Imee and Amber, two of our team leaders, say that they make a checklist and set achievable goals. They plan everything from the most urgent or critical tasks to the minor ones.
2. Set boundaries
Knowing when your time for work ends is not just essential for working moms, but this is also applicable to everyone. Allow yourself to unplug after work and focus on spending time with your spouse and your children. For Shana and Rhoni, two of SSG’s senior team leaders, they make sure to keep their work life at work and their home life at home.
“I turn my work mode off and get into mommy mode,” Shana explains. “Mondays to Fridays work hours are for work and I am glued to my computer and phone, after hours, it is important to prioritize my children and home needs,” Rhoni added.
Avoid spending too much time working to the point that you forget to have dinner with your family. Even on weekdays, make sure to spend time with your children.
3. Set a routine
Following a routine is Kamee’s solution. Kamee is one of our working moms and is also our Retention Manager. She makes sure to set a routine for herself at work and at home with her children.
“When I get home, I find fun activities to do with my children that don’t require us to leave the house. On other days, we go to our local YMCA at least 2 times weekly,” she explains.
Creating a simple morning routine, for instance, can be a huge help in relieving stress for you and your children. Try to prepare the things you will need the night before. This can also help you in managing your time because less time will be spent worrying about what you should do first the moment you wake up.
4. Don’t try to do it all
We might call you a super mom, but let’s be real. You are also human. Your time and energy are finite. You also get tired and exhausted from work and family time. So, accept your limits.
Working moms, you are allowed to ask help from your spouse or your family. Mary Joy and Shana share their responsibilities with their husbands. “He plays a major role. He respects the fact that I do work, and thanks to him, I usually get to sneak a nap in so I can fully recharge,” Shana shares.
Meanwhile, for Delma, one of our passionate customer service representatives, it is her mother-in-law that helps her with parenting.
There are other people who are willing to help you. It could be your family, friends, or even your colleagues. Your family and friends can help you with household chores and taking care of the children, while your colleagues can assist you with work and deadlines.
5. Treat yourself every now and then
No matter how busy you are, it is always important to take time to pamper yourself. Again, you are no superhero. You deserve to relax and chill every once in a while.
You can spend a little to have a “me time” like what Shana and Mary Joy do. Shana’s kind of self-care is taking herself shopping or getting manicures and pedicures. Mary Joy loves going to the salon. You can also do something that does not require you to spend that much. For Rhoni, she likes driving her car while listening to music. Or you can be like Amber who enjoys a cup of coffee and does some stretching every morning.
Moreover, self-care does not have to be every once in a while. By including something into your routine, you can definitely take care of yourself. For instance, Imee always makes sure that she eats on time, drinks plenty of water, and gets enough sleep.
Being working moms will surely make you busy but that is not an excuse to forget about yourself. Take care, not only of your family, but also of yourself.
6. Let go of the mom guilt
This is definitely the most important tip. There are people who still judge mothers for returning to work full-time. You feel pressure because of the expectations and unrealistic standards that you see on social media.
Mom guilt is a tough feeling. It does not actually make you a better mom, but it only stresses you out. Keep in mind that not all mothers are the same. Some have the option to stay home, while others need to go back to work. But whatever reason you might have, the choice to be a working mom should be admired. Your work life contributes greatly to your family.
Key Takeaway
Working moms get the best of both worlds. Being a mom would not stop you from having a successful career. At the same time, being a career woman does not mean that you cannot be a mom. Always remember that as a woman, you can have both a successful career and a fulfilling family life.
There is no such thing as an ideal life. Your situation right now might not be exactly how you pictured it but recognize all the great things that you have done. For Kamee, everyone has their off days. She reminds you to not be hard on yourself. Push yourself, but also know your limits. Meanwhile, Shana’s advice for working moms like you is to allow yourself to provide for your family but always remember that you are someone’s mom, and you are creating your child’s childhood memories.
Being working moms is a challenge, but for someone like you, we know that anything is possible. You can be the best mom in the world while being a successful career woman.
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In Support Services Group, we provide assistance to our working moms. We understand that besides being an employee, they are first mothers to their children. We let them know that they are valued and appreciated.
Start your working mom journey with us! Visit our Careers page to know more.