The life of a working parent is often absolute chaos. Wake up, make breakfast, pack lunches, get the kids to school, head to work, grind out meetings, take the kids to gymnastics or soccer practice, make dinner, pick them up, help with homework, clean up, bedtime routine / fight, collapse and binge watch Game of Thrones… then do it again the next day. It’s a lifestyle that only the strong and the smart can survive. In my experience as a working father, I’ve learned that there are things that you can do to help gain some relief from your everyday work load. Here are my top five tips for being on the ball as a working parent.
Plan Ahead
One of the smartest things that you can do as a working parent is be prepared for what lies ahead of you. If it’s a weekend, figure out what you’ll need from the store for the upcoming week. If it’s a school night, plan and prepare breakfast for the morning, outfits for the kids, and school lunches.
Meal prepping is another great way to save time and reduce stress throughout the week. On either a Saturday or Sunday, go to the grocery store and buy (or have delivered) the ingredients for all of the meals you plan on making. Partially or fully cook all of your meals for the week and freeze them in portions. The night before you plan on eating that meal, move it from the freezer to the fridge to thaw out, then heat up the dish when you are ready to eat. This also helps with decision fatigue; saving more of that precious energy for games or movie nights.
Seek Job Flexibility
If it’s at all possible, see if your company will be flexible with your parental needs. I make sure that at my agency StringCan Interactive we practice what I’m preaching here. We make sure that we talk with each employee at least once per year to find out how work-life balance is going and then based on what we hear we prioritze changes needed. Having job flexibility helps when unexpected situations, such as your young one gets the flu, inevitably happen. Be honest with your employer and point out that you’ll perform better when you aren’t stressed out about other responsibilities when you’re at work.
Keep a Family Schedule
Keeping track of everything going on in your partner and children’s lives is a lot. Scheduling a client meeting on the night that your daughter has a piano recital is a terrible feeling when it could have been avoided. Keep a family digital calendar or better yet place a calendar in a visible and accessible place for all of your family members so that they can mark down their most important upcoming events. As the CEO, I make most of my family and personal events visible so my team knows support comes from the top. Selfishly, I prefer that so I only have to maintain one calendar for personal, family and work and then mark a few items as private that only I can see.
Separate Work Time, Family Time, and You Time
Technology does a great job of keeping our minds on work even when we are spending time with our families. If possible, turn off your work notifications when you leave for the day. If you have to work at home, confine yourself to an office space that frees you from your home distractions.
Make sure that you’re still finding time to do things that you enjoy. Lay back and watch a movie, go out with your partner or friends, exercise, or read at least once a week. Personal time is a human need that we all have.
Be Transparent with Your Partner
We aren’t perfect, and most of the time we can’t get everything done on our own. Be open with your partner on what you need them to assist you with, and ask “How can I help you?” You’re a team, and in order to work as effectively as possible, it’s important to communicate.
Sometimes life can feel like a circus for working parents. The best way to combat this chaos is by having a proactive plan on handling the everyday challenges of parenthood.
I’d love to hear from you on how you manage work-life balance as a parent!
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.