Maintaining a work-life balance is a daunting process for working parents. Working parents often juggle multiple personal and professional responsibilities and find it hard to achieve a healthy work-life balance in their day-to-day life.
According to a new study from the University of Manchester, working women with two children are 40% more stressed due to the pressures of multiple responsibilities.
Although balancing work and personal life is not an easy task, it isn’t impossible. A little bit of planning and implementing simple strategies can make it achievable and even enjoyable.
If you are a working parent and looking for some effective ways to bring a state of harmony into your personal and professional lives, then this post is for you. We are sharing some tried and tested practical ways to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Read on to know more!
Before diving deep into the practical tips for achieving work-life balance, let’s talk about the benefits of a healthy work-life balance.
Benefits of healthy work-life balance
- It helps in reducing stress, fatigue and lessens the occurrence of a burnout. A healthy Work-life balance improves your physical and mental health.
- A healthy work-life balance also boosts productivity. Research shows that work-life balance supports a company’s profitability. It helps in improving employee engagement and boosts performance too.
- You will have a better relationship with your friends, family and co-workers.
7 tips to achieve a work-life balance for working parents
Make “Time management” an important part of your personal and professional life
Experts suggest effective time management is key for working parents to manage multiple roles and responsibilities. With effective time management skills, you can reclaim better control and can have a more relaxing and fun time with your family.
You can either set up a family planner or use time blocking or time-boxing techniques to carve out time for different important aspects of life. Scheduling or blocking time for important things gives you an overview of how your day looks and allows you to live a more satisfying life.
Prioritize family time
Research shows, when both parents are busy with their professional work and are unable to devote dedicated time to their kids, it puts a negative impact on kids’ well-being and increases the risk of behavioral problems.
Considering this factor, working parents must prioritize their family time. Spending quality time with family not only helps in strengthening family bonds but also helps in raising happy, healthy and responsible kids as well.
Maintain open communication with your boss and spouse
Healthy and open communication is another important aspect of maintaining a healthy balance between work and personal life. At home, your spouse is your co-partner in managing the household and parental responsibilities. You can discuss your work-related and family problems with your spouse and can create an actionable plan with mutual agreement.
In the same way, if you are having a hectic work schedule or having a hard time fulfilling professional responsibilities, then you can discuss your work pressure with your boss. You can negotiate and ask for family-friendly arrangements with your employer. In recent times, working from home has become the new normal. You can take advantage of this option. You can also ask for flexible work hours and parental leaves option for reducing work stress and optimizing the work-life balance.
Involve your kids and delegate household chores and family responsibilities
Managing multiple personal and professional responsibilities can take a toll on your mental and physical health. You may feel a tremendous amount of pressure if you do it all by yourself. It is important to create a family system that helps in dividing routine household chores and other family activities.
Kids can play a vital role in achieving work-life balance. You can delegate simple household chores to kids as per their age. For e.g. toddlers could be taught to keep their empty food plates in the sink or throw garbage in the bin. Similarly, older kids can help set up the dinner table. Involving kids in household management not only makes them feel more connected with the family, but also helps in making them responsible as well.
Set personal and professional boundaries and learn the art of saying “No”
Setting personal and professional boundaries is a must to avoid burnout. It is the key to maintaining a successful work-life balance.
For reducing professional stress, you can turn off work-related notifications when you return home after work. Checking mail or receiving work-related calls will interfere with your family time and add extra stress to the family atmosphere.
With the pressure of multiple responsibilities, you need to learn the art of saying “No”. Do not try to be a super dad or a super mom. Understand your individual caliber and act accordingly.
Do not forget the significance of self-care and self-love
“An empty lantern provides no light. Self-care is the fuel that allows your light to shine brightly”. – Unknown
It is essential to carve out some quality “Me time” to be at your best. You should try to schedule a proper time for self-care, even with a hectic schedule. Following a self-care ritual helps in eliminating day-to-day stress and refreshes and rejuvenates you after a long, tiring day. Self-care could mean daily meditation of 10 min, a monthly spa visit or a weekly brunch with your besties. Whatever helps you rejuvenate, do it without feeling guilty.
Ask for support and do not hesitate to take professional help when needed
Finally, it is important to build a support system consisting of friends, family and neighbors for executing multiple tasks and responsibilities effectively. With the best of planning, things might not go as planned and you need a backup for such situations. You can try carpooling or get help from friends and family members for routine things when you are having a hectic work schedule.
Furthermore, you can also hire professional services for cleaning and taking care of kids (nanny, professional daycare etc.), when the pressure of professional responsibilities makes you feel overwhelmed.
In conclusion, maintaining a healthy work-life balance is all about keeping a positive outlook towards work and personal life. There is no one size fits all solution for achieving a work-life solution. You have to find solutions that work best for your family. Avoid trying to do it all and do your best as per the existing situation on the personal and professional front. In the end, life is all about cherishing small victories and enjoying moments of togetherness.
