FollowBalancing Work and Family as a Single Parent
Being a full-time working parent can often lead to different emotions such as guilt and stress because of the fact that attention has to be divided among work and family. However, there are ways of balancing work and family as a single parent.
Plan ahead- In order to find free time whenever you can, you need to plan ahead. You can take a few hours on a Sunday afternoon to cook and freeze your meals for the week or even for two weeks. This way you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen each night and you are ensuring your family is eating delicious, home-cooked meals.
Leave work at work- Sometimes parents don’t spend enough time with their kids at night because they bring home work to finish up at home. With today’s technology like computer and tablets, it makes things easy to do work at home. When you leave the office for the day, leave work there until the next day. When you are home, spend time doing things with the family or catching up on housework.
Learn how to choose your battles- Picking your battles is everything as a part of understanding that not only are you not perfect, life isn’t always rosy either. It is important to understand that there are things at work and at home that are out of your control. Choose the battles that will be important in the end. If your daughter doesn’t want to eat her vegetables at least be thankful for the time you have to spend with her eating dinner.
Have a support system in place- There really is no shame in asking for help and accepting help when it is offered. There are bound to be times that your work life clashes with your family life. In this case, you need someone to help you that you trust and can count on. This person can be a family member, friend or co-worker that can pick up your son from school when you have to work late.
