Balancing work and home
Posted in Parents
Friday 27 November 2009
In Articles
It's not easy if your a working parent...Read on for how to best cope...
Being a parent, managing a job, maintaining a home and having some sort of social life for yourself means that there are never enough hours in the day.
It’s not easy balancing work and home but how you manage can make quite a difference to your relationship with your family.
There are pros and cons to every option. If you are employed full-time or part-time, you may:
- Have a better standard of living and have fewer money problems.
- Feel pleased you're making a contribution and have more self esteem.
- Have friends and a social life outside the home.
But you may also feel:
- Overwhelmed with too much work and are missing out on family life.
- That you're not there for your kids or your partner.
- Resentful if you feel housework isn't shared equally.
- Feel too tired or busy to enjoy your social life.
There are no 'right' or 'wrong' choices, and your choices will change at different stages in your family’s life. If you are in a couple, it may feel easier if one partner stays at home while the other goes out to work or if one is in full-time employment and the other part-time, and for others, both may continue with full-time jobs.
If you are a parent managing on your own or sharing parenting with your ex, the choices you have are more limited and you’ll have less support in making those choices. Trying to balance work and home life is even more difficult.
You may not always feel in control but there are things you can do and think about to help manage the balance between work and home.