It can be challenging taking care of your kids when you work outside the home. Here are some tips on how to still make time for your children even though they may not see you as often throughout the day.
1. Make a Schedule
A schedule will help your children learn to be independent once you have to leave them. After all, they need to be able to take care of themselves when their mom is not around. If the kids’ day is scheduled from waking up until bedtime, they won’t feel as lonely or as abandoned as if their schedule was nonexistent, and they didn’t know what would happen next.
2. Make Your Job Flexible
If you are working full-time, try to have your job be flexible with your schedule so that when you need to bring the kids in for an appointment or when they need to go somewhere important involving school, you can go. If they book their appointments during business hours, ask them if there is a time when they would prefer you to come. If it’s during lunch, take some work with you and work while you’re there.
3. Ask for Help
There are times when the kids need to be dropped off or picked up from school at a very specific time. Tell your family and friends that you may need them to help you out if they can. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help. If nobody helps, then you know it just wasn’t meant to be that day, and try another day again. You may find that somebody is more than happy to bring your kids home instead of letting them stay late at school because they want to practice driving their car or helping out a friend in need.
4. Hire Babysitters
Although you can’t always afford it, hiring babysitters is a great way to spend some extra time with your kids. You don’t have to worry about rushing home or taking days off work when somebody else will watch the kids for you. They are professionals and can take care of children just as well, if not better than their parents. Plus, the kids may learn something new from someone other than their family members or their mom.
5. Invest in Good Daycare
Daycare is a great place for your kids to be when you work outside the home. Take some time to find a daycare that has been open for a while, is very close by, and has nice workers. This way, you know you can trust them with your children after having checked on them yourself or after getting an impression from other parents whose children go there.
You need someone to take care of your kids when their school ends, so contact reputed after-school care providers in your area to make after-school arrangements for your children.
6. Compromise Sometimes
You may have to take your kids out of school so you can go on a trip with them. If your boss is not willing to give you time off work, ask if she could reduce your hours for that day. Maybe she’ll agree, and you can come back to work early or pick up more shifts in the future. If she says no, then maybe you could call in sick that day or get somebody else to cover for your shift at work. However, this should only be done when it’s truly necessary because everybody needs their job and nobody wants to lose it because something important came up.
7. Take Your Kids to Work
Taking your kids to work is a great way for them to learn how an office or store operates. They’ll get used to where you work, and when your shift ends, they can come to meet you at the door. If it’s in the summer months, this is also a good time for them to learn how the family business works while helping out around the house if they are old enough.
8. Make Your Kids a Priority
If you have to work late, then don’t feel guilty about it because your kids need a mom and a dad. If you miss dinner, try making them save some food for when you come home or take something with you. Nobody wants their parents to be absent from their lives and if they say they do, ask them why not? Your kids are very important, and no matter how busy life gets as a working mother, make sure that the most important job in the world is always taken care of first.
Being a working mother can be challenging. It’s not easy to juggle life and work, especially if you have children who need your attention at the same time. Luckily there are many ways for moms that work outside of the home to still care for their kids without sacrificing either one. We hope these ideas will help make it easier on all working mothers everywhere, so they don’t feel guilty about tending to both aspects of their lives simultaneously.
