Most of us understand how tricky it can be to balance our work and home lives once we partner up and add children to the equation. It often seems that work life or home life is constantly stepping on the toes of the other and leading to problems at work, at home, and many times both. When we toss in working from home, the lines blur even more. However the following four tips are great options to help make the balancing act of work and home life much easier.
Make a Schedule
One of the best things to do when attempting to balance work and home is to make a schedule. Know how much time you have and schedule your work time and your home time. Then, you will know when you need to schedule work and home events. This will make your life significantly easier and you will know which activities fit into which time frame. Do your best to stick to your schedule. The more you do, the easier it will be for all members of the family to depend on the schedule and to play/work around it.
Share Responsibilities
Many times work and home responsibilities can become overwhelming because one partner is taking on more of the responsibilities than the other. So, learn to share responsibilities at home and each spouse can be responsible for their work. Also, older children can have some home responsibilities as well to help parents balance work and home. Children are often very excited to help and can do so starting at age 2; wiping small tables, picking up toys, weeding in the garden, etc. Bonus tip: Buy appropriate size cleaning tools for children, and they will love cleaning with you. Giving our children responsibilities early on will inspire a sense of ‘can do’ spirit that lasts a lifetime.
Leave Work at Work
Balancing home and work can be difficult because it is so easy to take work home. If you really want to balance work and home then you will always leave work at work and keep home a sacred place for family and home activities. If you work from home, keep all work stuff in the office.
Dedicate Weekends to Home Activities
A fantastic way to keep home and work separate is to always focus on home activities during weekends, or at least on days off from work if you happen to work on weekends. When certain days are home days and other days are work days then it makes balancing work and home considerably easier. Even if you can only afford to designate one day each as a pure home day, it will reinvigorate your family life. Spend time in the garden. Go for a family hike. Pack a picnic lunch. Visit with friends. What joy to focus in fully and enjoy the priceless time with the special people we love.
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Great tips! thanks for sharing and compiling these things. Your helping thousand of people just by blogging including me.
Thanks Darryl. I appreciate your words of gratitude.