Striking the right balance between your family and career can be easy or difficult, depending on your circumstances.
However, it’s most likely that you have struggled with it at one point in time. Devoting too much time to your family and your finances could end up being a mess, as you’re not making as much from work.
On the other hand, if you work too hard, you’ll run the risk of missing out on the best years with your family.
Fortunately, there are some guidelines that can be followed which enable you to strike a healthy balance between the two different parts of one’s life.
1. Ensure Both Parents Go to Work if Possible
Are you under the impression that the man should be the only source of income as the mother stays at home with the children?
This might be an old-fashioned point of view that places too much of the burden on the father to provide for the entire household.
Up to 46% of families are composed of two working parents, so it’s a common occurrence. It means that neither has to work two or even three jobs in order to provide for the family.
The result is that both parents can work less and come up with a work/family balance that is healthy and fulfilling.
This doesn’t mean that both parents have to have full-time jobs. Let’s say the mother does a lot of the work in the home; then a part-time job of even 10 hours per week is sufficient to help provide the right balance in the family.
Nowadays, with internet-based jobs, it’s increasingly easy to find work for those who are looking after the kids and also need to provide for the family.
2. Create Working Hours and Family Hours
Your work hours and family hours must be separated so that there is no overlap. This is the easiest way of ensuring you have enough time for both during the course of the week.
For instance, if you work until 5 pm, and get home by 6 pm, then make sure that your work laptop or other electronic devices related to work are turned off.
If you typically receive a lot of updates related to work on your smartphone, you might want to get a second smartphone, one that is for family and friends.
The point is to remove any distractions during the family time that could potentially make you turn toward work-based activities. When swamped with too much work, you can always outsource to dedicated freelancers.
3. Make the Most of the Bedtime Routine
Instead of letting your kids play video games or watch TV until bedtime, take the time to do something together.
This could be to read to them, and there is a vast number of books, so this activity cannot get old. Perhaps there are some classics that were read to you when you were a kid.
Limiting the screen time of your kids will improve their sleep and go a long way towards ensuring your spend quality time with them.
4. Have Dinner at the Family Table
Nowadays, it’s so easy for each member of the family to get their dinner plate and go to their room to eat whilst watching the latest Netflix series.
However, you should increase the interaction with your family by ensuring that every evening dinner is at the dinner table.
During dinner, the entire family can catch up on the events of the day so that you’re not missing out on anything. At work, you cannot be expected to keep tabs on your kids. But during dinner, you can find out what you might have missed out on.
Part of a healthy lifestyle is ensuring that work and family have the right balance. With the tips and advice above, you can make a start in the right direction.
You’ll see that when too much time is spent on one over the other, the imbalance might cause problems down the road.
Constantly be on the lookout for new ways to make the most of your family and work life at the same time. With the right approach, there is no reason why one should have to suffer compared to the other.
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