Thursday, May 17, 2018

Womanhood Woes: The Difficulty of Balancing Kids and Career

Juggling womanhood can be complicated. While we live in a much fairer society these days, as women
we’re the ones that carry, give birth to and in most cases act as the primary carer for our children. This
is, of course, a wonderful, incredible experience but it can mean we’re constantly living a balancing act.
If you want (or need) to continue working, you have to sort this around childcare. You need to be around
when your child gets sick; you will want days off so you can see them in plays and on sports days. You
will need to drop them off and pick them up from school, extracurricular activities and seeing friends all
around your work. It can be challenging to have it all, but there are some ways you can make it easier.
Here are a few ideas.


Work Part-Time
One thing you could do if you want or need to get back into work after maternity leave is to ask if you
can work part time hours. This allows you to keep up your skills in the workplace but without missing
out on too much time with your children. If and when you do want to get back into full-time work later
down the line, you're already in the swing of things and it's far less of a shock to the system.  If you're
in a position where you don't want or need to go back to work, but don't want to lose your skills either
then why not study? It could be anything from an online neonatal nurse degree to an online psychology,
art or creative writing degree! If it's something you're passionate about and it can help you in your
career path it's worth doing.


Find a Flexible Job
If you have a job which allows you to be flexible with your hours, this is a great way to balance work
and kids. Being the boss of any kind of business is a useful strategy for balancing work and kids as
you get to call the shots. There are all kinds of home based jobs you can earn money from these
days. Take working as a freelancer or blogger for example. You could even set up your own home
business, some ideas include selling items you have made yourself or just buying wholesale and
selling for a profit. It can of course take time for these things to become established and start earning
you regular money, but if you know you want to have children later on, how about doing this part-time
for now and getting established. Then later on, it's a great source of income that you can work around
your family without having to leave the house. If you are only just starting out in your career and know
you want kids in the future, considering this kind of path allows you to get established before your
children come along.




Wait to Have Children

Waiting a little while until you’re established in your career before having children can be helpful. If you
disrupt an established career by taking time off, you’re far more likely to get into it. Having kids earlier
on can reduce your earnings over a lifetime. Lots of women are waiting until later in life to have kids,
some even going to the extent of having eggs frozen just to ensure they have a backup plan.