Tips on How to Balance Work and Family Life
Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom, a working professional, or a single parent, work-life balance is something every parent and family struggles with. Having a strong work-life balance is not something that just exists; it’s something that you have to work at daily, and adjust regularly.
When you do have a system in place, however, it can make a world of a difference in how your family operates, and the overall health and happiness of the people who matter most to you — your family.
At Sunrise Children’s Foundation, we are committed to helping families become the best versions of themselves. Read on to learn how to balance work life and family life and get in touch to discover how our organization can help.
Organize Your Life With Strategies That Work for You
Getting organized is key because it will keep you on track for doing more of what you love, and ensure that you are engaging in the activities that you want to engage in.
There are many ways you can organize your life, and what might work for one family might not work for another. Some ways to organize your life include:
- Using a digital or physical calendar
- Having daily goals
- Establishing a daily routine
- Have a cleaning routine — a cluttered home can lead to a cluttered mind
- Communicate with a spouse or child about things that you or they hope to accomplish that day
Set Boundaries Between Home and Work
Setting boundaries goes hand in hand with having a strong work and family life balance. Setting boundaries is especially important because it’s a tangible tool you can use to protect your time. When you can protect your time, you have a clearer sense of who you want to give your time to.
When you make the decision to have a clear boundary, it also helps alleviate any guilt you might have when you do give your time to a certain department in your life, whether it be your spouse, children, home, or work.
Manage Your Time
Setting boundaries goes hand in hand with managing your time. If you’re someone who constantly feels like you never have enough hours in the day, most likely you’re letting different life obligations bleed into one another, making you feel like you aren’t accomplishing tasks, being productive, or using your time wisely.
Have a Structured Schedule
One of the best tips on how to balance family and work life is by structuring your day around the things that you know you need to get done. For some people, this might be cleaning the house, meal prepping, or going to work. With these “must-dos” in place, you can then schedule the activities that you want to do more of. This might include hanging out with your kids, going out with your family, or having leisure time for yourself.
It’s not simply enough to have this planned out schedule in place. You actually have to follow the schedule as well. Ways to keep on top of your schedule include:
Stay strict with your schedule at first; you’ll learn how to be flexible
- Don’t multitask
- When one time block ends, stop what you’re doing and move to the next time block
- Prioritize your task
- Don’t procrastinate
- Avoid distractions
Communication Is Key
You have to speak up to protect your time if you want to strengthen the balance between work and family. This might mean speaking up when your boundaries are being crossed either at work or at home.
There should also be strong communication between your partner and children as well. Keeping your family aligned while you follow a schedule can help ensure everyone is doing their job to help make your family work as a unit. When issues arise, speaking up and talking about them can keep those issues from boiling over into something more complex.
Manage Your Stress To Avoid Burnout
You can have the best well-oiled schedule with your family to help manage your work-life and family balance, but at some point, you will feel stressed, overwhelmed, or just tired. It’s important to address your stress when it arises because this will help you keep from feeling burnt out.
When you start feeling overwhelmed or stressed out, the following can help:
- Communicate with your partner or children about what’s working and what’s not.
- Stay flexible and adjust your daily routine as needed to schedule time for yourself to relax, nap, or destress.
- If stress is work-induced, make it a habit to use your sick days. The work will always be there waiting for you; your health is worth it.
- Include exercise or recreational activities into your daily routine to help manage your stress.
Don’t Keep Up With the Joneses
Social media will have you believing that if you are not managing your family and work life balance, you’re doing something wrong. The reality is no one has it figured out, and no family is perfect.
When everyone seems like they have their life in order, and are able to manage their time, remind yourself that you are only seeing their highlight reel. You are on the right track, and every day is a new day to practice setting boundaries, prioritizing what you want, and doing what works best for your family.
Build a Network of Support
Sometimes, it does take a village. At Sunrise Children’s Foundation in Las Vegas, Nevada, our dedicated educators and staff understand the importance of helping families become the best version of themselves.
Whether you’re looking for resources to help you with work-life balance, want to be more involved in your child’s academic world, or need access to community social services, like WIC, Sunrise Children’s Foundation is here for you.
Sunrise Children’s Foundation can also help with:
Get in touch to learn more about our dedication to supporting families like yours.
