Motherhood is a hard job. You have enough on your plate as an adult, but you also have the responsibility of juggling your job with marriage and motherhood.
As a mother, you need guidance about how to handle working motherhood. To help ease the struggles of working motherhood, follow these commandments.
Trust your gut. You know your family and your employer best. Trust your instincts when you feel your kids are acting out because they need your attention. Spend more time with them.
Similarly, you know in your gut when you are not fulfilling your work responsibilities. Be sure to do your best on the most important projects.
You shall not worship money or career success. Motherhood is fulfilling, but having a job that you are really good at can give you quite a rush too. It’s important to keep that feeling in perspective, and only pursue the career that you truly want.
Don’t thoughtlessly put in for a big promotion. Think through what it would mean for your work-life balance and your children. Make sure you are the one defining what success means to you. It’s okay if that’s simply enjoyable work with flexible hours and no fancy title.
You shall take time to rest. Motherhood teaches you when to say yes or no to your children and set limits. Make sure you use these skills in the office too. Set clear boundaries around work and limit your face time.
You shall not feel guilty. Once you have made the choice to work, refuse to feel guilty about working. There are plenty of people who want to undermine you as a working mum, ignore those comments that trigger working mums’ guilt.
Guilt is an emotion that you feel when you have done something wrong. There’s nothing wrong with contributing to the financial support, the stability of your family and the education of your children.
You shall not judge others. Human beings are often looking over at the next person judging their actions and results. Resist this impulse, please. Life is long, and you never know when you will be forced to eat your words.
You shall enjoy family time. When you do have time with your family, enjoy it! You can have fun doing daily chores with your children if you have a playful attitude.
Don’t simply rush your children from waking to breakfast to school and home again to dinner, bath and bed. Cherish the time together, even in everyday activities.
You shall nurture adult relationships. Make sure to spend time on your marriage, close family members and friends. Those adult relationships will sustain you when you are stressed. Take time to engage in activities that nourish your soul.
You shall enjoy your work. We all work for different reasons. Whether it’s for the money, helping others or job satisfaction, identify the reasons that you work and own that choice.
Then, take pleasure in the parts of your job that you enjoy, to reinforce the positive aspect of being a working mum.
You shall prioritize wisely. As a working mum, you have little time for the lingering chats with co-workers. Every morning, write down the top three things you must accomplish that day.
Tackle them first, because you never know when a call to pick up a sick child might quash the rest of the day’s work.