As a working parent, 24 hours isn’t enough to do everything you want to do in one day. That’s because you need to get enough sleep, prepare your children for school, travel to and from work, manage your workload, prepare dinner, and clean the house. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Becoming a parent is already a full-time job, and if you have to work to make a living, that means you’re juggling two full-time jobs on top of your other responsibilities. What’s worse is that one of your full-time jobs doesn’t come with monetary compensation, no matter how hard you work.
When you’re bombarded with responsibilities left and right, it’s easy to lose quality time for your family. Your children may understand that you’re working hard for their future, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be with them in the present. Focusing all your energy on working and paying the bills means that you will have no energy left to spend with your kids.
You have to remember that your job is only a means to get by; it shouldn’t be your sole focus, especially when you have children at home. It can be difficult to make time for your family when you’re working hard to keep your family alive, but here are some ways to change this way of thinking:
Get Some Help with Your Heavy-duty Chores
One of the most exhausting parts of being an adult is that you never stop cleaning. That becomes a heavier task when you have children because there’s only one of you to clean up all the mess they leave behind. After a hard day at work, going home to a messy house might be your breaking point.
If your children are old enough to do chores, maybe it can be a good learning experience to handle some responsibilities at home. Even simple tasks like sweeping the floors or keeping the hampers neat will take some weight on your shoulders.
Another option that you have is to get some outside help for your heavy-duty chores. For instance, instead of washing all your linens and towels at home, you can have a reliable laundry pickup and delivery service take care of those for you. This way, you’ll be lessening your workload and helping the small businesses in your community at the same time.
Set Work Boundaries and Stick to Them
As mentioned earlier, your job isn’t who you are — it’s just what you do to get by. That means that you should set proper work boundaries and learn how to stick to them. If you tend to bring home some work to get a head start for the next day, you should stop that unhealthy habit.
Setting boundaries means that once you get home from work, you should leave all your work-related thoughts at the door so you can enjoy your time with your family. Keep to a regular dinner schedule that every member of your family can adhere to so you can converse and fill your stomachs at the same time.
You should also make sure that your weekends are free so that you can take the time to bond more with your kids. Weekends are perfect for picnics at the park, trips to the mall, or even a movie marathon at home. This way, you and your family can spend time over shared interests while relieving your stress.
Create a Passive Income Stream
Financial freedom and stability are things that most adults can only hope for when they reach a certain age. It can be difficult to achieve these financial goals when working to make a living for your entire family, but it’s not impossible. For starters, you can create passive income streams.
You should know by now that you can’t rely on your primary source of income alone. Besides the fact that you could be spending more time with your family, having passive income streams means that you have a safety net to fall back on if your primary income source disappears.
If you had a business or investment that can generate cash flow, then maybe you can switch your full-time job to a part-time one. And if those passive income streams generate enough cash flow to support your entire family, then you can focus on managing your business or investments full-time. This way, you’ll have more time at home with your family.
Most children grow apart from their parents because they spend less and less time at home. It might be because they’re working hard to give their kids a better future than the ones they had. But at the same time, parents should know how to find the right balance.
Kids will only stay kids for a short time before they become adults as well. If you don’t treat their childhood as something fleeting, then you will continue to lose precious moments in the present just because you’re so focused on their future.
