Let’s get straight to the point.
Work-Family-Life may be hard to achieve.
It depends on our culture and traditions, our beliefs and where we live on this good old planet Earth.
This post is written by a 35 to 44 years old mama, now working retail, who grew up in Quebec, Canada, where Fall is so colourful it takes your breath away and winter is snowy cold.
I live with my awesome hubby-to-be, who works from home, and kiddo, who goes to school (already !!!).
Already, I have the upper hand. Balancing a day job, family and writing is easier when the schedule on one side (at least) is flexible.
Because, yes, to be able to establish a working dayjob-family-writing balance, the whole family needs to be on board.
Alone, we cannot do it. Work-family balance starts with the whole family.
So…
First thing to do is: get the family together and make a plan so everybody can enjoy both family time and alone time without being stress-to-no-end.
What should you guys talk about?
Let’s see!
What to Consider to Established a Balanced Work-Family Life
Here’s face A of the key to establishing a balanced work-family life.
The goal of finding a Work-Family life balance is:
- for every member of the family to have both together quality time and alone quality time.
It’s a challenge, to say the least.
But it can be done if everybody in the family gets on board.
Starting with your partner and your kids.
A study conducted by Pr. Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay’s team shows that women working full-time jobs are still taking care of merely everything concerning the kids and house chores.
Mamas are not the only soul in the house who can make lunch and take care of the chores.
If you work as a homemaker, the same goes!
Your partner and the kids live in the house, he/she/they are also responsible for taking care of it.
And I’m NOT talking about taking care of the lawn or the trash or merely putting plates on the kitchen counter.
I’m talking about sharing chores and delegating.
If your kids are old enough, they can help you and your partner with the meal prep on Sunday afternoons and put together their lunch during the week.
Your partner can be in charge of cleaning the kitchen after supper during the week and of cooking on the weekends.
Here’s face B of the key to establishing a balanced work-family life.
Flexible day job work hours. And/or working-from-home days.
If, like mine, your day job requires you to be on location, then flexible hours are great for finding the work-life balance you seek.
You may start at 11am instead of 9am once a week, so it gives you time with the kids, the hubby, or time for you.
But again, it depends on where you live.
Around here in the Quebec province, when this post is written anyway, there’s a real workforce shortage problem.
To attract people, employers of all kinds are offering a bunch of advantages, like more flexible hours and the possibility to work from home 2-3 times a week.
Our boss’s being on our side does facilitate finding a balance between the work-family-writing life.
Thing is, it’s far from being popular among business people.
Good thing is, it’s changing.
Bit by bit,
slowly but surely,
in some parts of the world,
the workplaces are changing.
It Takes Some Working at It, But…
Securing some time for ourselves, and ourselves only, is THE best way to keep the writing spirit up.
I hope, I wish you found some useful info there.
Until next time, take care of yourself, dear fellow writers!
Marie Alice Writes & Reads 