I realized the critical importance of the role of career mom when I had my kids and had to work at home at the same time. Not only are career moms assuming the roles of being mom, they are also taking on the role of being a woman, a wife, a daughter, a business owner or an employee, etc. And we’re not even talking about bring a driver to the kids, a cook to the family, a teacher or tuition teacher every single day of the year until the kids are capable of driving themselves around. Most of the time, the career mom may have to assume the role of psychiatrist and counselor as well!
Now, I don’t know about you but I think this whole thing about multi-tasking and multiple role-playing is pretty hard to stomach.
That’s why it’s essential to the emotional and physical health of the career woman to take care of herself and remain in tip-top condition health-wise, emotionally, physically and mentally. As soon as we, career moms, crumble, the people around us who are dependent on us (although husbands may refuse to admit their dependency on us) will crumble along with us!
Career moms work, on average, 51/2 days a week and that turns out to be around 44 hours a week. And when they return home, it’s not the end. There’s no time to sit around, lounge around in the bath or put on a facial mask or anything like that because the kids need to be fed, the clothes need to be ironed, the floor needs sweeping and the garbage needs to be taken out! Career moms don’t normally get overtime, if they are earning above average salary and yet they don’t get paid anything for working on the family. It seems that career moms have to spend right about 25 hours every single week on household responsibilities while their male counterparts get off work and STAY off work.
Balancing a career and a family is never an easy thing ?no one in his or her right mind will tell you that it’s a walk in the park. The process of trying to balance the importance of a career and the significance of the family in her life is never ending. However, with some form of plan that can help the career mom organize and plan the days of her week, a career mom might be able to find some time to spend on herself!
A career mom, Kimberly, once told me that she made a pact with her husband, Geoffrey, that he is not to watch television on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays because those are the days that Geoffrey is expected to help deal with the kids. Kimberly further told her husband that she will go the gym or attend to her personal needs every Thursday and Sunday, hence, Geoffrey will have to take over from this career mom, family-wise. Although we have to admit that not every man is like Geoffrey and most of them will give you a good fight for his right to watch and channel-surf the TV every single night, some of them will give in to this creative approach that the career mom can come up with.
The best thing that a career mom can do for herself and her family is to set up a communication ‘center?in the home, for e.g., the fridge, notice boards, cupboards, closets, etc. Once the career mom gets the rest of the family to cooperate with her on using the communication center, career mom will find more time for herself without compromising the functionality of her family and her work.
Marsha Maung is a freelance graphic designer and copy writer who works from home. She designs apparel and premium items at http://www.allmomstuff.com and is the author of "Raising little magicians", and the popular "The Lance in freelancing". More information can be found at http://www.marshamaung.com