Getting the balance right between your family, work, and other aspects of your life are important. It is fair to say that most parents want to spend as much time with their children as possible especially when they are younger. That said, the bills need to be paid. In this post, we give pointers on how to manage your family life and integrate it with everything else.
Families work in different ways and it is important that you work out how your family functions. The key decisions you’ll almost be faced with are financial and work-life balance orientated. Are you both going to work full-time? Will you use paid childcare? If one is going to work part-time who will it be? Often, this is dictated by finances but if you can ensure at least one parent is spending quality time with the children most of the week.
Kids grow fast. There is no escaping that fact so it is a good idea to have a selection of clothes ready for them to grow into rather than being caught on the hop. To that end ensure you have a good selection of clothes that are a few sizes too big for them to grow into that match the season. So children’s bolero cardigans in the winter, t-shirts in the summer.
Building up a good rapport with online stores such as Condor Childrenswear UK is a good idea as often loyalty leads to discounts and other bonuses.
Where possible try and eat at least one meal together as a family. This is not always easy with long hours and work related pressures sometimes making that impossible. Nonetheless, if you can eat as a family even if it is three times a week, the family will feel more whole and more of a unit. This is important to every family member, and if you are working long hours, it will help you remain part of your children’s lives.
Given work related pressures it is a good idea to plan days out and family holidays in advance, especially if this will require one of you to take annual leave. Knowing that you are going on holiday in June for example, will give you enough time to secure the days off you’ll need to facilitate this.
Not being able to get the time off when you need it will negatively affect your family life and this is to be avoided at all costs.
After a day’s work especially if you have been stressed it is easy to carry this stress through to the family. If this is the case for you, do something to destress a little before you get involved with the evening routine. Take a shower, maybe have a ten minute stroll. Once you have a more relaxed mindset you’ll have a better time with the rest of your family, and your family will have a better time with you.
