Striking the Right Balance between Motherhood and Career

Being a stay-at-home mom is a full-time job. Having a career is a full-time job too. And, as Indra Nooyi, the hugely successful Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo and mom, once pointed, “The biological clock and the career clock are in total conflict with each other. At the time when you have to have kids, you have to build your career.” Her single piece of advice to working moms, to help them work around this unfortunate irony: Develop Coping Mechanisms!

So, here are some tried and tested coping mechanisms that will enable you to enjoy both your Career and your Kids and Family.

• Remind yourself that you are a multi-faceted individual – While being a mother may seem really important to you, there are other aspects of your life that make you who you are. Without other roles in your life, you could easily bury the essence of who you are and this could leave you feeling incomplete. Would that be optimal for you and your family?
• Create a good support structure – Take time and effort to get create a robust support structure that could comprise of family or hired help on the home front. It will serve two purposes: it ensures that your little one(s) are well cared for while you are away and it allows you to remain stress free while at work. Ensure that it is flexible enough to accommodate your working hours, if erratic. For additional support, if possible, cultivate a structure of colleagues at work who can fill in for you when you have to stay home.
• Use technology – Set alarms for different chores including paying bills, attending PTMs, the kids’ sports meets and stage performances, etc. Stay in touch with other school moms through Whatsapp groups, use Facebook and Pinterest for project ideas, etc. CCTV cameras at home which can be viewed on the phone are good too, if they do not become a distraction at work.

• Stay in touch with your kids and their caregiver – While it is impossible for you to be at two places at once, try to be available for a casual chat with the children when they may feel the need to speak with you, for instance, when they come home from school or have to leave for extra-curricular activities, etc.
• Proxy yourself when you can’t be there – Ensure that your spouse or family or friends make it to any event that you miss. If nothing else, devise a special lucky charm that symbolizes your bond with your child and make sure it accompanies him or her to events which you cannot attend.
• Schedule sacred ‘us’ time – Block a regular time slot one or twice a week, or even more often if your job permits it, that is specifically for your kids and spouse. Make sure you never give this slot to any other activity. This regular bonding time inculcates a feeling of security for the children and spouse.
• Most importantly, be disciplined – Manage your time at work and home well. This may mean less TV and internet surfing, gossip with colleagues, long lunches, etc. Get used to planning your day in advance, especially the activities that involve the kids, such as snack- boxes and bag-packs, etc. Last, but not the least, avoid multi-tasking while you are with the kids; your time with them must makeup in terms of quality what it may lack in quantity.

Check out all about Tamanna Khanna here.You can find her professional profile on https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamannakhanna/

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