Struggling to balance work, parenting, and self-care? Check out these effective tips to master the triple juggle!
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Working parents face the nearly impossible task of balancing their careers, parenting responsibilities, and self-care. Each is important for a healthy and fulfilling life while requiring time, energy, and focused attention. Finding a balance between these pulling forces takes time management, prioritization, delegation, and utilizing helpful resources.
What Challenges Do Working Parents Face?
After time spent at work, getting ready for work, commuting with your children, and doing household chores such as cleaning and cooking, there are few hours left in the week for leisure or downtime. More than the limited number of hours available, the pressure or guilt of not spending time where we should spend it wears on many parents. Many parents feel spread thin and as if they aren’t doing enough in any of these areas of their lives, with 56% of parents reporting they find it challenging to find balance.
A 2020 Gallup Poll found that women handle the majority of the domestic workload. This uneven load can lead to resentment and strain in relationships. Larger houses and high expectations for our homes’ appearance demand a lot of time spent on household chores.
Families with young children who require more of our time feel the most time shortage, with only 48% reporting that they have enough free time. Jobs without flexible, family-friendly schedules and policies add to the stress. As of 2018, half of Americans were living in a childcare desert, with only one available childcare spot for every three children in need of care. Without reliable, quality child care, the ability of both parents to work is challenging, if not impossible.
Practical Tips for Time Management
Fortunately, there are practical solutions for parents to manage their many responsibilities.
Weekly Planning helps you determine your weekly priorities and set time aside to reach your most important goals. It provides a sense of control and allows you to schedule quality time with your family and for self-care.
Use Delegation
Eve Rodsky, in her book Fair Play, provides valuable and fun ways to divide up household chores between partners.
“Turns out, you can’t manage what you don’t see,” Rodsky writes, explaining that the first step is to write out all the household responsibilities.
She then suggests splitting tasks equitably and ensuring everyone feels valued and part of the process. Rodsky advises involving children old enough to help with chores and delegating responsibilities to outside sources when possible.
Combine Tasks
“When I make it to the gym (a rare occasion), I always take my book, so that I can do two of my favorite things at once,” writes Kellie Van Atta in Finding Balance: My Advice as a New Working Mom.
She offers other tasks to combine, such as calling her sister during her commute. 
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Set Meaningful Boundaries
One of the most critical skills in creating balance is boundary setting. When work seeps into time at home, it’s rarely for the purpose of feeling off the clock and rejuvenated. Plus, your family doesn’t benefit from your full attention when you are constantly pulled back into work or distracted by household chores. Some helpful boundaries to set include:
- Communicating with work colleagues about your limited availability after hours.
- Creating a dedicated workspace at home where you shouldn’t be disturbed and that you only use outside of family time.
- Learning to say “no” to additional responsibilities that detract from your priorities.
Prioritize Your Well-Being
The many demands on our time often mean that self-care drops to the bottom of the list. When we don’t prioritize our well-being, we can’t bring our best to the other areas of our lives. Worse, our physical and mental health may suffer.
“Every time you ignore your own needs in service of someone else’s, that’s one more drop in your resentment bucket,” writes Eve Rodsky.
In Pouring from an Empty Cup? Three Ways to Refill Emotionally, Heidi Godman suggests carving out time for yourself, committing to better health, and surrounding yourself with comfort. It’s also essential to make time for the activities you enjoy. A 2023 meta-analysis found that respondents with hobbies reported higher health, happiness, and life satisfaction.
Engage with Your Children
After work, household responsibilities, and self-care, it may feel like you are left with little time to engage with your children. The truth is that studies show that parents spend more time than ever with their children, even in families where both parents work. What matters most is the quality of that time.
When we prioritize self-care, we have more energy to fully engage with our children. Quality time together strengthens the relationship and builds lasting memories. We’re also role models for our children, demonstrating that time spent on the activities each family member loves and that rejuvenates them is valued.
While challenging, working on time management and boundaries can help create more balance in your hectic working parent life.
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