Many friends have asked me how i juggle with the many hats I wear everyday. My standard answer to them has always been “it is hard work!”. That sounds rather negative, but it is the truth.
I don’t write much about myself in this blog and so many friends are curious about how I am coping with everything. So, I thought I should write something here about how I juggle between the many roles I play each day, and perhaps give some ideas to the other working mothers, and vice versa.
I accept all the help that has been offered. The husband and mother-in-law are my two main sources of help. I have convinced myself that I can’t do everything on my own and it is far better to admit that then to do too much and get frustrated. Yup, I thought I was supermum once. 🙂 Robin and I organised amongst ourselves on cooking and fetching the boys home so that we only need to concentrate on a single task at one time, e.g if he cooks dinner, then I will fetch the kids home after work ( and not worry about dinner). The main thing is to be organised, especially with the dinner menu. We usually set the meals on a weekly basis and get all ingredients at our weekly shopping trip. I find this really helps. I also make sure there’s pasta sauce and soup stock in the freezer for those days when cooking dinner is not possible. The best is when my mother-in-law offers to cook for us! We never reject that offer.
One thing I find most difficult is to switch my mind from work to the family when I get home after work. I find it stressful on days when I have a full-on day at work and go home to 2 demanding boys. I am usually impatient and can’t give the boys the attention that they need from me. What I have learnt from a mentor is to give myself a little time before going home to the boys. That is, I should park somewhere before going home, to have a few minutes to myself to relax, to calm down and perhaps to pray, so that I can get myself ready to focus on the boy. Once I am at home with the boys, I have to make sure I give them my attention and not rush to get dinner ready or do any chores. I’ll sit with them and ask how their day was, or we might play a simple game … the idea is to be with them so that they get my attention first. I find this helps as they tend to be happy to be on their own after spending a bit of time with me.
I think it is a ongoing learning process when it comes to managing the many aspects of life. Things change, and the kids will grow up. But, God is always the same. God’s grace is what gets me through each day.