From our friends at Parents Ask
In the last half century, women have come so far in terms of their place and success in the professional world, yet many women are conflicted because they have less and less quality time with their families. Working moms are constantly looking for ways to achieve a better balance between their professional and home life. Many career moms that I know, suffer from ‘working mommy guilt’ because they miss out on so many of the day to day events and then they overcompensate with gifts or an abundance of activities on the weekend to make up for lost time. I dedicate this post to all of those fabulous working moms in order to help them save time and nurture themselves so that they are more ‘present’ in their families lives. I hope you find it helpful!
1. Pre-Plan Your Meals
Taking the time to pre-plan your family’s meals is such an important time saving gift you can give yourself. If you take the time each week to plan your meals in advance, this will alleviate a lot of stress and ensure that your family eats much healthier than if you throw a meal together in the last minute, when you are hungry and tend to grab convenience foods. A couple of resources that you might find helpful with your weekly meal planning are Dream Dinners where you can go and cook week’s worth of meals in advance and freeze them; and Kathy Kaehler’s Sunday Set-up which offers recipes and guidelines for using Sunday’s to prep your family’s healthy meal ingredients for the week.
2. Shop Online at Your Convenience
The internet is one of the most fabulous creations of our time because you can find almost anything you want or need 24/7, which is both a curse and a blessing. However, for after hours shopping when the kids are asleep it is fabulous. You can browse, cost compare and buy anything you want from the comfort of your own home often at significant discounts. This means no hassle, no lines, lots of deals, options and most importantly it does not cut into precious family time. One of my favorite online e-tailers is Zappos because they have an amazing selection of shoes and the most streamlined free shipping/return policy on the Net.
3. Subscribe to Local E-Newsletters for Fun Things to Do
Our overly busy schedules leave us little time for planning things to do on the weekends, summer vacation or with our free time. And let’s be honest, sometimes we are just too drained and lack the motivation to plan inspired activities with our families. That’s why I suggest subscribing to variety of online newsletters that will send you weekly activities of things going on in your area like fairs, festivals, seasonal events, and kid friendly happenings. One of my personal favorites is Kids Off The Couch which offers creative activities to do with your kids paired with a learning component of some sort, I just love their creative suggestions.
Get more time with your tots with these helpful tips.
