Been There, Done That: 3 Women Talk About Managing A Career, A Home, And Kids At The Same Time

For decades, there was a clear delineation between career women and mothers, with no room for overlaps. Movies portrayed successful women as being self-made at the expense of time with their children, and moms who get to take care of their families were depicted as “failures.” However, this is not the case in real life. Working full-time while being a homemaker is never easy, but these amazing women made it happen.

Ae, a 29-year-old entrepreneur, admits that she encounters difficulties in her daily life as a working mother. She has a toddler who constantly requires her attention and guidance, and a business that she needs to attend to in order to provide for her family. Ae is grateful for a partner who helps her manage the household.

“Identifying the situations where I encounter difficulties as a mom and a career woman is important. From there, I am able to plan and execute effective resolutions. My husband is also a great help [in] minimizing the struggles I encounter, [be it in] the physical or emotional aspect.”

For single moms like Lucila, however, the set-up might be a little different.

“During the early years of being a mom, I needed to attend to my child's needs even though I was having a difficult time at the office, tired from the long travel,” the 60-year-old shares. Lucila had to cook meals and send her daughter to school before work, and had to help her child with homework when she came home.

Managing her time was difficult, especially when her daughter was still young. However, even though Lucila did not have a partner to assist her, she had a strong mother she could lean on to lift some chores off her back.

“Be thankful to those who are there to help you in taking care of your child, like our dear mothers. It lessens our worries while we are in the office, as we know that our children are in good hands.” she says.

Marie Ann, 55, an executive assistant and mother of three, did not encounter a lot of difficulties being a working mom, except when it came to doing household chores. Having to come home exhausted from work, then needing to run the dishwasher, do the laundry, and fold clothes, among many others, were taxing for Marie Ann.

Homemakers and working mothers – how they cope

Aside from getting help from their partners and mothers, these working mothers share these tips:

1. Take care of yourself.

   Ae is a firm believer of this. In between the grocery checklists and work meetings, we might forget to take a deep breath and take care of ourselves too. Self-care does not always mean bubble baths and facials, just getting enough sleep and eating healthy meals can go a long way.

2. Make lists and be organized.

   Being both a career woman and a mother means you are always in a whirlwind of tasks, but things don’t have to get out of hand. Bring out your trusty notebook and make lists: grocery lists, to-do lists, inventory list. Ticking off these boxes may feel therapeutic for you, too!

3. Manage your time well.

   Lucila says she would not have survived without her time management skills. “I motivate myself to be efficient and finish my work early, so I can go home early to attend to my child.” Learning how to prioritize and manage your tasks will be helpful in the long run, so you won’t have to find yourself rushing out the door for your kid’s project that you forgot to buy. It is always best to be prepared.

4. Separate your work life from your home life.

   This might be difficult to do this time around, since most of us are working from home. The way to do it is to set your work hours and stick to them. “I work [from] 8 am to 6 pm, and I make sure that after 6 pm, I get to spend time with my kids,” says Marie Ann. She is strict when it comes to her work-life boundaries, and this makes it easier for her to manage her tasks.

5. Teach your kids to help out.

   There is one thing these supermoms have in common: they are committed in teaching their children to help out at home. They believe teaching their children to do simple house chores will be beneficial to them when they grow up, too.

We might be oblivious to the sacrifices and hard work that mothers go through just to take care of their families. So take this as a sign -- thank your mom and appreciate the mothers in your circle for being the amazing women that they are. After all, they are our real-life superheroes.

This article originally appeared on OneLife.PH.