- Image by The U.S. National Archives via Flickr
There you are at work at 4:00 p.m., and you get a call from your child saying that he has to be at his baseball practice at 5:00. Your spouse is out of town on work business and your backup childcare plan has fallen through. What do you do?
Well, managing working a job and shuttling the kids to their activities is a big deal in itself. Sometimes plans fall through, or you may have to work a little longer than you expected, causing a problem in your family management process. Here are some things that you can do to manage both successfully:
1.) Have the kids do after-school activities. That way, you don’t have to worry about transportation to get them to the activity. They will go right after school, eliminating forgotten equipment, or risking getting to their sport activities late.
2.) If you have a flexible enough job, arrange to work an earlier schedule, or to get off at an earlier time. If you can do this, you’ll eliminate having to find a back-up plan for transportation, or even missing work to take them to their activities.
3.) Have them wait until their older to take certain sports. There are sports like baseball and football that can be a huge time commitment. For some kids, this is better for the parent and the family if they wait until they’re older. They can then carpool with other parents, or they will be old enough to stay after school to do it. This makes it easier on your work schedule as well.
For your work responsibilities, it also helps to do as much as you can while you’re at work, or to use a laptop for after hours. If these things are an option, use them to your advantage so you can successfully manage both and keep stress down as well.
