Every working mom experiences the never-ending stress of balancing work and family. You feel like there’s so little time left for your goals while your children are growing so fast. Working moms struggle to balance working at a job they love and becoming the mothers they imagined. That’s where working mom guilt kicks in.
You don’t feel guilty only for letting your kids or team down. You also feel guilty for caring for yourself, regret not helping your parents enough, or embarrassed over telling anyone how stressed you feel.
Here are some tips to help you rid yourself of guilt.
Dealing With Working Mom Guilt
Forgive Yourself
Let go of guilt, and don’t beat yourself up for your choices and situations. Constant guilt can lead you to believe you’re a terrible mother, employee, or even a bad person. Instead, consider the motives that led to your choices and continue moving on.
Accept Trade-offs
There will be sacrifices, trade-offs, and compromises when you combine career and motherhood. Make a list of motives you choose to work for – satisfaction, money, and sanity. It will serve as an important reminder of your beliefs if your job prevents you from attending a show or forces you to outsource planning your child’s birthday celebration.
See How Your Job Benefits You
Your job allows you and your family to take classes and lessons, take holidays together, or even invest in savings accounts to fund your children’s higher education. And don’t be concerned about the possibility of a work-at-home mom. Successful career moms can become effective in both.
You’ll Be an Ideal Role Model
Whatever you do for a living, you can demonstrate a positive character and the importance of integrity and honesty at work. As a mom, you are also responsible for setting an example for your kids. Let your kids see how women can manage anything and everything they want.
Use the Time You Have
Dealing with working mom guilt becomes easy if we focus on the bright side. Make the most of your car rides back from daycare or school and use them to start conversations or provide learning opportunities. Make the most of bedtimes to read, sing, or chat about your children. It’s a beautiful and essential bonding time.
Consider Your Child’s Socialization
If you take the time to locate a reputable daycare, your kids will gain a lot. They can start school early, learn to play with other children, and make new friends.
Be “Good Enough” at Home
You are emotionally present, listen to your child’s needs, and let your child enjoy a secure and healthy bond with you. You are caring for your child without compromising your health.
Take this as an example and reduce the expectations of the ideal mom who has it all, doing all the things she “should” be doing and getting praised for her selflessness. Be the mother who regains her life and cares for herself. Instead of placing additional stress on yourself, keep in mind the fundamentals.
Unfollow Those Who Bring You Down
Watching other people holiday, share photos of their families, or share their latest promotions via social networks like Instagram and LinkedIn can drive an exhausted mother to tears. The time you spend scrolling through social media to find connections is time that should help inspire you to get up. If you notice that someone or a group’s posts are always bringing you down, remove them from your feed.
Ask for help
You’ll get anxious if you try to do everything yourself. Thus, ask for help from your family members, friends, in-laws, or even carpool parents. Sooner or later nobody will be embarrassed to ask, and it’s an exchange of information in which everyone gains.
Don’t Give Into Distractions
You could always be present with our kids and still not be utterly attentive to them. Although ‘turning off’ the world of work and other distractions isn’t a simple task, it is essential to ensure that you are totally present with your kids whenever you’re with them, minimizing multi-tasking as much as feasible. Take your children to an ice cream shop to enjoy a special treat for yourself and them; it will help you get away from distractions and have mother-child time out.
Ambition doesn’t mean selfishness. It simply means striving to be the best and to improve. Women must reclaim the word and embrace the part of ourselves that seeks to be the best.
How other mothers behave is not of your concern. What you do to make your life easier to ensure your children and family are content, happy, and connected is all that is important. That’s why it’s an ideal time to let go of working mom guilt and claim your right to love the time you spend with your children. It won’t harm your kids – it will allow you to focus on raising your children into well-rounded, well-educated, and wonderful adults!