Raising a child is a challenging experience. It flies to a whole new meaning when a couple becomes parents for the first time. Working parents manage a complex balancing act at work and at home as family life is changing and so both have to play their roles.
56% of parents among all working parents find it difficult to balance their job responsibilities with their family responsibilities. More educated parents are more likely to say that balancing work and family is stressful.
Fathers who work feel like they don’t see enough of their children, they don’t have that bond with their children who need to be.
Working moms and dads know that juggling parenting and professional responsibilities is a delicate balancing act on the best of days.
It becomes even more complicated if there is some complicated family emergency. Working parents face issues like:
When child is sick and parents are not going to be in the office
Parents have no other option but to stay at home or leave the office. Anyone can be disappointed by the feeling that they are going to miss a big meeting or presentation.
What one can do is to talk with managers and tell solutions not problems. Find out who will move in times of complex situations, how one may still be available or present and what work to be pushed back or handed over.
With the help of technology, one may be able to attend multiple meetings while performing household duties.
This is not the same as being in the office, but is better than missing any updates or disappointing the team.
Going to miss child’s birthday/play/meeting at school:
As working parent guilt will always be there for missing such important events, the key is to manage it and keep check on it. Instead of feeling guilty, think how one can become role model for their children.
Take a break and give a call to your child, catch the whole performance via Face Time and congratulate, this little dose could be enough to keep the spirit high.
Parents can’t leave office when child is sad or in trouble:
In this situation assurance is very important. Assure children that everything will be sorted and figured out as soon as work is done.
The quicker work is done the faster one can return home to discuss the whole situation in person.
Obviously, it is not the perfect solution at that time but it allows both to move forward until both are together and have more time to talk.
Dealing with family emergencies while working is not fun or easy, but having strategies in place can at least minimize the stress and ensure that working parents are always there for their children.
Working parents share the load of raising kids and running households:
Sharing load is also known as co parenting and it can set child’s development on the optimal course. Co-parenting benefits kids in many ways.
Children whose parents help one another and share responsibilities in all household and parenting duties are likely to be well adjusted as adults.
Children will benefit both on a social and psychological state from having both their parents participate in child rearing.
Co-parenting teaches kids on how to communicate with and resolve conflicts in healthy ways.
Children will learn and practice these skills throughout their lives by looking at their parents round the house.
Children are like sponges, they soak up everything they touch, see or hear. Then they form their own beliefs and understandings from watching others interact with one another.
When a child is young parents need to make sure they witness the benefits of successfully sharing the load between two.
For parents to be successful at sharing the responsibility of having a child, it is important to build a strong relationship and form team work.
If one parent sees the other struggling, step in and help, if possible, in order to balance stress of parenting.
It is important for parents to be on the same page, work, communicate effectively to avoid conflict that can cause more damage to child’s emotional health.
Parents who are successfully practicing co parenting will usually have low stress levels and resolve any and every conflict in a healthy and productive manner.
It will help children to negotiate and resolve conflict well as they enter adulthood.
Traditionally, women were expected to perform most or all of the child care responsibilities while fathers were expected to provide for the family financially and handle discipline.
In the past years there has been a shift to the parenting paradigm. Most women have begun working in addition to raising their children and taking care of the household responsibilities.
Both parents have different approaches to parenting and both bring different emotions to their interactions with their child.
Mothers are known to be more tender and nurturing while fathers tend to be exciting and unpredictable.
Children observe these differences in natures and learn to react to these qualities, which in turn benefits the child’s overall growth.
Father’s Role:
Father’s role is very important in parenting because children benefit from having an active father in their lives.
Children whose fathers participate in their upbringing are more likely to stay in school, good in studies, good in nature and less likely to be involved in any other wrong activities.
Research show fathers are equally important in a child’s development as are mothers.
Ideally, both father and mother work together and communicate well in order to provide the best learning and growth environment for their child.
The ideal man today is not only a good employee working long hours to be a successful breadwinner, but is also involved in nurturing, a great partner and a good son.
Co-parenting works:
Co Parenting works because it asks parents to share the load and teach the kids vital life skills helping them better understand working parents and child care.
Essentially parents are helping their children to be healthier, happier are more successful adults down the road and elminating working parents issues.
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