Jugglers Workshop | All About Time
Juggling Workshop
Working Moms' Q & A
The daily tug-of-war between your career and your kids can leave you torn between the two worlds. Where do you turn? The Juggling Workshop! Ask questions and share suggestions about juggling work and family.
This week's question:
I recently re-entered the work force after being a stay-at-home, and I have
a contract (temporary) position that could go on indefinitely. However, I
have a lot of job stress mainly related to my contract status.
Today while home with my kids I was very distracted with my job concerns,
and I felt it detracted from our day together. Do you have some advice for
handling job stress so that it doesn't affect the precious, limited time we
have to spend with our children? Thanks!
-- Laura
Laura,
Most of the women I interviewed try very hard to compartmentalize their
focus, so that when they are on the job, that's what they think about, and
when they are with their kids, they put the job out of their mind. That's
often easier said than done so people find tricks to make it work. One
working mom told me, "When I walk in my home and close the front door behind
me, I imagine that I'm closing off the work part of my life. My kids have
all my attention from that moment until they are in bed. Then I deal with
the rest of my life. It keeps me balanced."
Working on a contract basis can make you feel insecure, but one of the keys
is to staying in control is to have good skills and keep building them.
It's important to remember that your skills are your bargaining chips so
that if this job doesn't go on indefinitely, you can always take those
skills somewhere else.
Hope this helps.
Working together we can make a difference.
-- Cathy
Dear Laura:
Sometimes, job stress just does invade your life. I've been there many
times. One thing to keep in mind is that your life with your children takes
place over many days. A few bad days will mix in with many good ones. Each
day is a chance to start over. And sheltering your children from every
worry cripples them, in a sense--they need to learn that as an adult, you
face many important issues and your entire world doesn't revolve around
their amusement! I have found that in times of great stress, I've turned to
my children and said, "I'm having a hard day and I really need some love."
They respond to that very powerfully, and it helps me too.
I wish you much luck finding a better job situation that's not so stressful.
Take care,
-- Marion
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