A good family life shares a balance between work and family. Every parent is has the responsibility of contributing to his or her family in one-way or another. Whether both parents work or the father works and the mother stays at home and takes care of the children, it is still working together and providing for their family. (Sometimes, the women work and the men stay a home but I think that takes a strong man to do that!) There needs to be time to spend together as a family on top of all the work that has to be done on a daily basis. Even something as simple as having a family dinner together every night where you can share the experiences of your day can make for a very pleasant family life. It's all about managing your family and this varies based on your individual family dynamics. Having a loving relationship with your spouse and your children also contributes to a good family life. Fighting in front of your children is an easy way to throw off those "good vibes" so parents need to make time for themselves as well to keep their relationship strong. A lot of couples focus too much on the "work" part of life that they loose their relationship with each other and that creates a "bad" family life. Life for kids with two separate sets of parents and stepparents is not always a good thing; although, again depending on the family this could work best.
Balancing your career and family life is extremely important. Leaving work at work and leaving home at home can help balance these two things. Many people carry their work problems home which in turn creates family problems, which takes family problems into work and affects your work performance. Always make time for your family, because in the end they are really all that you have. You need a strong foundation of support in order to succeed in your career. However, there are many factors that can make this balance very complicated. Most adults spend a good majority of their day at work or focusing on work. Without the skills to "unwind" from a day at work, life can turn into a big "job", making life in general stressful. For many women, they experience the "second shift" which is working all day and then coming home to their household duties. With women putting in an extra 12-15 hours a week on house work, their life can quickly become all about work and nothing about enjoying their family. Money is often a giant stressor in families, especially now, when people are used to living a certain way and then they are forced to either change their lifestyle or pick up a second job. When money is tight, family life becomes very stressful and you tend to focus all of your thoughts on what you will have to do to make ends meet.
In the 1940's it was very common for the woman to stay home and work around the house and care for the children. The men went off to work everyday, came home to a cooked meal and then played with the children while the woman cleaned up the dishes. Now, with both parents often times working, the household responsibility needs to be shifted over to the males. This becomes a very complex issue because many women don't want to have to give up the responsibilities and so they work extra hard to make it work. Family issues also become very complex because you must enter in a third party to help care for your children whether that be a nanny or a child-care provider, which puts a strain on your relationship with your kids because they are being "raised" by another person. Seeing parents only becomes a nightly routine instead of a way of life.
It's really important that employers be flexible with families because everyone experiences the same kind of issues. Families often share the same obligations, the biggest one in my mind is finding child care. However, child care is extremely expensive so parents have to work harder just to pay the $300+ a week that it costs to have someone else take care of their kids. Some companies provide childcare at the office so they are actually able to come to work with their mothers for no charge. Some companies, such as mine, offers tax-free childcare program where you are able to put money that is not taxed into an account just to pay for childcare expenses. Depending on the varying income tax, this can save parents a lot of money and a lot of stress when trying to provide for their children. In the last blog, we talked about the Carer's program and this is a great idea because it truly gives the employer flexibility to work full time and take care of their loved one's, whether elders or children, by allowing them to work odd hours or from a home office.
Some families are lucky in the sense that they have their family or neighbors support. Carpooling with neighbor’s kids to school and back in the morning can cut down on unnecessary stressors related to transportation. Switching off days to pick up the kids can help families work out some of these issues with neighbors by sharing the load. Maybe your child can walk to a grandmother's house after school until you are able to pick them up after work, which would cut down on child care expenses, meaning you wouldn't have to work as hard to provide. Family/Friend support in this area really helps people manage the balance between careers and family life. It makes it possible to have both!
Good grasp of the material.
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