Working Parents

It's no secret that stress can make us all a little crazy. When I was working 80 hours per week a few years ago, everyone suffered. My co-workers knew that my hunched shoulders meant "leave me alone or have your head bitten off," my husband knew to treat me with kid gloves, and even my dog knew to give me a wide berth. Thankfully my husband is a very wise man who was able to keep the peace in the house through a few wonderful tactics, and I'd like to share the ways we found to make life more bearable when work overtook my life.

Pick Up the Slack

When you and your partner both work demanding jobs, it can be difficult to stay in touch, even when you live in the same house. Long days at work, hectic family time at home and exhaustion can all make it hard to connect to those you love the most. But it doesn't have to be a lost cause; it is possible to reconnect to your spouse and children when life- and work-demands are crazy. Let's take a look at a few ways to stay in touch.

Embrace Technology

So you come home to a messy house after a demanding 14-hour day at work. The phone was ringing off the hook all day, your boss wouldn't stop hounding you about the TPS Report cover sheet, and problem after problem kept you from accomplishing your actual tasks for the day. In essence, it was the work day from hell. And now you have piled-up dishes, dirty floors, a mystery spot on the ceiling, a spouse relaxing with a beer and kids playing video games all staring you in the face. Grrr. How can you deal?

One of the biggest issues that two-career families face as they make their way up two very different corporate ladders is finding a balance between family needs and work goals. Your job may demand that you work 60 hours per week to get ahead, and the bosses that be in your workplace could frown upon your need to, say, leave at three to take care of a sick child. If your spouse's workplace is just as unfriendly to family needs, both you and your spouse could be stuck between a rock and a hard place. So what's a two-career family to do? Let's take a look.

Parents who work outside the home face unique challenges, many of which take a super-hero-esque focus and balance. Here at MomVesting, we realize that when both parents work, life can become more than a little hectic, so we've devised a new series that will focus on the challenges presented by balancing two careers with kids and household necessities.

My Background