From Mommy with Love
>> Wednesday, July 25, 2012 –
breastfeeding,
dawn,
dens,
family activity,
travelling with a baby,
trips,
troy
Being a working mom means that i have to constantly balance my time between the corporate world and my family. One question that i get asked a lot is 'How do you do it?'. The quick answer is - i just do what i have to do. I do my best while i am at work and try to be the best mom I can be while I'm with my kids. But sometimes, the time with your kids is so limited when you get home, right?
I would like to share three simple things that i do to compensate for the 9 to 10 hours that i have to spend at the office each day.
1. Write Letters to My Children
I keep both online and hardbound journals for my kids. I write to them each time I have things that i want to tell them that i simply cannot because they are either away from me or are still too little to understand. I have two separate notebooks for each of my kids. I have recently accepted that my handwriting is just terrible. What's the point of getting all sentimental with handwritten stuff when they cannot even understand it in the first place? So i am now posting my thoughts and letters to them in an online journal.
I love this because it is something i intend to share with them when they are older. They will be able to read about all the funny anecdotes that they've said and all the things that we have done for them. I want them to grow up remembering how much we love them. I wrote about these letters in an old post here.
2. Travel! Travel! Travel!
Vacation leaves are there for a reason. Use them wisely! 99% of my vacation leaves are spent with my children. Either on an extended family vacation (some examples of my family travel posts here, here, here, or here) or simply going to the local mall. It does not have to be extravagant. It just has to be memorable and fun. I am a firm believer that we must invest our money wisely but also enjoy the fruits of our labor.
Now i say 99% of the time because there are still that 1% of the time when i just want to enjoy some ME time and go to the Spa, rest at home, or just do whatever i want. And that's okay too.
3. Be their 'Yaya'
At this day and age, a lot of the chores are being done by the nannies. I also enjoy that luxury and am truly grateful for whatever help i can get. But with the kids, i realize that most children equate love with the things we do for them (a.k.a. taking care of them). So even when we are tired from a long day at work, Dens and i see to it that we do at least one 30-minute activity with each of our children separately each day.
My daily activity with Troy is bath time. Troy will always tell me about how his day went during this time. It helps me get to know him more. Troy, in turn, will know that even if mommy is working the whole day, it is also important for me to take care of him when i get home.
Dens would then takeover after that. Their activities would range from playing basketball to reading story books before bedtime.
With Dawn it gets a little bit easier for me since i still breastfeed her exclusively. After Dawn's bath, I would usually bring her upstairs to play in Troy's room. This is also a good chance for all four of us to spend time together. By 9pm, I would bring her back to our room, feed her and put her to sleep.
Although the above routine is our ideal, the schedule does get interrupted once in a while. There are days when we need to attend Bible studies or simply want to go out for a movie date, and that is all right. We wil just go back to our routine the next day.
Being a working mom does not mean you are automatically detached from your kids. As i have shared, it is still possible to be very hands-on.
I admit that there are days when i want to just stay home and spend all 24 hours with them...but for now, i will do the best with my situation and enjoy both career and motherhood. It has been working for me and I hope it can work for you working moms too!
I would like to share three simple things that i do to compensate for the 9 to 10 hours that i have to spend at the office each day.
1. Write Letters to My Children
I keep both online and hardbound journals for my kids. I write to them each time I have things that i want to tell them that i simply cannot because they are either away from me or are still too little to understand. I have two separate notebooks for each of my kids. I have recently accepted that my handwriting is just terrible. What's the point of getting all sentimental with handwritten stuff when they cannot even understand it in the first place? So i am now posting my thoughts and letters to them in an online journal.
I love this because it is something i intend to share with them when they are older. They will be able to read about all the funny anecdotes that they've said and all the things that we have done for them. I want them to grow up remembering how much we love them. I wrote about these letters in an old post here.
 |
| Moleskin books for Troy and Dawn |
 |
| I would paste memorable photos on some pages |
Vacation leaves are there for a reason. Use them wisely! 99% of my vacation leaves are spent with my children. Either on an extended family vacation (some examples of my family travel posts here, here, here, or here) or simply going to the local mall. It does not have to be extravagant. It just has to be memorable and fun. I am a firm believer that we must invest our money wisely but also enjoy the fruits of our labor.
Now i say 99% of the time because there are still that 1% of the time when i just want to enjoy some ME time and go to the Spa, rest at home, or just do whatever i want. And that's okay too.
3. Be their 'Yaya'
At this day and age, a lot of the chores are being done by the nannies. I also enjoy that luxury and am truly grateful for whatever help i can get. But with the kids, i realize that most children equate love with the things we do for them (a.k.a. taking care of them). So even when we are tired from a long day at work, Dens and i see to it that we do at least one 30-minute activity with each of our children separately each day.
My daily activity with Troy is bath time. Troy will always tell me about how his day went during this time. It helps me get to know him more. Troy, in turn, will know that even if mommy is working the whole day, it is also important for me to take care of him when i get home.
Dens would then takeover after that. Their activities would range from playing basketball to reading story books before bedtime.
With Dawn it gets a little bit easier for me since i still breastfeed her exclusively. After Dawn's bath, I would usually bring her upstairs to play in Troy's room. This is also a good chance for all four of us to spend time together. By 9pm, I would bring her back to our room, feed her and put her to sleep.
Although the above routine is our ideal, the schedule does get interrupted once in a while. There are days when we need to attend Bible studies or simply want to go out for a movie date, and that is all right. We wil just go back to our routine the next day.
Being a working mom does not mean you are automatically detached from your kids. As i have shared, it is still possible to be very hands-on.
I admit that there are days when i want to just stay home and spend all 24 hours with them...but for now, i will do the best with my situation and enjoy both career and motherhood. It has been working for me and I hope it can work for you working moms too!
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