The biggest challenge of all is time.  There is simply never enough time to do everything - all the household chores, parenting tasks and all the work required of a business.

It can certainly feel like a struggle to try and keep on top of it all.  Balancing children and work life is no easy feat.  It’s nonstop and at times can feel crazy, stressful and unmanageable.

As busy working parents we strive for a happy work-life balance, but it doesn’t always go to plan!

I’m not sure achieving a completely perfect work-life balance is even possible, but there are definitely some ways to relieve the stress of balancing children and a busy work life.

Below I will share three ways you can start tackling the stress of trying to work full-time and manage family life.

1.     Hire extra help

If you can afford it then why not treat yourself to some extra help around the house?

You could hire a cleaner or a gardener to make your home more manageable and give you back some quality time for either work or family.

Perhaps you’re doing OK at keeping on top of these things, but you never see the bottom of your laundry basket!  A well-known situation in most family households!

If you are struggling to keep on top of laundry then wouldn’t it be magical for someone to whisk all your laundry away and return it washed, clean and dry?

It sounds like a dream!

That’s exactly the type of service offered by Laundryheap who offer a 24 hour home pick up laundry service in London, Manchester, Coventry and Birmingham.

They are the Uber of laundry.  They’ll pick up your laundry FROM YOUR HOUSE so you don’t have to move!  Laundryheap will wash and return it within 24 hours.

Sounds dreamy doesn’t it!

If you live in one of these cities then you should definitely treat yourself and give yourself a break from the laundry every now and then.

I’d probably even add this to my Mother’s Day, birthday or Christmas wish list if it was available in our city!

2.     Learn to say no

As parents we are guilty of feeling guilty!  Mum guilt is the worst and we try to say yes to every opportunity that arises, especially for our children, but it can become overwhelming.

If you have too much to do and are feeling stressed, then learn to say no.

Your health is more important and it’s not good to always take on too much and feel overwhelmed and stressed.

Getting invites for kids parties every weekend?  Family want to meet up for lunch?  Friends for dinner?  Plus you have a deadline to meet and a stack of housework to do too?

Learn to say no.

It’s OK.  You can’t do everything, so don’t worry about missing out and sometimes take a day off and do what you need to do as a family or by yourself.

Self-care is so important.

You don’t have to say yes to every invite, so choose wisely and let yourself schedule time out just for you and your family.

3.     Accept that a perfect work-life balance doesn’t exist

Children and family life is unpredictable.  Things don’t always go to plan.  Try to be flexible and accept that perhaps there is no perfect work-life balance, the same as there is no perfect parent.

Even if you try to strictly schedule in family time and work time, things don’t always work out as intended.  A child might be sent home ill from school or in our experience the school might close because of snow or their water has stopped working!

Be prepared to be unprepared!

Learning to be flexible and reprioritise is essential as a working parent.

The same goes the other way too.  Sometimes work needs to take a backseat because the children need to come home from school, but at other times work may need to take priority when there are important deadlines to meet.

There is no magic solution or exact formula to how to create a perfect work-life balance and that’s because it doesn’t exist.

Simply accept this, try your best to work out a schedule that suits your work and your family, but be prepared to be flexible as deadlines or family emergencies arise.

Final word

Changing your mind-set when it comes to balancing work and family is one way of easing the stress when things don’t always go to plan.  Learning to say no to every event will also help you to reclaim time for yourself and family and prevent overwhelm.  Hiring extra help around the house, and making use of services such as home pick up laundry services, will take away some of the pressure that comes with balancing work and family life.