The labour market is booming and, if the number of spots at after school care is anything to go by, women are returning to work after being hit hard by the pandemic.
According to statistics from WGEA and ABS women’s participation rate in the workforce has increased from 61.4% in February 2021 to 62.1% in February 2022. But, of course, there’s still a way to go before we catch up to the men.
I’ve had a few conversations lately with women who are looking to return to work or increase their hours of employment and an issue that still holds them back is how they will manage everything on the home front if they’re not there as much.
And my response is always ….
You won’t
You will not manage everything on the home front when you spend less time on that part of your life. There are heaps of productivity hacks out there to help. You can plan your time, like I do, every Sunday. You can meal plan. You can get a cleaner and after school help. You can get someone to walk your dog. Oh, and did I mention that you can get your husband and kids to do more around the house?
But you will not manage everything.
And that is ok.
What you need to do is work out what is most important in your life and then lower your standards about everything else.
It will be hard to begin with. Your kids will complain about after school care and your partner might mumble things under their breath about having beans on toast for dinner again. You will likely look at baskets of laundry sitting around your house and despair. You will forget your best friend’s birthday (make it up to her with a glass of wine when can next squeeze in an hour to see her).
But in time your kids will remember that Tuesday is library day at school and pack their own bag. Your husband will have to apologise to his own mother for forgetting her birthday. And the dog will continue to be ignored like she always has.
Life will go on and you will find a new way to exist as a family. Perhaps you will develop rituals like Friday night family pizza or letting them choose whatever silly songs they like in the car as you drive to school before rushing to work.
In the meantime, you will be building up money in your super account and using brain cells you had forgotten you had. As your kids develop their own life, you will have something that is yours.
I don’t want to trivialise this issue. I know it is real and it plays on my mind a lot too which I why I say you need to work out your priorities. For me it is about spending quality time with my kids, not all of my time. It is about giving them the opportunity to do some things for themselves instead of doing everything for them. It is about eating the same boring meals on rotation because I’d rather save brain power for other things. But your priorities might be different.
You will not manage everything if you go back to work. But who wants to manage everything anyway?