4 Ways to Support Your Child As a Working Parent

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Being a working parent can be tough, especially when you return to work either after having a baby or after being at home for a few years. The balance between work and home can feel pretty treacherous at times, and you may feel guilt due to missing time with your child.

I won’t bother to tell a working parent not to feel guilty because even though I know I shouldn’t, I feel guilt as a working parent. So when you’re pulling a full-time or more than full-time job, or even working part-time and missing time with your kiddos, here are ways to support your child as a working parent.

Here are 4 ways to support your child as a working parent.

 

1- Share Photos, Work Samples or Bring Your Child to Work

Support your child by allowing him or her to glimpse what life is like for you as a working parent! Share photos of your workspace, bring your child to work, or even show him or her a sample/example of what you do! Kids miss their parents when they are gone, and knowing what mom or dad is doing might make your child feel included in on mom or dad’s working world. This is also a great idea if you have returned back to work and have toddlers or preschoolers who can’t quite understand why you are gone now.

 

2- Designate Weekend Time JUST for the Kids

If you’re a working parent or a stay-at-home parent, you know you need time with your partner, friends and yourself to be a happy and peaceful parent. But be sure to have special time just for the kids each weekend after all the errands and activities have been tended to, in order to clock in that quality time that helps build a bond between you and your children.

 

3- Touch Base

Running the routine between school drop offs and work and home can make a working parent feel like a chicken with its head cut-off. Each day even if it’s just for fifteen minutes, put away the phones, errands and work and talk to your child about his or her day. This may seem so slight, but as a busy working parent I can assure you that a solid fifteen minutes of conversational time in which I am not cooking, prepping, cleaning, driving or doing something is tough to spare, but it’s a must!

Even if you can only make it five minutes per kid, do something to touch base and assess how the day went for your kiddo.

 

4- Leave A Note

As a working parent, you may feel like you are missing so much of your kid’s life. I know I have felt that way plenty of times. Take the time to write a little note and tuck it in your child’s bookbag or lunchbox. It could be a note sharing something about your day or asking about his. It could even be a funny drawing or inspirational quote. Even your teen as cool as it may not be to him or her, may appreciate those “notes.”