What Guides For Working Parents Often Leave Out

Many guides that aim to help working parents are often totally worthwhile in their intention, but they’re unable to cover every single scenario that might affect you on a daily basis. In this way, it’s easy to feel frustrated when looking online and trying to find assistance that matches your needs.

Now, while we can’t try to counter every hole left by such instructional guides, it’s worth understanding a few extra challenges that some parents face as they intend to work both a job and also raise a family with little ones.

This way, we can remain helpful as friends, and even manage new parents more capably if we find ourselves in that position at work. But what might this look like in practice? It’s not always so easy to tell. In this guide, we’ll discuss a few additions to such parental guides that can keep us mindful and attentive to the needs and added flexibility required of those in such a situation:

Children May Have Different Needs

Children are all different. Some might need special medical attention, others may have learning difficulties, or maybe they’re just going through a particularly fussy phase. These individual needs can throw a wrench in even the most carefully planned schedules, and it’s important to be aware of that. For example, a child with severe allergies might need more frequent doctor visits, while another with autism may gain great support through Accel Therapies – Best ABA Therapist to see them develop at the best pace. It’s not uncommon for parents to find themselves juggling these varied needs alongside work commitments, and so if you do, make sure it’s clear to your workplace about your added responsibilities and see if you can negotiate flexibility where appropriate.

Work Schedules Aren’t All 9-5

Finding childcare that matches unusual hours like night or split shifts can be very difficult. It’s especially tough for parents in fields like healthcare or hospitality, as their shifting schedules don’t always line up with standard childcare options. It’s also hard to attend school events or have regular family dinners with these work patterns, so each family has to find their own way to balance work and home life. It’s worth remembering that when we talk about working parents, we’re not just talking about those with standard office hours, and that those parents who may have trouble balancing standard commitments aren’t any less capable parents for it.

Shift Patterns Can Be Negotiable, Depending On The Job

Since Covid, bosses are becoming more open-minded in a general sense. How much wiggle room there is depends on the job type and company culture you’re in of course, but it’s worth asking about any alternatives or provisions you can need. Office jobs might offer more flexibility than customer-facing roles, for example. But even in less flexible industries, there might be some options, like swapping shifts with coworkers or working from home occasionally could be possibilities. Maybe you’ll be the first one to pioneer an approach in your office.

With this advice, you’ll be sure to see that not all guides fit working parents, and understanding that can help you avoid feeling inferior for your differences.