JessicaBeing a teacher and a parent can be a challenging balancing act. It can be difficult balancing teaching and family and trying to give your all to both roles without feeling like you need to pay more attention to one or the other.
I remember spending hours of my personal time planning and prepping for the next day only to realize how much of my evening I missed out on, and I’ve turned all my trial and error into teacher-approved strategies that work to help you manage your time in the classroom so you can leave work at work! Click here to learn more.
Balancing both teaching and family is hard. However, with some helpful strategies, you can find a way to balance teaching and family and feel more confident wi handling both responsibilities.
Remember There is No One Perfect Way to Balancing Teaching and Family
There is no easy way to remember all the things you have to do for each and feel confident that you’ll be able to get it all in. When I’m thinking about how to balance family and work, it always reminds me of one of those little balance toys that I used to see in elementary science class!
You know, the ones where you put toy pieces of fruit on each side to see what balances out to equal weight. The difference between elementary science and teacher life is that apples and oranges don’t ever perfectly balance on the scale. What feels important one day is different the next.
And to top it off… more and more tasks are always falling into teachers’ laps. You are told to perform better but leave work at work, ensure your students are highly engaged and spend more time practicing self-care to help with balance, and enjoy your teaching career despite the fact that burnout may be a lifelong struggle.
Which makes it challenging to know where to start when you want to feel more balanced.
You Get to Decide What’s Important in Balancing Family and Work
I’ve discovered that balancing teaching and family really comes down to priorities at the moment. When you look at it this way, you can see that at times you’ll need to pay more attention to your work, and other times, you’ll need to pay more attention to your family. And that’s okay.
Most of the time my family comes first, so I prioritize the time I spend with them. We enjoy spending evenings outdoors playing in the yard, working on projects around the house, and eating dinner together.
I wouldn’t be able to enjoy this time if I was bringing home a lot of schoolwork each night. So, I’ve decided it’s important to carve time for my family each and every day! Once I chose my family over work, so many things changed in my life.
Balancing teaching and family can be simplified when you choose what is important for you and your family.
Here are some questions to help you discover what’s important in your life:
What would you do with your personal time if you left work at work?
What can I do that I’m currently not doing to help me balance?
Which people are most important in your life?
Which activities put you in a flow state?
What do you need right now?
What lights you up?
Lean on those that Can Support You the Most
Of course, when I discovered what was important for me and my family I was able to communicate the things that I wanted for our lifestyle with them. Which created a built-in accountability system that helped me to remember why I was working hard to find a balance between work and family.
With their support, I am able to focus at work so I can enjoy family time in the evenings, keep the house clean so we can get outside and play, and have the time I need to stay healthy.
Create Boundaries Around Your Time to Help You Balance Teaching and Family
Once you are solid on what’s important and your support system, creating boundaries around your time is the next step toward balancing family and work life. Determining time limits for when you go to school in the morning, when you leave at the end of the day, and when you’ll carve out time to work if you don’t finish what you need to at school is key in balancing family and work.
And creating boundaries with proven teacher time management strategies can help you to work inside your contract hours.
Find Systems that Help you Work Efficiently to Balance Teaching and Family
In order to keep to your boundaries, having systems in place to help you manage the planning, prepping, grading, and completing the tasks you have to do are essential in working efficiently. For example, attempting to complete 3 tasks at once during your 20-minute plan time often doesn’t get it done. But focusing on just one task at a time until it’s complete during the 20-minute plan time will increase your productivity. Similarly, splitting up planning out your lessons for the week and prepping them will help you to focus and work efficiently.
Making small shifts to HOW you complete your teacher tasks at school will help you to get them done in less time and be on your way to enjoying your life after hours!
Don’t worry. Be Flexible.
This is all great, but what happens when it doesn’t work? Actually, that can happen quite often when you’re shifting to balance between family and work. Especially if you have put more energy into your work in the past.
I find it’s beneficial to remember that when learning new things, there’s always a curve.
So, don’t worry. Be flexible.
Know that not everything will always get done in the time you set out and understand that as you begin to create systems to help you keep your boundaries and enjoy more of what’s important in your life, you’ll need to make adjustments.
A new way to think about balancing teaching and family…
The reality is your journey to figure out how to balance work and family is never-ending. But if you can remember there is no one perfect way to balance family and work life, rather decide what’s important and share that with those you love most then the other pieces will start to fall into place.
More ideas to Inspire you to Balancing Teaching and Family
9 Teacher Tips for Balancing Work and Family
A New Way to Think About Work-Life Balance
How to balance work with family life: a teacher’s survival guide
When it comes to balancing teaching and family, I say just go for it! You won’t regret the shifts you make to spend more time with your loved ones. But it starts with taking action to invest in yourself and your family. It’s not an easy shift but as you work through the strategies, you’ll know you made the right decision.
You are worth it!
So, I’d love to know what’s YOU’RE favorite strategy to help balancing teaching and family! Drop a comment below. I know our community would love more ideas. I’m sending you love, good vibes, and energy to find the balance between family and work. Don’t forget to grab my free 5 Teacher Time Management Strategies to Leave Work at Work! To help you start to implement even MORE strategies that help you in balancing teaching and family. And tag me on Instagram if you try any of these strategies!
