It’s Wednesday at 1:45 in the afternoon. Alexis receives a call from her son’s school saying he’s sick with a 101 degree fever, and needs to be picked up from school. Alexis is getting ready to go into an important meeting with a client, and her husband is out of town on business. Alexis panics – she’s not sure who she can call for help. How about you? Do you know who you can call in an urgent situation such as this? Hopefully, you have a list of names and numbers you can call for back-up help.
For working moms, having a strong support network is essential. Given that life is unpredictable, you never know when you’ll need assistance — someone to pick up your child from school, or back-up child care, or someone to take care for your sick child.
Who should be in your support network? Here’s a list:
Boss – A boss can support you by allowing flexibility when needed – to attend parent-teacher conferences or school performances, or to stay home with a sick child.
Co-workers – Co-workers can support you by filling in when you cannot be at work – so you don’t have to come back to twice the work!
Spouse – Your spouse can share household and childcare responsibilities.
Children – Even your children (depending upon their age) can take responsibility and do their part.
Family — Your extended family can support you by providing back-up child care.
Friends – It’s great to have friends who can help in times of need – to trade-off carpooling or caring for children.
Neighbors – A neighbor can help out in a pinch; for example, to pick up your child from school.
Paid Services – These include your child care provider, emergency child care, and household services (including housecleaning, gardening, pest control, window washing, errands, shopping, etc.).
How strong is your network? What’s missing? If you find your support network is not as strong as you’d like, then gain the support you need. Then when you’re faced with an unexpected call, you’ll know who to ask for help.
Relationships are important to a healthy balance. We all need other people in our lives. Spending time with family or friends can help rejuvenate us. We also need people we can depend upon in times of need – to provide emotional support, comfort, or a helping hand.
Sometimes we get so busy that we neglect important relationships – with our spouse, children, extended family, or friends. It’s easy to take our spouse for granted, and then eventually drift apart. We need to invest time to nurture our marriage. When we’re busy, we often don’t make time for friends, and our friendships fade over time. How can we make these important relationships a priority? Here are ten tips to help you maintain relationships over time.
- Schedule a date night with your spouse. Go out for coffee, dinner, a movie, etc. or spend a quiet, intimate evening at home and send the kids to a sitter’s house.
- Attend a marriage retreat together once a year.
- Get away for an overnight stay every few months. Time away from work, home, and kids will do wonders for your marriage.
- Use Skype to connect with family members who live far away. It’s the next best thing to being there.
- Use Facebook or e-mail to catch up with extended family and friends.
- Schedule a lunch date with a friend at least once a month.
- Schedule a game night or potluck dinner once a month with friends and neighbors.
- Call on your cell phone and catch up with a friend. You can even talk while you’re folding laundry or driving on the freeway.
- Keep a record of birthdays of family members and close friends. Then at the beginning of each month, buy birthday cards for everyone with a birthday that month.
- Develop a good support network of people (family, friends, neighbors) with whom you can exchange favors.
Do you have any tips to add to this list? Please share with other readers what you do to maintain important relationships?