“Every wise woman builds her house”
Just because a mother works does not mean that her children are deprived of her time, love and care. Nevertheless, a working mother may sometimes feel guilty because she has less time for the children and she may tend to worry about their well-being when she is not with them.
A working mother may have greater challenges in raising her children and attending to her family, but with wisdom and guidance from God, she will always stay on track in bringing up her children.
Here are some lessons I have learned through the years as a working woman who is also taking care of her family:
Cultivating Faith and Prayer
As a working woman, I believe God loves and cares for my family more than I do, and that He has the best plan for our lives. I ask God for wisdom and pray for my family every day that:
- we will have the fear of God in our hearts because the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom;
- we will have strength from God to lead us through life.
At my work place, I pray for my company and my co-workers. Having God’s favour on me to work with people has helped to work more effectively and more productively. God is also my source of creative ideas in problem solving and managing challenges at work.
Living a Simple Life
“First you change your attitude, then you change your life”
It is not easy to strike a perfect balance between work and family. There will always be challenges to face, and we will need to make choices. We must be willing to keep our lifestyle simple, give up certain positions/expectations and pay the price (i.e. being willing to give up that special something, perhaps that certain car, vacation, luxury item, contract or honour that we have had our eye on).
When I live a simple life, making choices becomes easy and simple. That encompasses making choices about food, household purchases, living space design, education, disciplining the children and other lifestyle choices.
Doing Things Together
To nurture family bonding, making time for my family is crucial, both on weekdays or holidays. We plan annual family trips and movie nights and even prepare family meals together. Even though from Friday night to Sunday my family is actively involved in social work (youth programs, training), we know it is still family time and that we will be doing something together.
As a couple, my husband and I support each other’s devotion to our jobs and social work. At the same time, we do not neglect each other. We discuss and make major time commitments that are mutually accepted. I find that constant close communication and showing grace and extending love to one another are crucial in building our marriage. We share the same goal of building people and families and are partners in this work. This includes building a relationship with our in-laws and taking them for holidays. The key here is “doing things together” as a couple, which my husband always emphasises.
I encourage my children to invite their friends to stay the night or I volunteer myself to be their driver when they go on outings. From these activities, I get to know their friends and the children appreciate their parents’ support and interest in their hobbies, friends and school activities.
At the work place, I have made the organisation’s reporting structure flat, simple and accessible. This has created a better communication channel and helps to reduce time in making decisions while increasing creative input from staff.
About the Author:
Estee Tan is a working mom with two boys. She works as General Manager in the hotel division of a public-listed company. Her work involves hotel management and hotel development. Estee graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance (USA) and a Master’s degree in Business Administration (USA). She is also a Certified Hotel Administrator (USA). She enjoys travelling, reading and baking. Her passion is to build more wholesome families in which parents are moulding children with good character. She is also keen to build a young generation that has the heart to serve and care for others.
Reposted from old website 28 June 2017