Twelve practical strategies to experience more joy and feel less guilt as a working parent. Drawn from ACT, the groundbreaking therapy technique that has helped countless people, these steps work through patterns and frustrations and can make impactful changes in all aspects your life. Working and parenting is hard. Really hard! Dr. Yael Schonbrun, herself a working parent, offers practical strategies that can help us reframe our approach to working and parenting from the inside out. Based in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), these strategies won't create more hours in the day or minimize baby Zoom-bombs, but they can shift how we label our experiences, revise the stories we tell ourselves about working and parenting, and recognize the value and benefits we get from each role.
Differing values and commitments pull working parents in opposite directions, there never seems to be enough time, and the social supports families desperately need are woefully lacking. Yet even with these very real challenges, we can find more peace and less stress.
Strategies include:
- Getting clear on our values and using these to help us make what often feel like no-win choices around time and resources
- Practicing mindfulness in both parenting and working
- Subtracting less meaningful obligations from our lives
Whatever your family shape, whatever your work, these strategies can help you crush both roles.
