The dream of every career woman is to build up a successful career while also running a successful home/marriage. To achieve this you have to bring up kids while you pursue you career at the same time.
However the number of kids you have and the gap between them can affect your career. The impact is especially more significant when they are more than one kid and are also closer to each together in age.
Specifically having two kids under 2 years may derail your career progression at work by diverting your physical energy, affecting your mental health, poor work life balance, career gaps, and a slower career progression.
How Kids Derail Careers For Working Moms
1. Divert your Physical Energy
The physical exhaustion from caring for the children affects the energy the moms can commit to their careers. Caring for one toddler as a working mom is a LOT of work. Caring for two or multiple toddlers is extremely tiring as it demands double resources, attention, and energy.
The situation is hence very exhausting for working moms, especially if the mom has no help with house chores or support. The result is that the mom is always fatigued where a continued state can even lead to burn out.
The effect on their work becomes tremendously negative. The mom becomes unable to consistently deliver at the workplace because they are unable to handle as much work as before.
Also, they have difficulty focusing or concentrating on tasks. This is the reason why working moms to multiple toddlers make far more errors and mistakes in work that affect their appraisal.
Read: Why Working Moms Hate Work after Getting Babies
2. Poor Mental Health Affects Performance
Caring and handling multiple toddlers at the same can mentally affect the mom which sequentially affects their work. They are unable to focus and be productive at work. They become unable to meet their targets and other job performance metrics.
The demands and pressure from both aspects are mentally draining as they are physically exhausting. Often working moms with small kids are on the verge of a mental meltdown, especially when they have no help with home-related chores or support at work.
Further, the challenges with organizing double, child-care, double pediatrician visits, and chronic lack of sleep sinks one’s career. Therefore being a working mother is hard. It is literally like holding two jobs.
Read: How to Create an Effective Self-care Routine
3. Poor Work-Life Balance
The amount of time, energy, and resources needed to care for two toddlers leaves no room for other personal nourishing activities that are healthy and necessary for the mom to succeed in their jobs and career.
No self-care, poor nutrition, no exercise, and sleep deprivation among others affect the ability of the mom to fully commit and deliver at the workplace. As a result, there are fewer promotions or progression opportunities.
Without work flexibility and family-friendly policies at the workplace, it is so much difficult for working moms to have a work-life balance. The inflexibility leads to so little time and resources. Achieving an effective work-life balance is the dream of every working mom.
4. Creates Career Gaps
Maternity leave counts negatively against moms in terms of time in service. Some moms also have career gaps related to the time they take time off work and care for the children adequately.
Many experience discrimination and lose out on seniority time because of maternity leaves, especially those too close together. Two maternity leave close together kills chances for internal promotion.
Read: Managing the Transition from a Career Break/Maternity
5. Slower Career Progression
Women find that after coming back from maternity leave, they have lost some touch with work. The commitment and dedication is further divided between motherhood and parenting. As a result career progress becomes very slow.
Further, they face some form of discrimination at the workplace where the employees believe a mom would not handle work as effectively and efficiently as before. As such women get fewer projects and progress opportunities than they would normally get or what their peers are getting.
Tips on Maintaining Career Growth with Multiple Toddlers
1. Get Help with Childcare
Caring for two toddlers while working is hard. It is mentally and physically exhausting. Therefore get help with the babies by hiring a nanny or enrolling them at daycare.
2. Get Help with House Chores
Do not try to do it all. You need to use the time after work to re energize and refresh for the following day at work and also get some family time. Avoid spending this time on house chores. If you can afford it, hire some help for the house chores.
3. Prioritize Self-care
Your body, mind, and soul need nourishing for you to deliver as a mom and employee. Eat well, get adequate sleep, and exercise. This is paramount to your work-life balance and having success at both parenting and career.
4. Create a Supportive System
A circle of your family, close friends, and partner is very important to your family and career goals. They offer you the much needed support you need to navigate the challenges of parenting two toddlers and working at the same time.
5. Be Aggressive at Work
Set your career goals and a plan to achieve them. Get the resources you need to make this happen and do not lose focus. You need to be relentless and aggressive in your work to meet those goals.
6. Change Career/Employers
Having a supportive employer or flexible job is very important. You need a job allowing you to care for your two toddlers as well as offer you career growth opportunities. If your current job or employer is not offering this, look for a mom-friendly career/employer.
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