Hillsborough County Extension
Balancing Work and Family

• Basics of Balancing Work and Family
• Child Care and Safety
• Stress Management
• Time Management
• Additional Publications
• Useful Links

Basics of Balancing Work and Family

Trying to juggle a demanding career and hectic family life? You are not alone. In fact the traditional family with a male breadwinner and wife at home fits only 11% of today’s households. The Center for Work and Family at Boston University states that the fastest growing segment of the workforce is married women with children under 3.

The fact that you are employed outside the home and raising children at the same time is not regarded as a problem. It’s how well you manage all those demands that will have an effect on your family. Interviews with children of working mothers indicated that children do not object to their mothers working, but they do object to how stressed their mothers are when they return. ( Families and Work Institute)

Learning how to deal with multiple roles while taking care of ones “self” can be a challenge. It’s not enough to just survive; we need to assure that our families thrive. One effective way to balance work and personal life is to look at the inherent challenges as problems that need fixing, and then finding the best way to fix them.

We hope that the above resources can help you find what you are looking for -- a balanced life that is satisfying, productive and meaningful.

Useful Links
Mothers and More; Network for Sequencing Women
http://www.mothersandmore.org/AboutUs/about_us.shtml

Families and Work Institute
http://www.familiesandwork.org/announce/workforce.html

For information on family life programs,
contact Diana Converse at (813) 744-5519 x 140 or