How I Balance It All

I was asked a little while ago to do a blog post about how I balance a full time job, a husband and child, and a blog/TPT! I thought it would be a fun topic, so here we go.

First of all, let me just say that there are many days where I definitely don’t feel like I’m balancing it all well. Something inevitably isn’t being done to 100% if I’m trying to do all these things at once. My daughter is now 4 (insert the crying face here), so life is a little easier in that respect because babies/toddlers require TONS more energy and attention.

I work in the schools full time, and I’m thankful to have summers off. While I’m contemplating if I want to stay in the schools for the long haul, I definitely think that for this stage of life having summers off is nice because I don’t have to worry about childcare for the summer. I get to have more time at home with my daughter over the summers. During the school year, my rule is that I don’t bring home my laptop during the week or on weekends unless absolutely necessary. This means that I’ve had to become much more efficient at work and use every free moment to get reports and IEPs written. I also don’t plan at home really anymore. I plan by the month and that allows me the freedom to not really worry about it.

As for when I blog/work on TPT activities, I do this during my daughter’s nap time and after she goes to bed. While she’s up, I just don’t have time. Sometimes on the weekends, I’ll carve out 2-3 hours and have my husband take over with my daughter so that I can get some done.

My daughter is at an age where she likes to use my activities and is great at helping me demo them, so that’s been really fun. As with anything in life, sometimes things don’t work out the way you want them to. I have bad weeks at work that spill over into home. I also don’t get everything done when I want to get it done.

I still love having this platform to share ideas and connect with SLPs. It’s been one of the best decisions of my life to stop being anonymous!