6 Life Hacks for Working Parents

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By Dani Jansen

Whether you’re a full-time stay-at-home parent or a full-time working-outside-the-home parent, your role presents its own unique joys and challenges. For those of you returning to the workforce, here are some fabulous #lifehacks to help you rock it:

1- Get yourself a big T-shirt. At least two to three sizes larger than normal. In the mornings, throw that sucker over your work gear to protect yourself from toddler toothpaste, airborne oatmeal and sticky fingers. Throw on a belt and it can double as a stylish dress on laundry day!

Protect your work clothes with less important clothes.

2- You’re in a meeting, and you discover a mysterious bit of goop dried on your pants. What do you do? Ignore it. Your colleagues don’t want to think about what that dried greyish stuff might be. They’ll pretend not to notice, which means you can too!

Wearing a colourful bow will draw eyes away from stains.

3- Missing your kiddo? Sure, you could frame some cute pics for your work desk, but that’s liable to make you ache to squish that chubby little face. Instead, I recommend you video your little one throwing an epic tantrum. Play a few seconds of that, and you’ll be ready to get back to those reports tout de suite.

Distract yourself with funny cat videos.

4- Too tired to make supper from scratch? Remember that you probably ate Cheez Whiz as a kid and you haven’t grown any extra fingers. Your toddler will be fine if she eats pasta with bottled tomato sauce again tonight.

This stock image family’s salad came from a box.

5- You arrive at daycare and the teacher says, “We need to talk.” It is totally normal to freak out. You are probably going to learn that your kid likes to steal. Or bite. Or, oh, I don’t know, start a pantsless dance revolution at nap time. Not that I have any personal experience with that. My kid is an angel. Not a mini revolutionary who doesn’t believe in wearing pants or sleeping. Anyway…. If you do hear those dreaded words, I recommend pretending you’re in a rush to get home. Then promise that your partner, who’s in charge of drop off tomorrow, will be sure to come early to discuss the issue.

If your daycare provider greets you with this expression … run, don’t walk!

6- Bummed that you missed a milestone? So am I. We’ve all been there. Just know you can wallow with the rest of us and remember there are many milestones to come. Like the first time your kid steals a cookie from another kid. Or the first time he figures out how to climb the bookcase.