Working moms have the hardest job in the world. They’ve got to juggle work and home and children, when all three of these positions are fulltime jobs. Not only that, but they’ve got to make it all work somehow, be the perfect employee; have a clean and tidy home; and wind up with good-mannered children who pull down great grades.

It’s a bit much to ask. But somehow we manage, us working moms. Our homes are clean and orderly enough and we’re doing just fine at work, thank you. As for the kids, they’re okay, too. We just always worry and wonder if we’re doing enough. Some of us working moms feel a lot of guilt a lot of the time.

We worry we’re not showing our children that they are important in our lives. We want to make sure they feel secure and loved, even though our time with them is limited, because of our work responsibilities. And we do love them, oh so much.

Working Moms Need Life Hacks, Too

What we really need are some new ideas on how we can get that across: let our children know we love them and care about them. We need something along the line of those popular life hacks pages, a list of easy peasy things we can do to make our kids feel our presence, even when we can’t be there. Here then, is that list, the one you’ve all been waiting for:

1. Enlist your child’s help. Asking your child to do an age-appropriate task will help your child feel like an important part of your life. For instance, you might tell your child how glad you would be if she could straighten her toys, make the salad for supper each day, or fill the dog’s water bowl. Make it a practice to notice when your child follows through and give her your heartfelt thanks for helping make the house run more smoothly. Your child will feel needed, special, an important cog in the wheel that makes your house a home.

2. Leave a love note in a strategic area. You can stick a note with a funny joke in your child’s lunch bag, or simply write, “I love you,” on a piece of paper, and put it inside the pocket of his jacket, for his hand to find, a total surprise! Put a note on his school uniform that says, “Wear me!” Get creative. This is a great way for you to be a fun and loving presence in your child’s life, even when you’re not physically present.

3. Bring your child with you when running errands. Part of being a working mom means that even when you’re not at work, you still have plenty of stuff to do, for instance, picking up the dry cleaning, or picking up a package at the post office. When it is at all possible to do so, take your child along with you for the ride. If you have more than one child, have them take turns. This can be good “alone time” for you and your child. Just having that short time together with you in the car can help make your child know you think he’s special: that you like spending time with him.

4. Develop a ritual. A ritual is anything you do on a regular basis that is specific to you and your family. For instance, you might go around the table at dinnertime and have each person tell you one funny thing that happened to them that day. Or perhaps you always say, “See you later, Alligator,” when you part in the morning, to which your child might respond, “After awhile, Crocodile.” Rituals can help you and your child feel connected and loved.

5. Schedule a monthly date. Working moms are incredibly organized and there’s no reason that can’t extend to spending time with your child. Look at your calendar and find a time you can designate and mother and child time. Do this once a month. It doesn’t have to be an all-day affair and it doesn’t have to be costly, either. It can be a half an hour walk, just the two of you.

6. Make a recording. Record yourself reading your child’s favorite bedtime story, or even just leave a bedtime message for your child (“Goodnight! Don’t let the bedbugs bite! I love you.”) You can do this with your smart phone. Encourage your child to leave you messages, too. It can be a contest between you to see who leaves the best messages. You can extend this idea to photos. Send a photo of you making a funny face, or a photo of something interesting you saw on the way to work.

7. Cook together on the weekends. Are you the kind of mom who plans out and preps dinners for the week, over the weekend? Why not bring your child into the kitchen to help you chop and stir and measure? Or bake something together: a special cake or a loaf of bread, my kids for example, love a french baguette loaf so it is always a good idea for me. Cooking together is a great way to bond.

8. Grocery shop together. The shopping doesn’t get done by itself. Might as well do it with your child. You can show your child how to pick the best tomatoes, and how to compare prices. You can end by getting ice cream together and make that a part of your regular shopping “date.” That helps make an errand something you’ll both look forward to, all week.

9. Carve out library time. Choose a time you can go together to the library and make it a weekly thing. You need to make sure you give your child enough time to browse and choose the books she wants. After you get her settled with her books, you can go and find a book or two for yourself. Making the library a part of your life as mother and child helps your child understand that reading books is a value for your family.

Making your child feel loved is all about making time: time to be together, time to do something for each other, time to think about each other, time to slow down and enjoy life, even if it’s just for the duration of a five-minute drive to the post office to pick up a package. And no one is better than a working mom at juggling time and making the most of it.

How do you make time for your child? What are your best tips for making your child feel especially loved and needed?

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