Performing well on the job while successfully managing your child’s additional needs is a distinct balancing act.
Maybe you’re new to your role or have been on the job for a while. Your child may be young, older, recently diagnosed or not. Whatever your situation—here’s how to get it all done.
Master your schedule
You may be in charge of how you run your day or work with multiple issues such as a collaborative department, ongoing deadlines, customer demands or other elements that influence your workday. Knowing what you need to do while on the clock is crucial.
Understand exactly how your office manages time: does your department use a shared calendar for work meetings? Plan your day so you can pinpoint unscheduled periods. Then, you’ll see where your child’s appointments can fit in as seamlessly as possible.
Consider making your child’s appointments early in the day. That way, you can attend the appointment, drop your kid off at school and swing into the office before things are truly buzzing. (This also helps you minimize potentially long wait times from earlier appointments running late).
Similarly, take the last appointment on the provider’s schedule. This way, you can leave the office early after you’ve wrapped up your daily work.
Talk it over
Identify who your support team is—your partner or child’s co-parent, a childcare provider, friends or relatives and any supportive work superiors or coworkers. Try not to go it alone; it takes a village—especially for a child with additional needs.
Make handling those needs a priority, both for yourself and your support network. If you have a childcare provider who watches your child while you’re at work, make sure s/he understands the specifics of what your child needs, what daily challenges s/he typically faces and exactly who to call and where to go if there’s an emergency. Also, know which coworkers you can rely on if you have a childcare emergency.
At work, let your manager know as far in advance as possible when you will need to be away from work to handle appointments for your child and how that work will be completed—either ahead of time or as soon as it is needed—while you are handling what needs to be done for your kid.
Shore up your support network
You don’t have to handle everything on your own. If you have a partner or if your child has a co-parent, talk to them about how they can shoulder the responsibility of your child’s medical care. This can include:
- Ensuring that your partner has the information, such as health insurance or your child’s medical history, needed for the appointment.
- Asking for an appointment to be recorded (with the provider’s permission) if you want specifics about a particular provider visit but can’t be there on your own. Alternatively, ask to attend remotely through a video visit.
Similarly, when you need to be out of the office, seek out coworkers who are both supportive and strategic. Maybe there’s a colleague or manager who also has a child with additional needs and can help you understand how your manager might handle repeated requests for time off for your child’s appointments. Remember to pay it forward and be a resource for others when they come to you for similar advice.
Manage work expectations
With any job, know what your role is and how you are expected to fill it. When you interview for a new position, ask what a typical day or week’s routines are and what kind of deadlines or performance goals the position requires. Read between the lines—if a potential manager mentions that tight deadlines are non-negotiable, know that such absolutes could clash with your family’s need for flexibility.
Know the law
Familiarize yourself with your company leave policy and/or local laws so that when you’re faced with an unexpected situation, you will know what your rights are. This way you can tend to your child without any interruptions.
