How Working Mom Can Strike a Balance Between Family & Career?

*Sue looked at the big digital clock on the stark white wall of her cold office, it blinked 6:45pm. She calculated in her mind, that if she made a dash for the daycare centre now, she could reach by 7:15pm, 7:13 – if she jammed on the accelerator, and pray hard for smooth traffic. The daycare ends at 7pm. It’s been a long day at work – meetings with the bosses, presentations for the clients, pep talk with fellow team members, not forgetting that bottomless tray of paperwork to be signed and settled. Sue took a deep breath, pushed her roller chair back, and decided that work can wait, for now. She grabbed her bag and headed out of her office – a “throne” she had fought hard for in the past 6 years with this company with tears and sweat. She had worked hard to be here today, and she had sacrificed much too – 2 miscarriages in a span of 6 years were some of the many sacrifices. *Little Jack was Sue and her husband’s miracle baby. She remembered how happy she felt when she first held Little Jack in her arms, fresh out of the womb! She silently vowed to protect Little Jack, no matter what happens, and to provide him with the best. Sue knew she had to work doubly hard now, raising children was not cheap, Little Jack deserved the best. Some nights when she got home and was so beat and tired, she did contemplate resigning from all the madness that was her career and just stay home with her precious boy; after all, he really needed his mommy at this young age! But her heart wouldn’t let her – think of all the hard work you have put in, how much you love your job, do you really want to flush it all down the drain? But then her mind would remind her about all those missed milestones Little Jack had achieved while she was busy earning a living for him. The irony! A loud honk sounded and jerked Sue back to reality. This is for the best, she said out loud, and consciously accelerated to reach her destination sooner. The clock in the car said the time now was 7:12pm. In no time, baby, mommy will be right there with you. She smiled thinking of her happy little boy. Walking A Tightrope Does this sound all too familiar, especially for working moms? Your situation may not be exactly the same, of course, but many of the details from Sue’s life ring true in ours. You could be a stay at home mom and still struggle with your own set of challenges, juggling between balancing the chequebook and your children’s quality of life. More than ever, modern-day parents, especially mommies, are in a constant dilemma – career or family? Why can’t we have the best of both worlds, right? We worked hard in our youths and built a career that we can be proud of now, and then children came into our lives and take the biggest chunk of our heart. Giving them comfort and meeting their material needs are some of the things parents naturally strive to achieve, but most importantly, giving them enough quality time to educate and raise them is equally, if not more, crucial. How do working moms manage without giving up their jobs? And how do stay at home moms focus on the children’s education and wellbeing without letting life’s demands get in the way? Ah, the age-old questions. Calling Innovations There is definitely no right or wrong in whatever lifestyles we choose to live in. Ultimately, parents always have their families’ best interests in mind. While life can get really hectic and stressful living in these present days, we are blessed too, to have the help of modern innovations to ease our burdens. One such innovation is none other than the HP line of smart printers. HP printers and its HP Smart app with mobile and wireless printing capabilities allow parents to print remotely while being chauffeured in a taxi or while you are still out at a meeting! Now you can search for learning resources from the internet during your lunch break and conveniently send the materials to your HP home printer for printing before you pick it up later in the evening to be done with your children. A simple, small task like this could actually make an impact on a family’s time, whether quantitatively or qualitatively. Now, who would've thought, remote wireless printing can bring such convenience! Nailing The Experience Age Recognizing the demands of the Experience Age - where everything we do is defined by the need for an experience that inspires creativity, spark collaboration, and connect people - reputable technology leader, HP Malaysia aims to #reinventlearning by partnering with parents and educators to bring print-based sensory learning to a whole new level. Information and technology are growing and developing in lightning speed; it is crucial to seize and represent them in age-appropriate forms to our kids, you’ll be surprised how much children can absorb when learning materials are presented purposefully. Raising Little Makers With that in mind, HP Malaysia is proud to bring parents and children alike the HP Little Makers Family Edition Challenge! 8 fun but informative challenges are up for our adventurous little ones to attempt; for example the “Around The World” challenge is a really cool project where everyone in the family could work together to piece up a big, colourful world map, and match the landmark cut-outs according to its respective continents! Parents will definitely get a crash course on geography while sharing about these famous landmarks with their children! Time well spent bonding with the family? You bet! With the HP printer, you can print out your Little Makers challenges by using the HP Smart App available on Google Play and Apple Store. HP Malaysia is having a contest from now till 23rd November 2019! RM10,000 worth of HP prizes are up for grab when you complete one of the Little Makers challenges, upload your best family photo either on Little Makers official site or on your social media accounts and don’t forget to hashtag it #HPMY #HPLittleMakers #HPDeskjet #ReinventLearning All the 8 Little Makers Challenges such as Paper Plane Physics, Look at the Stars, Around the World, Time Will Tell and many more are available for download on www.hpmalaysia.com/littlemakers. Technology is great and it is really not just about learning through endless screen time; instead, used purposefully, print-based education helps busy parents, to teach easily through print-based learning to stimulate children’s 5 senses by keeping their little hands and minds active, thus helping their inner potentials to shine! To have the best of both worlds? Definitely achievable with HP Malaysia. *not their real names

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