|
Families Seek Experts to Help
with Competing Demands
It's not news that families today are juggling competing
demands; how they manage is. In response, parents are becoming
adept at seeking out and employing a variety of expert resources
to make their lives easier. And they are spreading the word
to help other challenged families.
A 2005 Families and Work Institute study reports that one
in three American employees is chronically overworked, while
54% have felt overwhelmed in the past month by the amount
of work they had to complete.
Four factors contribute to this sense of being overworked:
increased job pressure,
increased multi-tasking,
doing work that is not valued, and
the expectation of availability at all times. Cell
phones, personal computers, pagers, email, and flexible
work schedules encroach on the healthy boundaries between
work and personal time.
Another study supports keeping family as a priority, as discussed
in the book, Being Together, Working Apart: Dual-Career
Families and the Work-Life Balance, edited by Barbara
Schneider and Linda Waite. "Spending time together seems
to be an antidote to these issues of stress," said Schneider
in a news release from the University of Chicago. "People's
sense of well-being is elevated when they spend time together
as a family."
Time-starved families look for ways to create quality time
that encourages play and learning. To manage the complexity,
savvy families increasingly rely on the support of outside
service providers to make the most of their resources. People
have always had family doctors and lawyers. Now financial
planners, home remodeling professionals, personal trainers,
landscapers, take-home meals, and elder and day care providers
are added to the family's support system. Parents, determined
to make sure their children don't miss opportunities to develop,
take advantage of interest-related summer camps, tutors, special
courses, music lessons, and club sports teams.
A new trend is emerging in the ever-changing and competitive
college and job markets. Families have moved their attention
beyond test preparation courses to engaging expert support
in helping their children select the best career paths and
colleges. Why? These families are making significant investments
and want to make great decisions that ensure an advantage
for their child.
"When we talked with young adults engaged in their own
job hunt, they often told us that they could have made better
use of their time in school if they had known how to use it
to make themselves more employable," said Richard Nelson
Bolles and Carol Christen in their book, What
Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens. The authors also
interviewed adults who still didn't know how to find work
they love. They observed, "For those planning on college,
few received helpful guidance on selecting a major, even though
finding the right major can be an important step toward finding
a great job. Almost none received guidance in how to discover
what they most wanted out of work and life, or what employers
wanted and expected of them."
Just like other professionals, career experts know the right
questions to ask to spur reflective conversation and help
families develop informed plans. In a time-crunched world,
investing the time to discuss and plan for the future is a
smart strategy with a lasting impact.
© Copyright 2007, Career Vision. Article may be reprinted
with permission.
Direction.
Decisions. Satisfaction.
|
