The Working Parent Equation: balancing small humans and big careers
It's a joy and a privilege. It's also one of the most challenging pathways we walk, treading a delicate balance between loving our children and fulfilling our career ambitions without losing who we are along the way.
How to balance the equation
I'm delighted to share my new book, "The Working Parent Equation: balancing small humans and big careers" is now with the publisher for review. It will be coming out in April 2026!
Working parenthood is a finely balanced equation. Our starting point is the recognition and acknowledgement that the working parent equation does not look the same for everyone and there is not one solution. It is complex with multiple variables and is constantly evolving over time as our children grow and our circumstances change. We are adding, multiplying and subtracting continuously and let’s not get started yet on what we are dividing. There is no silver bullet because our priorities, values, personal circumstances, emotions, logistics, children, families and more are all going to be different.
And yet, whilst it’s a very personal equation these collective things are also true:
-
Everyone I know finds balancing small humans and big careers difficult.
-
There are common challenges that we all navigate along the way.
-
A significant part of how we manage the challenges is deeply connected to how we think about things, how clearly we see things, how well we know ourselves, who we choose to listen to and how well we are resourced.
We all want to be great at work, great at home and to feel great. I don’t buy into the myth of “having it all”: where in our lives is this ever true? It’s always a series of trade-offs, compromises and priorities. A shift from having it all to having what’s really important seems much more rooted in reality. I firmly believe that we can make more of our immense capacity to think and make different decisions on which part of the equation needs focus and when to switch it around so that we can enjoy fulfilment in the round. Undoubtedly, there are really good reasons why we are operating as we are right now and our intent is good. But what if we accessed more liberated thinking that opened up new ways of going about this? What if balancing the equation doesn’t mean you getting squashed dangerously out of shape?