I’m the only person in my department without children. The partners I work with are leaning on me a lot and I’m constantly stepping in for my paralegal. I can’t even imagine how hard it is to balance work and school-age children right now, so I’m trying my very hardest to take things off their plates when I can...but I’m only one associate. I need help but I don’t know how to ask without sounding horribly insensitive...any recommendations?

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I have a child and it is hard working and doing homeschooling, but I recognize my work obligations and am juggling my schedule to do both. I would really want anybody in my department to let me know if they were overwhelmed. We are all in this together and asking for help now is much better than burning out or making a costly mistake. Tell them you need help.

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Think a bit about your own needs for self-care and downtime — don’t neglect these things but try to be flexible about scheduling them, because you can be more flexible. It is just part of the community nature of things, but it doesn’t mean that you never get a break.

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I feel this post!! Though we have some partners with older children etc.. I cannot imagine how hard it is on people with small children and I am aware of people in my firm who had significant struggles balancing but at the same time I am terrified of being on the other side of it (what happens if/when I have my own kids- I can’t help but feel like our profession has only come so far re working moms).

Lately it really depends on the week, some weeks I feel like I have little time to handle basic adult things like cooking cleaning and laundry etc... and we all need to have time to ourselves...

What has worked for me in the past is asking about prioritization- what needs to be done first- what is most important- and about timelines. Be realistic with your time and when things will get done, on a task by task level. If you think you need help and someone is available, let them know.

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Just like they are stating their limits and asking for help, so too should you- kids or not. It's only once everyone is communicating openly that you can prioritize and make sure that work amounts match what can be realistically accomplished.

You're not going to have the time or energy to meet anyone to have kids with if you're working all the time by picking up everyone else's slack. Whether you actually want to have kids at some point is irrelevant.

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