Megan Germann works full time while juggling three elementary aged children, working to give her family a comfortable lifestyle and memory filled vacations!
What keeps your plate full these days?
It’s a full time job balancing work and kids! My “paying job” is within Product at SAP. It’s my job to gather feedback from product users and understand what improvements we need to make to our apps. I then work with key stakeholders across the organization and enable them to turn those feedback insights into action. I’m new in this position (started mid-summer 2022) so it’s very important to show the company that I am committed to success.
My kids are in elementary school, which means they are home while I’m still working so I work carefully to spend time with them while working and taking meetings when I need to. When they were younger, they went to daycare full time.
What does your day to day look like?
I share custody with my ex, so my days differ. On days my kids are with me, it’s the morning routine of getting them up, feeding breakfast, and getting them out the door while catching up on email and prepping for the day. School ends mid-afternoon, so the afternoon routine consists of getting them from the bus, feeding and homework, and trying to “close up” for a few hours until bedtime. On my kid-free days, I overcompensate by getting on early, staying on late, and filling my day with work meetings.
How does being a working mom impact your kids — either positively or negatively?
I think quite positively. They see a strong work ethic and the outcome (fun family time) and celebrate work wins with me. I think it’s important for kids to see that it takes hard work and dedication for a lifestyle like we have.
What holds the biggest tension in trying to manage everything?
Being a single mom was brutal – fully concentrating on work while feeding the kids, making sure things got done, and dedicating time to them and their activities was draining. I now have a partner and we work to ensure that both share in parent duties so our paying jobs don’t get overlooked. I find that intentionally being in the moment and focused on 1 thing at a time – whether it’s a work meeting, or snack time, or playing games – creates a balance that makes everyone happy. The words “I’m in a meeting” resonate with the kids and they respect and understand not to disturb because they feel how important they are in our household.
What’s one resource that would make your life easier?
Meals that are easy/quick and nutritious! Or lunches that make themselves.
How would you encourage other working moms who are overwhelmed and in the thick of it?
Breathe. Find coping techniques that work to destress you (I love lavender and bubble baths with reality tv). And focus on one thing at a time – multitasking too much creates stress and might cause your kids to not feel special or heard enough. Some work can happen after bed time, and don’t discount how much 5 minutes of hide and seek matters! I found if my kids understand why I work, they are more understanding of times I need to pause on “mom-time” to get something done in my paying job. I don’t have 2 separate lives – they are fully integrated with each other.
Find more from Megan at:
@megflangerms
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