In this modern, career-driven world where parents spend much time working, being a father/mother competes with nearly everything. To what extent can a parent allow his/her job affect the family and the parental roles? How does a parent balance these roles with his/her career, and how does family affect career decisions?
Father of two, Ayeni Timilehin Franklin who runs a media and technology company speaks about his experience:
“I have been running my business for about 7 years now. I went for both the passion I have for the business and the money. Any passion that is not commercially viable will be a hobby for me.
My daily schedule is like this – I wake up, pray, plan my day, head to the office, have meetings (physical and online), make phone calls…In between my work at the office, I reach out to family to check on them.
My family did not have any impact in the career path I chose. My choice came from reading, not family at all.
Before marriage and children, I had a clear goal for my career.
I had entrepreneurship as a goal but was not too sure of the sector.
I have achieved my business goals and still achieving more. I did that through hard work, and persistence with the right team.
On a scale of 1-10, my presence in the affairs of my family will be 9/10. I am a hands-on dad, and 100% in touch with my children.
How I am able to balance family life and career?
I have three priorities, and I deploy time to balance them – My spiritual, family, and business life. All I do is deliberately allocate my time to them. I make sure I call my family at some specific times, travel to see them monthly because they are away.
At some point, I have had to sacrifice some of my career goals for the sake of my family. I did not feel good about it, but the bigger picture justifies the end.
There are also times I have chosen work over family, but I quickly reverted to factory setting.
If I could turn back the hands of time, what I would have done differently as a working father is to spend more time with my children.”