I recently had to work at home for the first time with mini me and it was one of the hardest things I’ve encountered. I didn’t have a plan for my day as to how I’d maneuver getting my work done and keeping him occupied. This was a first for me. I’m used to being “MOMMY” and giving him my undivided attention but, today had to be a little different. I did manage to work for a couple of hours before I woke him up and then the demanding preschooler started to want all my attention. I know that he has a schedule at preschool and when when he’s there, he follows the structure but at home it’s different. Also at school they have story time in the morning, eat breakfast and then go and play out on the playground for about 30 minutes, they have learning centers after that, then lunch, nap time and before you know it, it’s time for me to pick him up! Preschool is from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm. One thing I learned really quick is that I’d have to discipline him with a routine schedule at home. However, it’s almost like he’s a completely different child at school. He’s definitely more independent.
I totally commend moms who work at home on a daily basis, and moms that home-school! I’m sure that scheduling and structure play a huge role in how you are able to successfully carry out your daily tasks. I would lose my ever loving mind if I had to do this on a daily basis! I can’t even function properly when I bring mini me to the office with me for a couple of hours. I end up abandoning my work to play Nick Jr. videos on my laptop, color, and keep him from disrupting the rest of my office. We eventually just pack up and leave! Working at home was definitely a challenge for me. When I am working on a graphic or web design project, I start to work late usually after mini me is asleep until the wee hours in the morning. I’m definitely going to have to have something in place because I’ll be working from home a lot more and mini me will be home part of the time when he’s not in preschool. If you have any advice to share, I’d REALLY appreciate it. I need a check list of MUSTS for work at home moms, if you are a WAHM and use a checklist or have a special system, I’d love to hear from you.
I commend all Moms who have any sort of working schedule PERIOD! Whether they work from home, stay at home or work at work…its HARD to balance life well enough to juggle everything that needs your attention as a Mom!
My only advice (as a work-at-worker who regularly works from home but w/o kids underfoot) is that until your child/ren are old enough to entertain themselves for longer stretches of time you still may need to find alternative care for them *if* you hope to get any work done. Only a few times have I worked from home while my kids were there, simply because I hated feeling like I couldn’t pay enough attention to either. 🙂
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Yes I must say that being a WAHM is quite the challenge indeed! My toddler attends school only half-day, so therefore I everything that I do and schedule revolves around *his* schedule! It does take awhile to get a routine in place, however, I’ve had many times when things have come up and he’s had to tag along with me to different things. It becomes even more of a challenge when he gets sick-then I entire schedule has to be shifted in an instant so that I can nurse him back to health while still completing my tasks. He is also quite the character so days with him and his personality sometimes changes from one day to the next. All in all, it works out though. Major kudos to you for getting through it successfully the first time! There’s really no real strategy to it other than being able to multi-task and multi-process many things at once! LOL ~With a lot of trial-and-error, practice, prioritizing, and most of all-patience (lol), you’ll do just fine! 🙂
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I recently wrote an article on how work at home mom’s need to have a schedule and spouses’s and kids need to understand the schedule. WAHM’s need boundaries too. Don’t give up! I have two young children who I get to do so much with now that I work from home and I make so much extra money that I get to spoil them rotten. My 4 year old loves her mani/pedis. 🙂
You can find my article here: http://itsawahmthing.com/wahm-issues/families-with-work-from-home-parents-need-boundaries/
With babies you do have an unpredictable schedule, especially if you are the only one home with the baby. So I would suggest to keep your laptop next to you and when the baby is sleeping or resting pick up the laptop and work, when the baby needs you put it down. Don’t get upset that you can not get through a task all at once.
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