Managing Work and Kids

By Jill Mowser

If you are a mom trying to make your at-home business work with your family life, then here are a few tips to help you get your business on the right track, while keeping your family on the right track too!

1. Keep your family first! Your children only have one mom. There is no substitute for your attention and love. The influence you have on your children is enormous! Each day in the life of your child is a each small brushstroke in the masterpiece of their lives! All the little things add up, and you can be a most positive influence when you make time every day for your kids! Their self-esteem will flourish, and you will feel great as well, knowing you are doing your best to be a great mom!

Now, having said that, here are some tips to help you succeed in your business around your family!

2. Sleep less - This may sound humorous, but it is true! If you can work after your kids go to bed, and get up early to get the things done that don't need to be done during business hours, you will have uninterrupted work time, and not be taking anything away from your daily family routine. Of course, you need to take care of yourself, so be reasonable in taking away from your sleep time. Perhaps staying up an extra hour, or getting up an hour early is feasible, without making yourself overtired.
3. Delegate, Delegate, Delegate - Get other people to do the things you don't NEED to do yourself. Perhaps you could "hire" family members on a commission basis. Get older children to help with mail-outs. Recruit your hubby to help with odd jobs and errands. The important thing is to use your valuable time for the things that only YOU can do!
4. Hire a part-time babysitter, or trade babysitting with a friend. Trading babysitting is often an ideal situation. You don't need to pay extra fee babysitting. If your children are older, you might find you get more work done when they have playmates over than when they are bored on their own at home.
5. Use TV sparingly! Our children today watch way too much TV - leading to obesity, ADD and other serious health concerns. Having said that, there is nothing wrong with letting your preschooler watch an hour of TV in the afternoon while your baby naps so you can make phone calls, etc. If you save TV watching for only that hour in the afternoon, then you can accomplish things, and not feel guilty about your child sitting in front of the TV for longer than is healthy.

Working part-time from home while raising a family can be extremely challenging, and usually involves giving up a lot of things, such as TV in the evenings, and other leisure activities. But working from home while caring for your family can be very rewarding, both intellectually and financially!