I can so relate to your article as a mum of a 6 months old baby, 2 year old toddler and a nearly 6 year old. I’ve been working for myself for the last 6 years and everytime I’ve had another child my time got more and more precious!

I agree with all your suggestions especially to have realistic expectations of what is actually possible when working from home with children to alleviete the constant feeling of frustration. However sometimes it’s hard not to fall into the ‘excusitis’ trap justifying your inaction and blaming it on the kids, when really it boils down to procrastination and lack of focus on the task ahead.

I found there are a few more ideas that can make things easier for mums who work at home. These three ideas (and I’m sure there are more out there) will increase the productive time you have to work on your business and help not to take away from the playtime with your children.

1. Outsource
A very famous lady called Mary Kay Ash (voted greatest female entrepeneur in history in 1999) once said ‘Don’t waste dollar time doing penny jobs’ – my latest blog entry on http://www.barbaravonow.com is about this. Basically get someone else to do tasks that easily can be done by anyone else whilst you are concentrating on the things YOU are good at and that make you money. For example cleaning my house is really not my favourite occupation and frankly anyone can do it, so I pay a cleaner to come in a couple of hours every Monday (I probably could do with her coming again by Thursday, but once a week is a great start)! Periodically I also get help in with my office admin – again a task that is repetitive, can easily be done by anyone and this frees up my time to concentrate on the things that I’m good at and that grow my business!

2. Cook smart not hard
I cook my own meals, but I’ve got an array of receipes that are simple and don’t take longer than about 15-25 minutes to cook AND I often cook double portions such as Bolognese Sauce, Lasagne, etc to freeze for another day. All my babyfood is prepared like that too. I prepare different types of food (carotte, broccoli, mashed potatoes, pear, apple, mango, etc, blend it to a smooth puree and then freeze it in ice cube trays. Once frozen I pop it into a container ready to be defrosted portion wise.

3. Fresh air for the kids
And finally very important, take the kids out at least once a day even if it’s just an hour down to the park or playing in the garden. You may even be able to multi task and get a few phone calls done while they are playing or while walking there and back. Often I combine the trip with a visit to the shop or post office. I realised it was a false economy trying to get my work done without spending the time with them first (preferably outside). Once they’ve been out, they are so much quieter at home.

When you don’t make that much money in the beginning, it’s sometimes daunting to get an assistant in or to pay for baby sitting, but sometimes you have to take a calculated risk. And that means spending money to facilitate the growth of your business!

Hope one or the other reader might find this useful too.
I wish you all the success with your businesses you deserve!
Barbara

Women are brilliantly resourceful and patient and our children are only babies for a very short time. Don’t miss that – you’ll never get it back! Besides, they can inform and inspire you, too! My beloved babies feature in my infrequent blog – have a squiz if you have time – http://jactherat.com/blog/

All the best – Jac

When they are at home during the summers, my ability to work uninterrupted is highly dependent on them being able to find activities that take them out of my living room (their favorite place to relax, but also the location of my computer) and to other parts of the house or places outside the home.

I spend more time stressing that I cannot get any work done while kids are home, and then feeling guilty that I am making them stay out of the best room of the house so I can work.

At this rate, I doubt they will be like Kelly M’s son, with positive memories of my business. They don’t value that this is the way their single mom is earning a living and that if she isn’t working, she isn’t going to be able to provide for their most basic needs. I do not have the luxury of “waiting until they are older”.

That said, since our little melt down, they’ve been much better about it. I make time whenever possible to do fun summer stuff, but I suppose it’s no more than the average working person. Once the new pool is here there will be more improvements :)

What I did find about school is that it doesn’t help as much as you’d think. You still have to take them there (in my case, anyway), and halfway through the afternoon still have to pick them up which can sometimes prove to be a pain in the butt. Really, they don’t go to school for as long as you’d think, the time somehow disappears during the school day.

But, all in all, we wouldn’t have it any other way. We made the decision before having kids that we weren’t going to use daycares or babysitters, which meant for the first few years Mom stayed home while I had a job, then when I jumped ship and became self employed Mom went back to work. Having one income for a few years meant lifestyle changes, but it was all worth it.