Monday, July 14, 2008

20 Tips-Working at Home with Children

My career life experienced working outside the home, being an entrepreneur and working from home. There were challenges with juggling career and family, specifically dealing with children and working. For me, the best possible choice is choosing to stay at home with your children and work at home doing something that you love. Accomplishing this you have the best of both worlds. So, how do you organize yourself to make this work?

Here are some tips that I have experienced to work for me:
•Support from your family is important when working at home with children
•Explain to children why you work from home, what are the benefits to them.
•Get children involved; create art for office, vacation wishes, sign for door
•Create your own office space, preferably one with a door
•Organize your office space helps stay focused, less distracting, saves time.
•Organize your time by working in manageable time chunks that work for you
•To do list is best reviewed each morning for planning your day
•Set daily goals and reward yourself when their accomplished
•Calendar- using only 1 helps to eliminate missed appointments
•Head sets that keep noise down, if someone else is babysitting
•Communicate with e-mails as much as possible, spouse, friends- huge time saver, keeps you up to date, reference and backup to confirm appointments
•Friend that will lift your spirits when you’re overwhelmed
•Take a few minutes for yourself each day; often forgotten but very effective
•Lunch time with children- isn’t that why you’re working from home
•Mealtime planning- take out is still okay a couple of times a week
•Start when your most productive (4am for me, meant more time spent during the day for with the children)
•Stop working at a scheduled time, take time to play and if you really have a project to finish, do it after the children go to bed
•Hire help for the times you’re overwhelmed or phone calls
•Gratitude- list 5 things you are grateful for each day
•Law Of Attraction- what you think about you bring about

Then when you get a tap on the shoulder, stop for a few minutes and give the child your attention. Pick them up, listen to them, watch their smiles and their excitement when they talk. Both of you will be happy to carry on with the tasks at hand; this is an important part of working at home with children.

Take the time to enjoy the child, you’re not trying to solve a world crisis, your working from home, enjoy the journey, someday your child may be working from home, give them memories they can enjoy with their children.

What are your tips to working at home with children?

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