Working from home has its own special set of challenges that are often elusive to those who have not attempted it. Being a mother adds to this challenge in ways that many overlook. Finding a way to balance the needs of your children with working effectively enough to pay the bills every week, can be an overwhelming task filled with guilt and frustration. There are a few things that you can do to help master your time and keep your children from feeling as though they don’t rank on the priority list. The little things you do with your children will make all the difference to them and restore some peace in the house allowing you to work freely.
One of the fastest ways to show your children that even though you are busy much of the time they are very important to you is by scheduling them in. If you do not already have a calendar system for your family, now is the time to start one. This should not be filled with your work tasks and all the deadlines you might have in front of you. This calendar should be listing all the things that will be important to you child. This is not to say that you should simply list all the soccer games and the school events on the calendar. In order to establish a happy medium with your children where they allow you to do your work during the day because they know they rank in your importance scale you need to make the effort to show them.
Choosing events each week that are just about your family and then sticking to them is important. One night a week could be movie night. This should be displayed with style on the calendar you put out for the family. You should do it up big this night for spending time with the kids, turning off the phone and the computer. Pop up some pop corn and let the kids pick out the movie at the beginning of the week so they have something to look forward to. This is just one thing you could list as a family event that they can anticipate. The children will be more likely to let you do your work if they know they will have your attention at this time for fun. You could even do a big breakfast Sunday where the kids get to pick the food and help you cook it.
These snippets of time that you set aside just for your family will show them you find them to be important enough to shut off the computer and the telephone and focus only on their needs. This could even be small amounts of time set aside such as a 30 minute special lunch just for the kids. Find the balance and show the children how much you enjoy the time spent with them and they will be more agreeable while you are trying to accomplish work related goals the rest of the time.
Article by Mandi Raymond of Mommy Update. Meeting place for parents and parents to be.