Many of the parents I know who have paying jobs actually earn their income by working from home. I am one of those parents and if you are not one, you probably can name five or ten people who are. The bonus, which everyone can rattle off at this point, are having a work schedule that can accommodate picking kids up from preschool and being professional without brushing your teeth. The down side is, well...working from home, which is the nice way of admitting you shove 18 Little People, 24 MatchBox cars and a Dora potty out of the way just to sit in front of your laptop. It may also mean that your "office hours" are nap time, bed time and any time in between that there are shows on with fuzzy characters and without gun violence and nudity.
One of my quests as a WAHM is to find better ways to organize my time, my desk and my attention so that I can be fully present when I'm working and fully present when I'm with my child (Duh?!, say all the WAHPs in the house). That's why I was excited to read a tip that is actually useful in my pursuit to end the "Isn't Elmo hilarious!? Keep watching to see what funny stuff he does while I send two more emails!" litany. This article begins with one home-business owners advice to take 15-minute breaks, even when you're on a roll with work, to spend time with the kids. Since I have the bad habit of going hours without getting up once I crack open the laptop, I was grateful to get a reminder to get up, get the blood moving, get a drink (of water or whatever), maybe even say hello to the most important people in my life. I guess that this tip works best if you have a sitter or some other miraculous caregiving mechanism or don't have an incessant-question-asking toddler.
While the rest of the tips don't really work well for me (I can only imagine trying to convince my 2-1/2 year old to please finish up invoicing my employers so he can get a gold star), maybe the advice to set a schedule, enlist your kids to assist you and childproof your office will be the keys to your own work at home success. And if you have better ideas for achieving WAHBliss, then please, let me know the key to that serenity. Or, for God's sake, at least send your sitter over to my dining room cubicle for a couple of hours.
