Working from home can be a wonderful way for parents to make staying home to care for children make economic sense for their families. Although that is a good thing, it can sometimes be difficult for a parent who is staying home to raise children to decide how to integrate working from home into the rhythm of their days. There is no one set formula for deciding how much work to take on, how many hours to work each day or each week, when to work during the day, or anything else. Add to this the fact that the appropriate level of work for a stay-at-home parent to have on his or her plate at any given time is largely driven by the needs of their child or children, needs that are constantly growing and changing as the children grow and change.
Parents can and do figure out how to make working from home work for their families. Sometimes it just takes a little creative thinking and an assessment of the family’s circumstances to find the best solution for everyone. Whether you are a parent who is just starting out on the road to working at home and raising kids or an experienced work – at- home parent, you may wish to try the following exercise if you run into difficulty in trying to achieve that coveted work-life balance that you hear is possible.
One way to assess whether your current way of doing things is working for you and your family is to keep a record of how you use your time for a week. Be completely honest in your records, and write everything down. Be especially careful to note when you are doing more than one thing at a time, such as returning phone calls while playing with your kids at the park or checking email while your toddler is playing with his toys. When you have recorded your time for an entire week, sit down and review your diary with a critical eye. Ask yourself the tough questions that will help you decide whether things are fine as they are or whether changes should be made. For example, has the line between work time and family time become blurred such that you are doing business related things while watching the children or having your dedicated work hours constantly cut short because of requests or demands that your family makes of you? More importantly, are you okay with those things or do you feel like you should do things differently? What about the kids, what are their reactions when say, for example, you excuse yourself from the Monopoly game to take a phone call. Another great question to ask yourself is whether the way that you are using your time is a way that enables you to do enough of all of the things that you want to do and need to do. By going through the exercise of thinking about how you use your time, you will be able to think through whether your current situation is working or if there are areas for improvement.
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