Working from home is a great way to have more time for your family while still contributing to the household income. Although it is a great way to maintain both work and family needs, it does provide some unique challenges.
One of those challenges is getting work done in the face of distractions. You may find yourself feeling stressed rather than productive. The television, the telephone, and those wonderful people you love, whom you wanted to spend more time with, may all add to your distress at times.
The key is balance. This may mean that you have to break up your workday instead of plugging away for several consecutive hours. While working for consecutive hours may seem like the way to get things done more quickly and efficiently, it will also begin to close you off from your family. This defeats the purpose of working from home.
The best advice that this work at home mom can give is to try to do as many tasks as possible when your family is engaged in other activities. Work while the kids are at school, while little ones are napping or tucked in for the night or while your children do homework or watch their favorite movie.
Breaking up your day into slots of time for paid work, housework, and family time may be a little hectic at first, but in time, it will make things go much smoother. Your children will adjust to the schedule and so will you. They will be able to plan activities they’d like to do with you, such as playing a game, for an appropriate time. This way, they won’t get their feelings hurt when they ask you to play, and you say, “I can’t. I’m working.”
They’ll begin to see that your work only takes up certain times of day, instead of feeling like you’re always working and too busy for them. Your entire family will be happier once your work is relegated to a specific place in the family routine.