More people than ever have been able to ditch their full time job and take up their side hustle from the comfort of their home. It’s an amazing thing that people are now able to make their own choices about work, and how things that once started as hobbies can now become a job, because that really is amazing.
As a mum, being able to continue working and generating an income is one thing. But not having to deal with hideously expensive childcare fees and being able to continue being able to support your children at home is something that we are seeing more and more of.
The reality is that so many jobs are remote and there are more choices out there for the entrepreneurial mum, such as influencer, blogger, writer… the list goes on.
Whilst it is a huge leap forward for mums everywhere, it’s easy to overlook the part that you are still having to look after your little ones at the SAME time.
Super mum springs to mind…
Continuing to generate an income from home and keeping your mini me alive requires a lot of multi tasking to keep the super mum dream alive, so here’s our top tips for balancing working from home and looking after your little one at the same time.
Schedule Your Time
Use your time wisely by prioritising your workload and scheduling your jobs in preparation for your week ahead. As we’ll discuss later in this post, utilise the time that you know you can such as nap time. Work with your little ones daily routine, not against it. You’ll be surprised at just how much stuff you can get done during these interruption free zones so you really want to maximise your workload when you can. Prepare these times of the days for the priority jobs, then anything else you can get achieved for the day will be an added bonus.
Have A Separate Office Space
Regardless to whether you have children at home with you or not, when you solely work from home you need to make sure you have a dedicated workspace setup, even if it is only a corner of a room or a section in your bedroom.
As a parent, you know only too well how a home can pretty much 24/7 resemble a raided toys r us store, and hence the expression, ‘you are the product of your environment‘ – the mess will not allow you to think straight and will ultimately consume you.
Having a tidy and dedicated space to think and work efficiently will really allow you to focus the mind when you need to, if your child is slightly older, they will begin to understand that that is ‘mummy’s’ space to work.
Keep Your Child Entertained
To make your working day as easy as possible at home, ensure that you arm your little one with all the necessary essentials they need to keep them busy for chunks of time. This will allow you to dedicate time to your priority jobs and break and convene again as appropriate.
Depending on the baby or child’s age, colouring, craft kits, books, activity mats etc are all perfect for keeping your little one occupied, just make sure to differ the activities accordingly to give them plenty of variation to their day.
Embrace Nap Time
Nap time is renown for being able to get stuff done or for also napping yourself, either or goes! Nap time gives you a certain timeframe that you know is completely free time to get on with the tasks that you have scheduled. Whilst your time might be stretched working from home, it’s crazy how much work you can get done in a short period of time when you put your mind to it.
Flexible working hours and remote working have shown to actually increase productivity levels as you aren’t trying to stretch your workload out over a 8 hour day. Get the work done that you need in the time you need, and the rest of the time is yours.
Pull An All Nighter
Whilst it’s certainly not ideal, if there is a looming deadline or a piece of work that really needs to be done you might have to put a graveyard shift in. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right? This is the last resort, but you know that option is there if you need it. It generally promises undisturbed and uninterrupted time that you can really plough on with the pressing work.
Sleep deprivation when you have a little one is bad enough so don’t make a habit of working through the night as burning the candle at both ends can only be sustainable for so long. But if you do find yourself working though the night, just ensure you give yourself some time off the following day if it allows.
Get Your Friends & Family Involved
Don’t think that you always have to manage by yourself, reach out to your partner, friends and family to see if they can look after your little ones, even an hour at a time would help you to focus on your workload, even if they come over to your house to do so.
As much as we love our children, sometimes we just need some space, particularly during the long summer holidays where the 6 weeks feel like 6 months. If you have a group of working mum friends too, why not share the load and each take a day to host all the babies/kids? It would allow you to distribute your time better and focus on the free days.
What are your top tips for balancing working from home with your children? Keep up to date with the latest news from BabyDam over on our Facebook page or Twitter!