The 36-Hour Day
with Lylah M. Alphonse
I'm a full-time editor, a part-time writer, and a mom and stepmom to five amazing kids, ages 1 to 14. For me it's not about finding balance, it's about the daily juggle-- my career, my commute, freelance work, homework, housework, married life, social life, and parenting-- and finding the time to get it all done.
To learn more about Lylah, check out her Work It, Mom! profile and read her blog at writeeditrepeat.blogspot.com.
Working from home, with kids, without losing your mind
Categories: Career, Hacking Life, Making Time, Parenting, The Juggle, Uncategorized, Working? Living?
My husband was out of town all of last week, and this week my youngest kids are out of preschool, so it seems like a good time to revisit the whole “how on earth do I work when I have to look after my kids at the same time” idea.
Here’s how I’ve been managing. Without adversely affecting a.) my liver or b.) my reputation.
1. Give them some work of their own. My 5-year-old is about to start kindergarten, and she’s thrilled with the idea of homework. Hahahaha! That’ll change. But for now, I’m going with it. I’ve downloaded a ton of stuff from some of my favorite educational websites for kids, and tossed in a Kindergarten-level word-search or 70. She works on them while I work on, um, this.
2. Make a schedule (and share it with your kids). Work is, well, work. And kids are, well, kids. Kids — especially little ones — don’t understand why the work is so important. Rather than make them feel second-best, tell them that you’re going to spend half an hour doing whatever they want, and then you have to spend an equal amount of time (or more) doing the work thing. Be prepared, however, to do at least a some of your work with a 3-year-old on your lap. (OK, maybe that’s just me.)
3. Don’t be ashamed to ask for help. Late last week, my youngest son spiked a 102.3-degree fever at preschool and I had to ask a friend — a breadwinning working mom like me — to pick up my boy for me. She works around the corner from the school; I work 90-minutes away with traffic. I felt horrible having to ask for such a favor, but she understood and was happy to help. She knows I’d do it for her in a heartbeat. Your working mom friends get what you’re up against — lean on them if you have to, whether you’re stuck in traffic or facing deadline from home, and be willing to be leaned on sometime down the line.
How do you keep your kids occupied when you have to work from home?
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Nowadays I usually have someone come here when I’m working on a weekend, but in case that fails or isn’t enough, I keep a few things on hand that they rarely get to do except when I’m working. Like sitting on my bed watching educational DVDs, playing with certain puzzles that are time-consuming but not “hard,” etc. And besides that, every day they get better at entertaining themselves. I just have to be prepared for the occasional interruption. They also both “theoretically” still nap, so I get a few uninterrupted hours, even if it means they are trashing their bedroom the whole time. (They can clean that up too, which might buy me some more time . . . .)
My kids are usually pretty good about my working. I think it bothers me more than them, when it cuts into stuff I really want to do with them.
SKL | August 24th, 2010 at 12:38 am
I plan ahead and give them specific assignments to do during my work time. Those might be tidying their rooms, emptying the dishwasher, reading a certain number of pages or writing thankyou notes. Eventually, they’re done with their work and I’m done with mine, and we do something fun together. Gives them a good sense of time management.
Nancy Shohet West | August 27th, 2010 at 7:27 am