My kids and I are experimenting with a fancy schmancy time management system to help everyone get through their morning and bed time routines.

More on that at a later date.

Today, I come to you for advice and creative ideas.

You see, part of this new fangled time management system involves keeping track of how many days we get it right, so to speak.  This concept of keeping track of good days, accomplishments, etc. is pretty universal.  I’ve heard of it used for everything from chores and school work to attitude and behavior.  One of the key components of these systems is offering your child(ren) some type of reward.

And that’s where I’m stuck.

Read the rest of this entry

If there was a Nobel Prize for multi-tasking, I’m positive a working mother would win every single year.  Hands-down.  We are the ultimate multi-taskers.  We aren’t necessarily naturals at the multi-tasking game, but learn how to do it well to survive.  It is technology that keeps us sane between corporate meetings, volunteering in classrooms, trying to be domestic goddesses and all that other stuff in between.

I am beyond lucky to be a 21st century working mother.  Technology allows me to juggle the demands of my profession while still spending plenty of time with my little guy.  My BlackBerry, laptop, and two dozen Wi-Fi spots around town make it possible to work from home, work from a coffee shop, even work during the carpool ride to home (no,  I’m not driving).

Read the rest of this entry

Working from home without childcare is like rock climbing without safety.  You may be able to do it, but it you fall it’s gonna cost you big time.  I did the working from home without childcare for 1 day a week for three years.  In order to do it, I had to drastically change the way I worked on that day.  Babies and toddlers can be 1000 times more demanding (not be mention impossible to resist) than whatever is going on at work.   

When my son was born, I demanded that I work from home at least one day a week.  Friday was the planned day.  The entire staff knew that I would be working from home and so the volume of issues that I dealt with turned to Monday through Thursday.  I’d make sure conference calls were strategically scheduled during during Sesame Street hour or nap time.  I purposely made my workload more administrative for Fridays.  Status reports on projects, submitting expense reports for reimbursement, catching up on the insane amount of email that I received the rest of the week, sending out meeting requests to my team for the following week. 

Read the rest of this entry

Let me preface this entire post by saying I am not in a hurry to desert, neglect or in any way harm my child.  Seriously.

I love my kids.

Please don’t send me hate mail.

Now that that’s out of the way, when can I leave my oldest son home by himself?

Read the rest of this entry

A tearful morning drop off at daycare is one of the worst ways to start a weekday.  No matter how much fun she looks like she’s having when you pick her up at the end of the day, those 7am screams of abandonment are remarkably convincing.

After two kids, eight years and five various childcare providers, I’ve picked up a few tips to make dropping your kids off at daycare less traumatic for everyone.

Find quality time in your morning routine. The rush and chaos of getting a family dressed, fed and out the door is stressful for everyone and can put your child on edge.  Take a moment to break the tension for both of you and they’ll start the day in a more cooperative mood.  Try sitting down to breakfast together, or turning off the radio and having a chat on the drive to daycare.  (I’m much more likely to find quality time with my daughter in the car after her brother has gone to school.)

Read the rest of this entry