Working at Home With Young Children

Working at Home With Young Children

When I speak to moms who work at home, one of the most frequently asked questions I hear is “how do you run a business with small children?”

I have several suggestions on running a business with small children. My kids are grown now, so I’ve lived through running a business with infants, running a business with toddlers, running a business with school aged kids and running a business with teenagers.

The amount of children you have and the amount of time you put into your business are going to affect the amount of help you need with your children. “Help” can mean many different things. I had various forms of help over the years.

Infants sleep a lot. Working during sleep time can often give you the necessary hours to run a business. When I was on the phone, I had my daughter’s in their room, so if they cried, I heard them but the person on the phone did not hear them. I really did not need help during the infant stage. I was able to balance work and being mom.

The next stage was probably the most difficult, the toddler stage. At this stage, children nap perhaps two hours per day and the remainder of the day, at least my children were very high energy and wanted to be entertained.

At age two, my younger daughter went to preschool 3 mornings per week. She was there from 9 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. She loved it and I was amazed at how much I could get done in those two hours at home. I NEVER used that time to run errands, clean the house etc. That time was almost always devoted to using the phone. In addition, her dad and I rotated night time routines so that some nights I was able to work from 7 p.m. until bedtime uninterrupted. As she got older, I increased her days in school up to five mornings per week and as she neared kindergarten age, I had her in school from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.

Once a child enters preschool they begin making friends. I did many play dates. I swapped with other moms. One day the kids would play at my house and the other day, the kids would play at the home of the other child. This can help in two ways. The day your child is with someone else, you have time to work. The day the kids are at your house, the kids play together, which allows you time to work. I could pick them up from school, come home and fix lunch and then actually work while the kids ate. If the kids wanted to play outdoors, my yard was fenced and my computer faced the backyard. I could keep an eye on them at all times. If the kids played indoors, they were either in the same room as I was or in the very next room. I was not always able to use the phone, but I could catch up on emails, complete paperwork and do any other tasks that did not involve the phone.

Scheduling is key here. If the kids were at my home on Monday, I tried to make Monday my day to not do the evening routine at home. I needed that time to make phone calls. If the kids were playing at someone’s home on Tuesday, I knew I had several hours I could be on the phone during the day and so I would take over the evening routine.

We also had an emergency box of toys. These toys only came out when I needed to make a phone call and I needed my toddler quiet for just a little while. My daughter loved these toys and would sometimes ask me to make a call just so she could play with the toys in the emergency box. We did not bring that box out very often and so when we did, I knew I’d have about 30 minutes of quiet time.

My older daughter did not like school and so only went to preschool from age 4 to 5, and then went to kindergarten. We joined several mommy and me classes which introduced her to other children, which then led to play dates. I also had her take longer naps, 2 or 2 ½ hours in the afternoon. She was up longer at night, but that was ok, as I wanted the time during the day to be able to make phone calls.

If you live near a college, check if the school has an early childhood development program. If they do, consider hiring someone to come to your home two mornings or two afternoons per week to watch the kids while you work. You get work time and they get experience with children and some income.

Once your kids enter elementary school, you will always have mornings to work. Afternoons can be play dates, individual play or consider hiring an older child, say 8 or 9 years old who can earn a little money and come play with your child. My kids loved their older friends. They would beg for the days their older friends would come over and play. These older kids can read to your child, fix a very simple snack, play a game with them and even watch them outside. One hour is often enough time to make a few phone calls, and after an hour sometimes the kids are getting a bit restless.

All of these ideas require scheduling. If you plan one or even two weeks at a time, you’ll have a very clear idea of when you can be on the phone and when you’ll just be mom.


  • Audrey Okaneko has been marketing online for several years. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at http://www.recipe-barn.com



    How to NOT Publish an Ezine

    © Terri Seymour of SeymourProducts.com

    I have written several articles on how to publish an ezine, so this time I thought it might be interesting to write an article on how NOT to publish an ezine.

    Sometimes it helps to learn things when you can look at both sides of the prices – the right way and the wrong way. So here goes – what NOT to do when publishing an ezine.

    1. Leave out your name and contact info – Who would want to get in touch with you anyway. Your readers don’t care if there is a real live dependable person writing the ezine. NOT!

    Your readers definitely want to know that there is a real person there that they can contact if they want or need to. This helps establish trust.

    2. Put as many squiggles and decorations in your ezine as possible – So, your readers get a headache while trying to read your ezine, deal with it. NOT!

    Squiggles may look cute, but they could make it hard for many people to read your ezine. Keep the design neat and clean for easy reading.

    3. Load the ezine with ads – I mean after all, isn’t that why you are publishing your ezine. NOT!

    No, you are not publishing an ezine to run tons of ads, you are publishing an ezine to build that important relationship of trust and respect with your readers. This helps build your business and your reputation.

    4. Don’t bother sending it out regularly – After all, most people can’t read it every time anyway. NOT!

    How can people trust and believe what you say when they can’t even depend on you to send your ezine on schedule.

    5. Don’t add any original material – Just use all the same material other publishers are using. It works for them, why not for you. NOT!

    Always have original material in your ezine, even if it is just an editorial or some tips.

    6. Why bother with a disclaimer or privacy policy – Readers know their email is safe with you. They also figure if it is in your ezine, you recommend it. NOT!

    Never assume anything. Your readers want to be assured that their email is not being handed out for profit or promotion. Also, you want your readers to know that they should check out all offers, opportunities and ads. Just because it is in your ezine, does not mean you are recommending it.

    7. Content is content, right – As long as your ezine is full of “stuff”, it is helpful. NOT!

    Try to give your readers basic, straightforward, helpful information that they can actually use to benefit them. Don’t use hyped up ads disguised as tips or articles. Quality content is key.

    8. Don’t let your readers get to know you – They are interested in your ezine, not you. NOT!

    Your readers need to know you so they can trust you and know that they can depend on you to publish a consistent, quality ezine.

    9. Don’t bother formatting the ezine correctly – Who cares how many characters are in each line, it all reads the same. NOT!

    Definitely format your ezine uniformly and evenly. You want to produce a clean, sharp, professional ezine.

    10. Don’t waste time proofreading. Everybody makes mistakes, right? What is a mistake or two – nobody is perfect. NOT!

    Take the time to make sure all spelling and grammar is correct in your ezine before you send it out. After all, you are a professional, right?

    I hope these tips have given you a good idea on how NOT to publish an ezine and a fresh perspective on how to correctly publish an ezine. Producing a quality ezine that your readers can depend on will be a very big business booster!

    **********
    Terri Seymour has several years online experience and has helped many people start their own business. Visit her site at http://www.seymourproducts.com for resources, $1 resell ebooks & software, free tutorials, affiliate programs and a free ezine with bonus report: 77 Ways to Get Traffic mailto:subscribe@seymourproducts.com