Survival Strategies for Work at Home Parents with Young Kids

By Gina Steele for Work-at-Home.org

If you’re a work at home mom (WAHM), this scene probably sounds familiar to you. The kids are quietly playing, or napping, or even watching a little educational TV and you are finally making a dent on your project. The ideas are really flowing when suddenly someone wakes from a nap or playtime ends. Or the client you really need to speak with calls and the kids are screaming for lunch. Well, let’s face it, no matter what support systems you might have in place, these situations are probably going to occur if you are a WAHM. But at least they occur less often if you have some help. After talking to many home-based moms, it is amazing to learn how many creative ideas are used to make work time more available. From hiring help, to relying on family support, to swapping play dates with friends, a strong support system offers great survival strategies for a work from home mom.

As a Senior Manager in Fund Accounting, one work from home mom didn’t think her boss would be flexible to a part time work from home scenario, but when he suggested it, she was thrilled. She knew she would need a reliable support system, so she decided to hire a nanny. Hiring a dependable person for each of her three working days is necessary for this mom to focus on her workload. However, even though she incurs an additional weekly expense, she is happy to do so if it means being in the house with her son. Plus, she would normally commute about 2-1/2 hours each day. By working from home, she saves not only on commuting costs, but also on the cost of hiring her nanny for those additional hours. She would pay another 7-1/2 hours to her nanny each week if she went into the office, and she would not have such an adorable lunch companion.

All WAHMs (and dads) benefit from using different survival techniques, but the reward is just as sweet for everyone.

Another work from home mom was also thrilled to negotiate a great work situation with her boss, but she didn’t want to do it if she had to incur childcare costs. Her position in Marketing Analysis requires her to work for about three hours each day. Luckily her baby girl takes a very long nap every morning, almost a full three hours. However, she also has an older son at home who goes to school in the afternoon. By scheduling many playdates for her son while her daughter is napping, she has a great window to get work done. Even when her son has company, she finds that the companionship is not only good for him, but he and his playmate allow her to get lots accomplished.

A rotating babysitting schedule works great for another group of three moms. A successful Jewelry Salesperson found that she could get most of her work tasks done during naptime and evenings, but still needed a couple extra hours to herself from time to time. She found two other moms with kids of similar ages to her two and initiated a babysitting schedule. Now each Tuesday morning one mom babysits all the kids, her kids and the other two sets of kids, at her house. The other two moms get a few hours to themselves. This allows the kids to have great playtime and the moms to have two Tuesday mornings in a row off. What a great FREE solution for those needing a few extra hours in their week.

When a work from Home Skin Care and Cosmetics Salesperson only needed a few hours of support, she turned right to the local high school. She posted a babysitting flier with the Guidance Counselor and got lots of calls. She hired someone to come every Friday afternoon for a few hours and now manages to make calls or run client errands without her little ones underfoot.

One work from home attorney has plenty of work time as all of her kids are a bit older and in school, but that doesn’t stop her from needing some help. It seems the most popular time of the day for client calls or office calls is right when her kids need to be driven to school. She put a carpool schedule in place with a neighbor who doesn’t have any problems getting out the door and to school on time. Because she never has a problem picking up her kids from school, she is able to take her neighbors kids home every day. The bonus is each mom only has to drive one way and they each have about twenty extra minutes to dedicate to other projects.

A successful Graphic Designer was ready to start her own business when her first child came along and she knew she would need some support. Getting out for client meetings is part of her career, but that doesn’t work with a newborn. What does work is partnering with her sister for some childcare help. After talking with her sister, who already had a little son, she learned she too wanted to make a work from home situation happen, but didn’t know how. They decided to swap off daycare for each other two days a week. What a great way for two cousins to grow up and for two moms to start their own business.

A Public Relations professional decided to do her own consulting after the birth of her second daughter and knew she needed to get her husband involved to make things work. While her husband couldn’t suddenly change his job or unload responsibilities, he was willing to get up extra early a couple times a week. By being showered and dressed for work before his daughter’s wake up (instead of doing this while they are already up), he gets to dress and feed them breakfast those two mornings allowing his wife to catch-up on paperwork and e-mails. Then he makes an effort to get home early one day a week to spend more quality time with the girls and make supper while his wife returns phone calls or even meets with a client. This support helps a PR business flourish and has the added benefit of more dad and daughter time.

It really is amazing to see the creative ideas moms (and dads) in all types of work from home scenarios utilize. Whether it be carpooling, helpful babysitting, or a supportive partner, all these work from home parents agree a little extra help is a must to keep their careers from “doing okay” to “a great success”. While some moms just need a few hours of help a week and others need support for up to three full days, all agree that the juggling is “so worth it” if it means being home with their kids. They also agree that the combination of work and parenting is “perfect for them” providing the balance they all crave to be the parent and professional they truly want. One mom even said that being a work from home mom is really “as good as it gets. I get to be the kind of parent I want and still maintain a big piece of my identity. With the help I get from my husband and sister, it is a dream come true.”

Gina Steele is a work at home mother of three and freelance writer. She can be contacted at steele.gina@comcast.net for writing projects.

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