Being a Good Mom and Having a Career at Home
There are days when it seems like you can´t do both. Some days, you want to quit working and just be with your kids, like a “real” mom. And then, there are days when you want to quit being a mom and just go to work!
Being a stay at home mom isn´t easy and when you add work to the mix, it gets downright hard. Even impossible sometimes. So, how do you manage to balance being a mom and a business owner at the same time? Here are a few tips that I have picked up in the past year. Please add your own to the comments.
- Schedule time to play. If I don´t actually plan to take time to blow bubbles and have tickle fights, it just doesn´t get worked in! Planning to spend time being silly or doing whatever your kids want to do is the best way not to resent them for interrupting you.
- Include your kids in your work. Depending on what your business is, it is possible that your kids can help out, especially if they are older. Kids are great at stuffing envelopes, sticking address labels on shipping boxes and helping fill orders. This not only makes them feel useful and teaches them work ethics, it is also time they can spend with you and that is often all a kid really wants!
- Learn to live without sleep. My current schedule requires me to rise at 3 am to feed the baby. I just stay up from then until about 10 pm. My work is mainly done while everyone is asleep, 3:30-7 am, 9-12 am, and 7-9 pm. I´m tired most of the time, but as long as I do the writing part early on, I can get everything non-creative out of the way at night. And that leaves me time to play with my kids.
- Accept that you simply cannot do everything. Get rid of what you can so you have time to do what you need to do, whether that´s playing with the kids or working. This is especially true for wahms with small children at home! I just started sending my laundry out once a week and it has taken a BIG load off my shoulders, since I had to wash it all by hand. In the future I will have a washing machine, but in the meantime, it is worth it for me to pay someone else to do it for me.
- Take on less work. If you can manage, do less while your kids are small and at home. My husband is working, so although I would like to earn enough to finish building our house next week, it is far better that I take fewer assignments and spend the extra time dancing to Hi5 songs with my toddler.
It is possible to be a good mom and work at home, but only if you let go of the idea of being perfect in both areas. That is not possible, but you can do very well in both, as I have discovered, if you let other things (like the laundry!) go.
What are your tips for staying balanced?
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I love your tips! I wanted to add one.
Get not only the kids involved, but the husband, friends as well. Don’t be afraid to ask the neighbor to take the kids for a little bit and offer to take their kids another time, so that you can get things done. Ask the spouse to take the kids for part of the evening, etc.
It also helps me to keep a list of what needs to be done where. That way I’m not wasting one free minute of my time trying to decide where to start!
Very good additions to the list, Evelyn. Making a list is something that I find helpful, but I have to do it when I first wake up, or my brain just can´t organize enough to get the list actually written!
Hi!
I can do nothing but empathize with you! I have been a WAHM for 3 years now and for every single year being a WAHM, I have a baby! Imagine that..having 3 kids under 4 years old. I wish I could get them involved with my work, but they’re such a boisterous bunch! Good thing I have my husband who helps me out by doing part time VA work.
Maying, I don´t envy you! With two under 2, I can´t imagine how you manage with 3!
I can’t even handle ONE. He’s such a handful. But I manage. It’s great that you find time as well.