There are times when working at home really feels like you are working in a pressure cooker. Anyone who says that working at home isn´t stressful has obviously never attempted to meet a deadline while trying to soothe a sick baby, keeping a bored toddler occupied or dealing with the latest preteen crisis. Moms have a huge job just being mothers and when you add work to that . . . in the same environment, no less, you have stress and lots of it.

Dealing with these added pressures can really be overwhelming at times and you will find that there are days when you really, really wish you worked outside the home! On days like this, there are a few ways to handle things.

Take a “sick” day. If you can, push your deadlines back, ask for an extension, or outsource the work. Then take a day to just deal with kids. Or, if you can´t change anything to do with work, see if your spouse can take the kids to the park or if a babysitter can keep them occupied.

Forget the non-essentials. When everything is crashing down around you, let some of it go. Let the dishes pile up, don´t sweep the floor, don´t bother fighting with kids over cleaning their rooms. In fact, this is the perfect time for a mess. Put a pot of water in the middle of the kitchen floor and let the kids splash in it, or dump all the pots and pans out for them to smash around with. Then put on some headphones and get to work.

Alternate tasks. Sometimes . . . and only sometimes, it can work to switch back and forth between carrying kids around the house in a sling and working on your latest project that needs to be in shortly.

Multi-task. A good example is what I´m doing at this very second, rocking a very unhappy, teething little boy in his bouncy chair with one foot and writing this blog post while also answering my toddler´s “Why? But WHY?” questions!

How do you handle the work at home pressure cooker? Had any of these days recently? Please feel free to share tips and experiences in the comments!

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