One of the top reasons people decide to work at home is family. You can break that down even further to include; wanting to stay home to care for younger preschool children, wanting to cut down on the cost of daycare, needing flexibility to care for ill family members, or preparing for a new child. There are many more variations on the same theme and as many reasons as there are people staying at home, but for this article we are going to concentrate on spending more time with your family.

Starting and running your own business is a difficult and time-consuming proposition. Starting and running your own HOME business can be even more difficult. What starts out as a great idea to balance the needs of money and family, ends up becoming a headache with long nights, stress, and strained relationships.

The most common question I hear is how do you handle a home business and care for a small child at the same time. The difficulties are obvious. To a small child the world revolves solely around them and they rarely choose to let go of that control on your attention. Add to that the very genuine concern for your child’s safety and you have a no win situation. Budgeting your time and restricting your work hours to when your child is asleep can work, but also can leave you with little or no sleep and a crabby spouse which is a whole other mess we’ll explore at a later date.

The best solution I’ve found is to simply keep the child with you, either in a playpen or at a table within your sight. Now you’re probably thinking, “Oh I could have thought of that,” but there’s a bit more planning involved than just locking yourself and your child in a room for 8 hours. First of all if possible you need a fair sized, well-lit room with limited exits. That way you can divide your attention between your work and your child and be confident that he/she is not going to suddenly fall down the stairs, or get into something dangerous. This room could be a combination office/playroom, your living room, or your kitchen. When you start off on this adventure with your child, go over the room with a fine-tooth comb to make sure it is completely secure for your child and convenient for you. Also plan your room in such a way that your child can’t pull out plugs, mess up your filing system, or generally cause havoc while you are working.

Once you have your room picked out and the layout planned to your satisfaction, you need to stock it. Of course you need all your work materials. That would include your computer, your filing system, a portable phone, as well as anything else that is essential to your particular business. You also need to consider the needs of your child. The key idea here is to save as many steps as humanly possible. Set aside a corner of your chosen room just for your child and include his/her favorite toys, books, games, and craft materials. For younger children, include a playpen for naps. In your part of the room also include non-perishable snacks and juice boxes or ready-made bottles. You may also want to include a coffeemaker or cordless kettle set up somewhere safe to attend to your own needs. One other item I included in my own room was a television and dvd/vcr player along with a large arsenal of educational videos.

Now that you have chosen your room, planned the layout, and stocked it fully, you can start to work right? Wrong. You’ll never get any work done without a little time-management and planning. The next step would be to come up with a flexible schedule for the day, and I emphasise flexible. Estimate how much time you are going to need for work that day and balance your schedule between that and the needs of your child. Plan out your child’s activities, snack breaks, and down time. Remember to add in down time for yourself as well as time at least once a day for some physical activity.

Typically a young child’s average attention span is directly proportional to their age. Meaning, a five year old will have an average attention span of five minutes. This of course is not a hard-fast rule but a guideline, as every child is unique with different needs and temperaments. For the child with a shorter attention span, giving them one activity at a time could drive you crazy. Better to give that child a choice of two or three activities at a time, giving you at least 15 minutes of uninterrupted work time. Longer if his/her attention is recaptured by the choices available. You need to take into account your child’s particular temperament and attention span when creating your schedule. I would not however recommend giving your child too many choices at one time. The end result may well be that your child will run through all the activities at a much faster rate or even worse, create a mess of epic proportions resulting in less work time and more clean up time for you.

While we are on the topic of cleaning, children as young as two are capable of learning basic clean up rules. For instance, a two year old can be taught to put one toy away before taking out another toy. This is a habit you can easily instill, without interrupting your work, with a simple reminder at regular times.

What kind of activities can you plan? Playtime is a given. Encourage your child to use his/her imagination to create various scenarios for their favorite toys. You can schedule story time to coincide with your downtime and just before nap-time (if your child still takes naps).

As a side note to naps and sleep patterns, remember that consistency is the key to happy slumbers. That part of your schedule should be set in stone. Even the most active child can still have nap-time up to five years of age without affecting their nighttime sleep patterns. I know most people stop naps because their child will not sleep properly at night, but I can tell you with experience that, though bedtime may be delayed for a short period of time, if you are consistent in your nap and night rituals it will return to normal before you know it.

Craft time is a popular activity with the preschool and kindergarten set. You can find age appropriate crafts online or at your local library. Coloring is a great craft that takes little preparation and encourages imaginative play. Play dough is also a great way to occupy your child’s attention. You can find recipes for play dough all over the Internet as well as at your library, or you can simply buy it. I buy mine at our local dollar store. Saving ordinary household items for crafts not only sparks your child’s imagination, but also saves your local landfill.

Quite simply, the main benefit of keeping your child in the same room with you while you work is that you have the opportunity to bond and spend time with your child. Planning ahead and keeping your schedule balanced and flexible will help you spend time with your children and get your work done.

Pam Sargant
Graphic Artist/Illustrator/Writer/Song-writer
Owner of Delaney Imaging
Author of Mother’s Survival Kit and Christmas Survival Kit (Coming Soon!)

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