Being a Work from Home Mom – 5 Ways to Make it Work!

Are you a 'Work from home mom'? We know working from home with a child around to take care of, is quite a daunting task. It sounds almost impossible, doesn't it? With a few tweaks, a couple of adjustments and rearrangements, you may actually have quite a successful work - life balance. Freelancing, entrepreneurial and communications jobs are amongst the top preferences as work from home profiles. If you've been looking for flexible work options so you can take care of your child as well, working from home might actually prove to be a boon for you. 

1. Plan and Schedule - The very first prerequisite to be successful at working from home with a child, is to plan and schedule meticulously. Organize your schedule around your child's schedule, and vice versa. The mornings are when you can get most of your work done, when your child is at school, or the creche. Set a fixed number of 'non-negotiable' work hours. This doesn't mean you have to work from 9am to 2pm. It means that you somehow find five distraction free hours through the day to accomplish your tasks for the day.

2. Delegate – Don’t be afraid to delegate. You can’t possibly micromanage everything. Hire a house help to help you with the housework, and to baby sit your child for a few hours. This way, you don’t need to spend the time post work doing household chores and can look forward to quality time with your child.

3. Plan activities for your child – Along with planning your schedule, plan your child’s schedule. This ensures that your child is not constantly dependent on your attention and allows you stress free and guilt free work hours.

4. Share responsibilities with your spouse/ partner – Raising a child with a spouse or a partner, while working from home could work wonderfully well with a bit of coordination. That’s it, coordination is the key. Coordinate with your partner about sharing responsibilities, the most major one being taking care of the child. Fit in the most important task of your schedule into this slot. Those hours will be most stress-free for you, knowing that your child is with one of his parents.

5. Build discipline – At times you will have to be a little tough, at least when your child is old enough to understand the concept of discipline. Make sure, through ample conversations and examples, you try to explain to your child that while you are available for anything he needs 24 * 7, mommy needs to work too. Children can surprise you with their sensitivity, so don’t discount that.

Being a work from home mom isn’t easy, but it isn’t impossible. Are you a successful work from home mom? We would love to know what makes it work for you, as would all the other SHEROES! We are waiting to hear from you.