Hallalujah, the kids are back in school! Don’t tell me that you’re not thinking the same thing.
Luckily, my kids were just as excited about going back to school as I was that they were going back. Why such the excitement? I can finally work 5-6 hours straight again!
I am a work from home mom. I started my business, Atlanta Moms®, 12 years ago and have worked from home since. Some people think that because I work from home, I live a relaxing, carefree life.
Working from home = a relaxing, carefree life, right?
- You can work when you want
- You can play with the kids when you want
- You can hang out at the local coffee shop for hours if you want
- You can get a massage while the kids are in school
- You can get comfy on the couch and read a good book before answering emails
Those are some things that people have suggested that I must do since I work from home.
Like, duh, I just sit around all day wondering what to do with the time.
On that note, here is what working from home (with kids) means to me.. especially during the summer school break months:
- Working from home = rarely getting to complete a work related task from start to finish at one sitting
- Working from home = risking having a child telling you about the hawk eating the squirrel in the backyard while you’re on a conference call
- Working from home = not having normal work hours
- Working from home = people expecting you to be able to leave the house to have lunch whenever you want
- Working from home = typing up a rush proposal while teaching your 7-year-old multiplication
- Working from home = often reading and responding to emails while parked at your child’s evening activity
- Working from home = technically getting to make your own hours and do what you want when you want while being responsible and holding yourself accountable and most importantly
- Working from home = working extra hard to keep your promises to your kids, employees, and clients
Now that the kids are back in school, today is day #2, I have 5-6 solid hours a day when I can work in peace and quiet again!
I am unbelievably grateful that I am able to work from home.
I never imagined that my business would allow me to make a full-time income while being able to take care of my kids and home, travel across the country, work with local and national businesses every day, work with companies like Six Flags, Honda, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and Coca-Cola, but it has and I am so appreciative.
I learned early on in my work from home days that when someone says that they work from home, we should say “wow, you are brave, generous, and must have your sh*t together enough to maintain an income while raising happy, healthy, smart children”. Enough said.
I’m a SAHM, with 2 boys, a work at home career, plus my husband too works from home. Though at times, it can get a little nutsy with us both trying to talk on the phone when in the car traveling ( you are NEVER off work when you work from home ), but we make it work every day. Our typical day involves breakfast in the morning, carpool to school for the oldest, a ritual stop at the neighborhood Starbucks, possible a few errands-like groceries, than back home and upstairs to the office I go! I My youngest is usually involved with playdoh activities within 5-8 minutes of being back in the house. My husband has already had about 20 plus calls and my emails have already started to overflow. Yet, we get to work from home, see my kids at anytime (unless with friends or at school), play groups schedules so mommy can sit and chat with other mommies, travel all over the world and no boss to tell me “no” I can’t go, no gas or rush hour traffic messes, so It’s a typical day with lots of rewards!! We are blessed to have such a good life with lots of family time.
I am a SAHM with 2 kids and yes, I love working from home! In fact, both my husband and I work from home and yeah, sometimes it can get alittle crazy here both with my toddler here (while my oldest is at school) and dad, but for the most part…. IT WORKS! We get up in the morning as a family and have a nice breakfast than I take my oldest to school and dad stays home with our toddler till I get back with my ritual coffee stop (of course) to Starbucks first! We save on gas money, save on luncheons out with co-workers (though we have our mommy lunches and play group), we make a great living doing what we love (what is better??) and we take the kids on travels all over the world. It works for us and we are thankful to be this blessed and close.
Working from home means being as efficient as possible, trying to squeeze a 10 hour work day into 5 hours…but also being able to drop it all to be ‘present’ when the kids need me (even if it means I’ll be working well after they’re in bed).
Thanks for the comment Desiree. Being present when the kids need us is the one that gets me often. I want so badly to finish writing an email or blog post even though the kids are ready for attention and just have to put it on hold.