Are you an entrepreneur who’s wondering how to work from home with kids? If so,
you’re already well aware of the many stressors that can occur when mixing kids and a
home-based business. Add to that the year of the Pandemic with disrupted school
schedules, and few other questions become as relevant as this one.
Although there are many benefits of working from home, the lifestyle has plenty of
challenges too. And until you try working from home with kids as an entrepreneur, it’s
hard to imagine how significant this adjustment can be.
In her “Small Business Trends” article entitled 10 Tips for Working from Home with
Kids, Annie Pilon sums up the struggle well:
“Parents see an advantage to spending more time at home. But they also find
it challenging to stay focused on their tasks. It leads to chaos during dedicated
working hours. And it can also be tough for some to “turn off” the office mindset when
it’s time to hang out with family.”
Can you relate to this tug-of-war obstacle? If your answer is ‘yes,’ here are some working
from home tips with children in the house to consider.
Avoid Doing Parenting and Remote Work at the Same Time
Why is this a bad idea? Because at least one of the two is bound to suffer. Either it’ll be
the health of your child or your business at stake. Since these two interests are
interdependent, and both need to thrive, you need a better option.
In reality, it’s impossible to regularly engage with work and family simultaneously. This
is especially true if you’re trying to figure out how to work from home with a baby. When
working from home with a newborn or young child, you’ll have to either do one or the
other.
Working and parenting at the same time only leads to perpetual discouragement and
frustration. And as pressing as your business demands may seem, your kids need you
even more than your business does.
Instead, you’ll do better by staying up later than your child or rising earlier. Your child’s
naptime can also be a good opportunity to sneak in a little work. Finding someone to
occasionally watch your children can be quite helpful too.
How to Work from Home with Kids: Set Up an Office
Setting up a home office will help you make the line between work and family more
distinct. Having your own space for work will allow you to focus on your daily tasks
better too. Then, when you step away from your work area, you won’t feel so much
pressure to put on your entrepreneur hat when it’s time to parent.
This also helps your child to understand the work boundaries you need to be successful.
It’s natural that your kids will want to talk with you, ask for a snack or settle sibling
disputes. Having a home office helps everyone in the family better understand the
delicate balance of work and home life.
Get Out of the House with Your Family
You already know it can be challenging to turn off work mode when it should be family
time. There will always be more work, after all.
But what’s sometimes hard to see is you only have so many child-rearing years. You
want to make those years happy and healthy for you and your child while there’s still
time.
One way to focus more on your child is to intentionally get out of the house for a while.
Maybe you go for a hike or swim together. Or perhaps you go for a drive and get ice
cream. It’s most important to be intentional about getting out when your stress levels
are unusually high as an entrepreneur.
Regardless of what you do outside the home, just getting away for a few hours is a great
way to put work aside for a while. It makes working from home with children more fun
and manageable too.
Choose to Delegate for a Better Work-Family Balance
You can’t do it all. And if you try, you, your family and business will all lose. You only
have so much energy and time each day to give to work and your family.
If you’ve been consistently working hard but can’t seem to make nearly the progress you
need, it’s likely been time to start delegating tasks for a while now.
The importance of delegation is crucial since it can give you more time to take care of
your family and your health. It can also increase the value you bring to clients and
customers while growing your profits.
How to Delegate Effectively: Could You Use Some Help?
Effective delegation is a skill you can continually improve at regardless of how long
you’ve been an entrepreneur. And the more your business develops, the more useful
delegation in business becomes.
If you’d like to discover the benefits of delegation on a deeper level, feel free to get in
touch with Smart to Finish. Perhaps you’re just learning to delegate, or you’ve been at it
for a while now but need to learn how to delegate tasks better. Either way, we can assist
you.
By scheduling a 30-minute free consultation with us, we can develop a customized plan
for your business. Your journey of how to delegate better may involve hiring an online
business manager, virtual assistant or virtual team. Best of all, you’ll grow your business
stronger and faster while maintaining a healthy work-family balance.
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