1) Learn to think about and divide your work into 10-minute chunks of time. If you are on kid duty, that’s about how much time you’ll get before the next interruption.

2) Get a part-time nanny. There are some tasks that simply can’t be broken down into 10-minute chunks or that require your full brain power. It’s been a really big expense for our family, but paying someone to entertain the kids and keep them out of my office for most of 25 hours a week has been wonderful.

3) Learn to read yourself and know when you need a break. Working at home so I don’t have to put my kids in daycare as been a dream come true, but also the most frustrating experience of my life. Take LOTS of deep breaths!

Congrats on the new addition!

I actually just posted my blogging schedule last week and it heavily hinges upon my kids and their schedules. Here it is: http://sleepyblogger.com/?p=207

This post on “The Work At Home Entrepreneur” and the follow up comments from your visitors compelled me to come out of the shadows and say hello. I am a single mom and have been running my business for 7 years at home. Moments ago I posted on my blog a post (noted above) which might interest you as it addresses several issues of working at home, and balancing kids and work. It makes reference back to this post as well as Dominic’s, and another post by Jason Fried at Vitamin. I hope you might find it useful as your family grows.

I also want to say one thing here with regard to kids and working at home. It is quite wonderful and not as big a challenge as you would think if you institute a few rules right when they are young. Since my boys were little guys they understood that concept that “mom has to work now.” I think this has actually worked in favor of setting up a good role model for the kids…I hope :-) They have watched me work hard, be motivated, and solve problems. When I say to them “I need a little quiet time from you so I can make a business call”…they understand, they stop screaming and squeezing each others heads and I believe the request teaches them respect for other peoples responsibilities and needs.

Well…I hope this provides some insights for you. In closing, thanks so much for this great blog of yours. I read it almost daily and have found much valuable information from it.

It’s an amazing new struggle, working from home, but it brings (for me at least) immeasurable rewards. Being there for my son’s first steps, for example, could not have happened had I been at a distant office.

My home has become my place of work, and I therefore never leave my place of work. I’ve always tried to keep my home and work separate – keeping office hours, dedicating a single room for work etc but the problem has grown.

I’m now converting one of the outbuildings into an office so I physically leave the building. I hope this complete physical separation does the trick.

When I decided to make this decision to only think about the kids and the things related to them during my ‘time’ with them, I became a MUCH happier person, the kids became much calmer and more fun, and my work became more enjoyable when I returned to it with full attention and having the benefit of resting so fully (playing with the kids).

The flipside of this is that you have to schedule time for you to work, and not have responsibility for the kids. If you’re home with the baby, this might mean you need to get a babysitter, even while you’re there. Unless your baby is a great napper, and you can get tons of work done while s/he naps (maybe 2 periods of 1 – 2 hours each), a babysitter is really the only way you can continue to work ‘full time’.

good luck, and even though it’s totally cliched, please appreciate the early days, and take lots of videos. It’s absurd how fast they become little men and women and leave their baby days behind.

cheers.

There goes my question for your blogathon… :-)

I don’t feel the need to add any advice on the child/parent/businessman/blogger situation since all the previous comments reflect my feelings on the subject so well.

Good luck with the new adventure of parenthood… I have a feeling you’ll love it as much as I did a few years back (when everything was still in MS-DOS).

Joe

I find my biggest challenge is in the work/life separation. Since August 2005, I’ve been working fulltime for one company instead of freelancing. The people I work with are all over the world, so I don’t really have 9-5 hours. That can be hard when it’s 6:15 pm, the kids are hungry and I’m rushing to get a fax out because it’s still just 3:15 pm where the fax is going. Complicating the mix is the fact that this job does involve some travel…a few overnights here and there and some day trips, and my husband’s fulltime job is also a mix of telecommuting and travel. We went through a bout of unemployment a while back so the fact that we both have reliable W2 income and we both get to work from home is something that I’m not complaining about.

People who leave their homes for their jobs have that line in the sand…the drive/commute to/from work to transition. Even if it’s only a 10 minute drive, that’s still 10 minutes to process the stresses of the day and think about what you’re going to do for dinner or what laundry needs to be done, etc. I don’t have that transition time since it takes me exactly 2 minutes to walk from my office to the kitchen. So I often find it difficult to leave work in the office.

I think I am far more productive at home than I ever was working in an office. As a matter of fact, my best time to work is early morning/late night when the house is quiet and still and my email isn’t coming in quickly.

I know I work too much and my kids would prefer that when I was home, I was really home. But at the same time I can do things during the day that others don’t have flexibility to do.

That being said I love working at home and close to my family.

And believe it or not I’m actually thinking I should blog about it. It could be a good cathartic experience for me.

At one point it was like Officeworks was my second home. At another point I had this software crash every five minutes. On more than one occaision I’ve done a 24+ hour day. I’ve been resentful about the amount I have to keep aside for tax, then learn to have it “disappear in my head”. Now I worry about “getting that next client”.

Yes, life’s a dream when your a start up.

On the plus side, I love working and the home office means I can get up and get going quickly in the morning. There’s no question I get more done than I would if I had a daily commute just to get to my keyboard. The big down side is having the ‘discipline to be distracted’ i.e. to make a clear boundary between work and home time, and give other people my full attention without being ‘distracted’ by work.

I try to schedule my client appointments to give me a good balance between working at home and elsewhere – sometimes I really look forward to a day of writing at home, others I know I’ve been at my desk too long and really look forward to the client appointments, as I know they will ‘bring me out of myself’ and re-energise me.

As a parent one of the benefits of this is that I can constantly guide my child as we make a Christ centered home. I also help her with school work whenever she needs it. Plus we can do things spontaneously like play, talk and watch tv.

Now I am into blogging and I hope this will be good as well so I can continue to be with her.

My husband’s tip: Define — at the outset — a dedicated workspace, preferably inside a room with a door. Then keep that space off-limits to the kids, except for special “visits.” We did this when our son was born (we now have two kids — our 6 year-old son and almost 3 year-old daughter), and the kids respect and understand when their dad is working and can’t be disturbed. When his door’s open, they can come in for a hug or a quick hi, when his door’s closed, they know to leave him alone. He keeps toys in his office so when the kids visit, which they do often, they get something special to play with. (Of course, this setup requires both a room and a partner or babysitter who’s in charge of child care while you work.)

My tip: know that the first three or four months will be a whirlwind no matter how much you plan ahead! A joyful, insane, whirlwind. I would schedule as many posts as you can ahead of time (and line up a bunch of guest bloggers for those months) so you have some breathing room during those mind-blowing, magical early weeks as a family.

Here’s something practical (and a little embarassing): My computer’s in the kitchen, and when I need to “talk” to my husband but know he’s behind closed doors, I IM him. That way, we can “chat” without a full-on inturruption.

Best of luck to you, Darren. So glad I can finally, in a small way, return the favor of all the good advice you’ve given me.