Working at Home with Kids

Working from Home with Kids - This article will include tips that I have learned in an attempt to get work done with a 2.5 year old running through my house. Here is a little bit more about me. I work a day job that I go to five days a week. Then, I come home and work on my writing. Since I am away from home for so much of the day, there is always a challenge as to how much time I focus on the family and how much time I focus on the work that I have to do. It is a dance that always requires discreet attention to solve.
Frankly, if it was up to me I would spend 24 hours per day with the family and 24 hours per day working. It is just how I am wired (Sound Familiar?)
Working from Home with Kids
Anyway, here are some tips to make you successful when working from home with kids -
1. Get Help - Having somebody else available to focus on the kids, especially when they are very young, may be your best and only solution. This person, whether a family member, a friend, or somebody that you do not know who works for you, can do the work that you would do if you were there. Then, the family can just pretend that you are not.
2. Give the kids a carrot for allowing you to work - Do something that incentivizes them to allow you to work. I hear a story of a struggling single mother who promised her son that she would have take him to Disneyland in a few months as a reward for the sacrifices that he had to make in missing his mom when she was working. This changes his mind set about the work from a problem to the ticket for him to get to Disneyland.
3. Protect Your Space - Have a designated workspace that is yours and only yours for work. This does not need to be a large space but it needs to be a space that is dedicated to work. You do not want other people as stuff (especially the kids stuff) in this area because that will just be an excuse to allow you to get distracted. Let the kids know that when you are in this place, you are not to be bothered. This is your personal space and where you get your work done.
I really hope these tips on working from home with kids will help you in one way or the other.
Original article by Justin