Moms Talk Network

This article was written by Guest Blogger Christina Lemmey of Multimedia VA.

I admit it…I was one of those moms who was eagerly awaiting the school bus arrival so I wouldn’t feel so guilty about spending my daytime hours during the summer working instead of entertaining my children. Not that we didn’t have some fun-filled days and plenty of trips and travels, but the guilt was weighing pretty heavily.

So I hatched this “perfect” plan to work from the moment the school bus arrived in the morning until it came back on the return trip in the afternoon. I easily gained 7 1/2 hours of silence and no interruptions for 5 days out of the week. Certainly this was a perfect plan for growing my business and servicing my clients, right?

Well, partially right.

In nearly every month of the school calendar, my kids have at least one day off during the week. November is a doozy with Election Day off, Veteran’s Day off, 3 half days for parent teacher conferences, as well as the regular 3 days off for Thanksgiving. Plus this year we have two full weeks off for Christmas. Can you understand why I’m already getting sweaty palms at the idea of planning for all this time off?

I’ve discovered that the key word in all of this is “planning” how to work while the kids are at home. Every WAHM will have a different plan and there is no right or wrong plan so long as it gives you a happy family at the end of the day.

My plans will sometimes include arranging playdates for my girls. Now that they’re older (11 and 6) playdates are a godsend because they can go off by themselves and entertain each other with limited supervision. That friend is enough of a distraction so I can get bursts of work done in between requests for snacks.

Sometimes my plan will involve rearranging my work schedule so we can do something fun together during the day and I’ll make up my hours when they go to bed. This isn’t always ideal since I’m often beat at the end of the day but I would absolutely hate to hear from them as adults that “mom was always working.”

I envy those creative WAHMS who have specific jobs for their kids to do as part of their business. Both of my girls keep asking me if they can help me since they both seem obsessed with money lately but I’m always at a loss because I can’t just hand over a client project to my 11 year old. And with all my work being done online, I can’t even have them stuff client invoices into envelopes.

My next plan is to buy myself a laptop so when the girls kick me off the computer in order to play Sims, I’ll still have some uninterrupted time to do work in another room…that is until the dog decides he needs some special attention and jumps up on the couch next to me, pushing my hands off the keyboard.

About the Author: Christina Lemmey is the Editor of Moms Talk News and blogging mom. In addition to running her VA business, Christina is also the full time chef, maid, nurse, homework helper, taxi driver, and bank to her two daughters.

photo credit: davef3138